Mount Lorette and Beaver Mines, March 2

March 2 [Day 2] (Jim Davis, assisted by Rick Robb) 0745-1745. The temperature was -2C on arrival, rose to a high of 2C at 1500 and was 1C at the end of observation. Ground winds were often calm but were mainly SW-WSW 6-12 gusting 15 km/h, and ridge winds were moderate SW-WSW all day. Cloud cover was 70-80% stratus and cumulus all day except for 1000-1200 when it was 100%, and there were brief sunny breaks around 1400. The eastern ridges were clear all day, but the west started at 20% obscured that became 100% after 1600 as snow developed to the west. Only 3 migrant raptors were seen: an adult Bald Eagle over Lorette at 1351, an adult Bald Eagle that moved from the end of the Fisher Range to Lorette at 1527 and a juvenile Golden Eagle that moved from the south and roosted on a tree near the tree-line at the northernmost end of the Fisher Range. A resident adult Northern Goshawk was seen about 100 m north of the parking area on the way to the site near where the species has nest for the last couple of years. There was a fair variety of other bird species including 3 Northern Pygmy-Owls (1 perched for an extended period just south of the site, 1 at the NW corner of the Hay Meadow, and one distant east of the river), 1 Downy Woodpecker, 1 Hairy Woodpecker and 2 Northern Flickers around the meadow, 9 Grey Jays, 1 Mountain Chickadee and a pair of Pine Grosbeaks at the parking area early in the morning. There were no visitors today.

10 hours (17.5) BAEA 2 (2), GOEA 1 (2) TOTAL 3 (4)

Beaver Mines [Day 6] (Peter Sherrington) 1000-1800. The temperature at 1000 was 0C, rose above freezing for the first time this season at 1100 (1C) and reached a high of 3C between 1400 and 1700 before falling back to 0C at 1800. Winds were SW-WSW all day, 15-30 gusting 45 km/h, and cloud cover was 100% stratus and cumulus all day. Light and occasionally moderate snow started at 1318 and persisted to the end of observation, but the ridge remained clear throughout although the mountain ridges to the west were obscured all day. A season-high total of 16 raptors of 4 species moved between 1241 and 1614, with 6 of the birds seen between 1500 and 1600. The flight was 2 Bald Eagles (1a, 1sa), 3 unaged Northern Goshawks, 2 light morph Rough-legged Hawks and 9 adult Golden Eagles. A resident adult Golden Eagle was seen over the Big Hill where yesterday it was seen displaying at 1147 as a migrant bird passed overhead; a non-migrant subadult Golden Eagle was also seen hunting the ridge today.

8 hours (30.5) BAEA 2 (8), NOGO 3 (3), RLHA 2 (2) GOEA 9 (32) TOTAL 16 (47)

Steeples (Vance Mattson) No observation. Because of teaching commitments Vance will be generally unable to observe from Monday through Thursday this season.

MOUNT LORETTE SUMMARY COUNT (March 1 to April 22)

DAYS 2

HOURS 17.5

TURKEY VULTURE (TUVU) 0

OSPREY (OSPR) 0

BALD EAGLE (BAEA) 2

NORTHERN HARRIER (NOHA) 0

SHARP-SHINNED HAWK (SSHA) 0

COOPER’S HAWK (COHA) 0

NORTHERN GOSHAWK (NOGO) 0

Accipiter sp. (UA) 0

BROAD-WINGED HAWK (BWHA) 0

SWAINSON’S HAWK (SWHA) 0

RED-TAILED HAWK (RTHA) 0

FERRUGINOUS HAWK (FEHA) 0

ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK (RLHA) 0

Buteo sp. (UB) 0

GOLDEN EAGLE (GOEA) 2

Eagle sp. (UE) 0

AMERICAN KESTREL (AMKE) 0

MERLIN (MERL) 0

GYRFALCON (GYRF) 0

PEREGRINE FALCON (PEFA) 0

PRAIRIE FALCON (PRFA) 0

Falco sp. (UF) 0

Unidentified Raptor (UU) 0

TOTAL 4