Mount Lorette and Beaver Mines, March 6

March 6 [Day 5] (George Halmazna, assisted by Dan Parliament) 0700-1740. The starting temperature was -19C, rose to a high of -6.5C at 1600 and was -8C at the end of observation. Ground winds were light NE all day, while ridge winds were strong SW creating blowing snow that obscured the western ridges from 20% in the morning to 90% in mid-afternoon. Cloud cover was initially 20% stratus that increased to 100% at 1600 bringing snow after 1630 that obscured the eastern ridges for the rest of the day. Five migrant Golden Eagles (4a, 1j) were counted between 0945 and 1426, 2 of which were located over the northern end of the Fisher Range and 3 above Mount Lorette. A resident adult male Northern Goshawk was present, and an immature Bald Eagle flew to the south, while the only other birds recorded were 1 Downy Woodpecker, 7 Common Ravens and 2 American Dippers. Cliff Hansen also found 3 Canada Geese and 1 male Common Goldeneye at the beaver ponds north of the site.

10.67 hours (48.34) GOEA 5 (9) TOTAL 5 (13)

[Corrections to March 5: the starting time was 0645 so the hours were 11.75 (37.67); the Northern Pygmy-Owl was seen at the site where it was photographed by Lori.]

Beaver Mines [Day 10] (Peter Sherrington, assisted by Connie Simmons and Phil Hazelton) 0800-1745. The temperature at 0800 was -10C, rose to a high of 0C from 1200-1400 and at 1745 was -3C. Winds were W-WSW all day, 15-30 gusting 45 km/h to 1700 when they became light and at the end of observation it was calm. Cloud cover was 0-30% thin altostratus to 1000 after which it was 60-80% cumulus and altostratus apart from 1400 when it was 30% cumulus. There were light snow flurries in the morning and persistent light snow from1245 to 1340 but otherwise the ridge was clear all day. The mountain ridges to the SW, however, were obscured by snow until 1630 after which they completely cleared. The day got off to an encouraging start with 9 raptors moving between 0808 and 0859 that included 6 Golden Eagles and the season’s first Prairie Falcon. Only 1 bird, a Northern Goshawk, was then seen before 1128 after which movement became steady and peaked at 10 migrants both between 1600 and 1700 and 1700 to 1732. The flight was a season-high 54 birds of 6 species comprising 11 Bald Eagles (8a, 1j, 2u), 2 Northern Goshawks (1a, 1u), 3 light morph Rough-legged Hawks, 36 Golden Eagles (34a, 2j), the season’s first columbarius Merlin, a male that vigorously mobbed the resident Golden Eagle after a steep stoop at 1732, and 1 Prairie Falcon.

9.75 hours (61.25) BAEA 11 (25), NOGO 2 (6), RLHA 3 (7), GOEA 36 (84), MERL 1 (1), PRFA 1 (1) TOTAL 54 (126)

Steeples (Vance Mattson) No observation.

MOUNT LORETTE SUMMARY COUNT (March 1 to April 22)

DAYS 5

HOURS 48.34

TURKEY VULTURE (TUVU) 0

OSPREY (OSPR) 0

BALD EAGLE (BAEA) 4

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) 9

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 13