Beaver Mines and Steeples, September 30

Wednesday, September 30 Vicki Ridge [Day 11] 0800-1900 (Peter Sherrington and Hilary Atkinson observing from the Waterton 61 wellsite on the western flank of the ridge. There was no observation at the Waterton 68 site. The temperature at 0800 was 7C, the high at 1600 and 1700 was 14C and it was 11C at 1900. Winds were mainly light E-SE that occasionally gusted to 15 km/h and cloud cover was 100% stratocumulus to 1210 when it began to break up and reduced to 70% cumulus at 1300 and it was cloudless after 1400 with the exception of 1900 when 30% thin cirrostratus developed to the west. The conditions produced a season-low total of only 8 migrants of 5 species between 0829 and 1306 that comprised 2u Sharp-shinned Hawks, 1u Cooper’s Hawk, 2 Northern Goshawks (1a, 1j), 2 Golden Eagles (1a, 1j) and 1a male columbarius Merlin. The highest hourly count was 3 between 1000 and 1100. Other birds seen were 8 Canada Geese that flew high to the west at 1027, 1 Hairy Woodpecker, 1 Northern Flicker, 1 Steller’s Jay, 1 Clark’s Nutcracker, 1 Black-billed Magpie, 30 Common Ravens, 2 Black-capped Chickadees, 1 Mountain Bluebird, 140 American Robins, 209 Pine Siskins and 4 Yellow-rumped Warblers. Most of these birds occurred in the morning and there was only a meagre evening roosting movement of Common Ravens.

11 hours (120.9) SSHA 2 (459), COHA 1 (83), NOGO 2 (8), GOEA 2 (391), MERL 1 (13) TOTAL 8 (1180)

September summary with variance compared to the 2017-2019 three-year average. (New high counts for the month in bold). 11 days (+22.2%). 120.9 hours (+55.4%) TUVU 5 (+500%), OSPR 4 (-25%), BAEA 31 (+126.8%), NOHA 8 (-17.2%), SSHA 459 (+60.5%), COHA 83 (+111%), NOGO 8 (-57.9%), BWHA 12 (+16.1%), SWHA 3 (+80%), RTHA 121 (+87.1%), FEHA 1 (-72.7%), RLHA 14 (+162.5%), GOEA391 (+170.9%), AMKE 10 (-18.9%), MERL 13 (+34.5%), GYRF 0 (-100%), PEFA 2 (-60%), PRFA 2 (+100%), UA 3 (+200%), UB 6 (+157.1%), UE 2 (+100%), UF 1 (+50% UU 0 (-100%) TOTAL 1180 (+85%)

Wednesday, September 30 Mount Lorette [Day 11] 0700-1920 (Bill Wilson, assisted by Cliff Hansen). A total of 56 migrants of 8 species was counted that comprised 3a Bald Eagles, 6u Sharp-shinned Hawks, 2u Cooper’s Hawks, 3 Northern Goshawks (1a, 1j, 1u), 5 dark morph calurus Red-tailed Hawks (3a, 2j), 2 light morph Rough-legged Hawks, 32 Golden Eagles (422), 1a Peregrine Falcon, 1 unidentified large falcon and 1 unidentified raptor.

12.33 hours (135) BAEA 3 (26), SSHA 6 (69), COHA 2 (9), NOGO 3 (25), RTHA 5 (27), RLHA 2 (5), GOEA 32 (422), PEFA 1 (6), UF 1 (2), UU 1 (1) TOTAL 56 (625)

September summary with variance compared to the 1993-2019 (excluding 1997, 2002, 2006, 2007 and 2008) 22-year average. (New high counts for the month in bold). 11 days (+3.4%). 135 hours (+15.1%) TUVU 0, OSPR 3 (+43.5%), BAEA 26 (+45.5%), NOHA 8 (+67.6%), SSHA 68 (+29.5%), COHA 9 (-14.7%), NOGO 25 (+219.8%), BWHA 4 (+95.6%), SWHA 2 (+633.3%), RTHA 27 (+58.8%), FEHA 0, RLHA 5 (+144%), GOEA 422 (+19.4%), AMKE 1 (-26.7%), MERL 7 (+152.5%), GYRF 0 (-100%), PEFA 6 (+266.7%), PRFA 1 (+57.1%), UA 4 (+29.4%), UB 1 (-15.4%), UE 2 (+144.4%), UF 2 (+528.6% UU 1 (-37.1%) TOTAL 625 (+28.8%). The 2 Swainson’s Hawks and 6 Peregrine Falcons equaled the previous high September counts at the site.

Wednesday, September 30 Steeples (Vance Mattson).  No observation.