Beaver Mines and Steeples, October 4

Sunday, October 04 Vicki Ridge [Day 15] 0800-1900 (Peter Sherrington and Hilary Atkinson observing from the Waterton 61 wellsite on the western flank of the ridge, and Gord Petersen, Cathy Scrimshaw and Dave McNeil on the ridgetop at the northern end of Vicki Ridge, 1300-1645. The temperature at 0800 was 14 C, the high at 1400 and 1500 was 21C and it was 17C at 1900. Winds were moderate to strong W-WSW all day, 30-40 gusting 50-60 km/h with occasional gusts to 70 km/h especially around noon. It was cloudless with a very light smoke haze to 1100 when traces of cumulus cloud appeared to the north and after 1200 cloud cover was 40-90% altocumulus, altostratus, lenticular and cirrus with up to 40% dark cumulus cloud moving from the west after 1730. At Waterton 61 a total of 64 migrants of a season-low total of 4 species were seen between 0850 and 1822 that comprised 1j Bald Eagle. 14 Sharp-shinned Hawks (5a, 9u), 9 Red-tailed Hawks (7 calurus: 4a and 2j light morphs and 1 a dark morph; and 1a and 1j dark morph harlani) and 40 Golden Eagles (27a, 1sa, 12j). Peak movement was 12 migrants between 1000 and 1100 and again between 1100 and 1200. The observers on the ridge at the northern end of Vicki Ridge were primarily there to photograph Golden Eagles in flight as the birds are usually much closer to the ridge at that point. They recorded an additional 12 migrants of 5 species between 1250 and 1630 that were not seen a couple of kilometres to the south at the Waterton 61 site. These comprised 1j Northern Harrier, 6 Sharp-shinned Hawks (3a, 1j, 2u), 1a light morph Broad-winged Hawk, 2 Golden Eagles (1a, 1j) and 2u columbarius Merlins. The combined species count was 76 migrants of 7 species seen between 0850 and 1822 that comprised 1j Bald Eagle, 1j Northern Harrier, 20 Sharp-shinned Hawks (8a, 1j, 11u), 1a light morph Broad-winged Hawk, 9 Red-tailed Hawks (7 calurus: 4a and 2j light morphs and 1 a dark morph; and 1a and 1j dark morph harlani), 42 Golden Eagles (28a, 1sa, 13j) and 2u columbarius Merlins. Only 4 0ther bird species were seen: 10 Clark’s Nutcrackers, 6 Black-billed Magpies, 24 Common Ravens and 40 American Robins.

11 hours (165.1) BAEA 1 (38), NOHA 1 (16), SSHA 20 (572), BWHA 1 (16), RTHA 9 (161), GOEA 42 (540), MERL 2 (19) TOTAL 76 (1554)

Sunday, October 04 Mount Lorette [Day 15] 0730-1930 (Lori Anderson assisted by Patrick Farley). A total of 100 migrant raptors of 5 species was recorded that comprised 1u Bald Eagle, 3u Sharp-shinned Hawks, 1a light morph calurus Red-tailed Hawk, 92 Golden Eagles (62a, 4sa, 5j, 21u), 2 unidentified eagles and 1 large unidentified falcon.

12 hours (183) BAEA 1 (53), SSHA 3 (80), RTHA 1 (44), GOEA 92 (763), UE 2 (5), UF 1 (3) TOTAL 100 (1040)

Sunday, October 04 Steeples [Day 3] 1400-1600 (Vance Mattson). The temperature was 21C, winds were light SW and cloud cover was 100% altostratus, cumulus and lenticular. Only 1 unaged Sharp-shinned Hawk was seen moving south, and the only other raptor recorded was a subadult Bald Eagle that moved to the north.

2 hours (6) SSHA 1 (2) TOTAL 1 (5)