Mount Lorette and Vicki Ridge, September 25

Monday, September 25 [Day 5] (George Halmazna, assisted by Dan Parliament) 0650-1930. The temperature was -1.5C to 0800 but rose to a season high 15.5C at 1600 and was 13C at 1900. Ground winds were SW light all day except around 1600 when they gusted to 20 km/h and ridge winds were SW light to moderate all day. Cloud cover was 0-30% cumulus to 1200 after which it slowly thickened in the afternoon to 90% cumulus and stratus which produced brief light rain showers in the area; the ridges were clear all day. The total of 38 migrants of 5 species that moved between 0821 and 1817 comprised 1 late subadult Bald Eagle, 1u Sharp-shinned Hawk, 2u Cooper’s Hawks, 3 light morph calurus Red-tailed Hawks (1a, 1j, 1u) and 31 Golden Eagles (12a, 1sa, 15j, 3u). There was a good variety of songbirds in the area including 2 Blue Jays, 3 Mountain Bluebirds, 1 Townsend’s Solitaire, 43 American Robins, 2 American Pipits, 2 Snow Buntings, 1 Song Sparrow, 2 Lincoln’s Sparrows, 3 White-crowned Sparrows, 3 Common Grackles and 6 female or juvenile House Finches. The warm weather put a few butterflies on the wing: 1 Mourning Cloak and 4 Painted Ladies, but the highlight of the day was a family of Grizzly Bears (1 female with 2 cubs) that was seen feeding in a high alpine meadow just above the treeline at the northern end of the Fisher Range between 0750 and 1900. The day was shared by 45 visitors to the site including a school party from Aidrie.

12.67 hours (61.01) BAEA 1 (11), SSHA 1 (15), COHA 2 (12), RTHA 3 (9), GOEA 31 (83), TOTAL 38 (134)

Vicki Ridge (Peter Sherrington, assisted by Denise Cocciolone Amatto, Raymond Toal, Doug and Teresa Dolman) [Day 6] 0900-1815. The warming trend continued with a starting temperature at 0900 of 8C a high of 16C at 1600 and 14C at the end of observation. Winds were steady WSW all day 15-20 occasionally gusting to 25-30 km/h with variable 40-90% cumulus and stratocumulus cloud cover that made aging of migrants difficult during periods of thick cloud. There was a steady stream of raptors again dominated by Accipiters, but Golden Eagle numbers were still disappointingly low and Red-tailed Hawks were completely absent. The count of 80 migrants of 9 species that moved between 0946 and 1741 was 53 Sharp-shinned Hawks (21a, 2j, 30u), 6 Cooper’s Hawks (3a, 3u), 6 Northern Goshawks (4a, 1j, 1u), 3 juvenile light morph Broad-winged Hawks, 1 juvenile light morph Ferruginous Hawk, 7 Golden Eagles (2a, 5j, 3u), 3 columbarius Merlins (2 female, 1 male) and 1 adult female Peregrine Falcon. The highest hourly count was 26 between 1200 and 1300 but only 7 birds were seen after 1600 although they did include the Peregrine at 1721 and the Ferruginous Hawk at 1725. Other birds seen included 19 Red-breasted Nuthatches, 6 Golden-crowned Kinglets, 48 Mountain Bluebirds, 18 American Robins, 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler and 1 Dark-eyed [Oregon] Junco.

9.25 hours (44.83) SSHA 53 (151), COHA 6 (26), NOGO 6 (19), BWHA 3 (9), FEHA 1 (2), GOEA 7 (28), MERL 3 (6), PEFA 1 (3) TOTAL 80 (301)

Steeples (Vance Mattson) NO OBSERVATION

MOUNT LORETTE SUMMARY COUNT (September 20 to November 15)

DAYS 5

HOURS 61.01

TURKEY VULTURE (TUVU) 0

OSPREY (OSPR) 1

BALD EAGLE (BAEA) 11

NORTHERN HARRIER (NOHA) 2

SHARP-SHINNED HAWK (SSHA) 15

COOPER’S HAWK (COHA) 2

NORTHERN GOSHAWK (NOGO) 7

Accipiter sp. (UA) 1

BROAD-WINGED HAWK (BWHA) 0

SWAINSON’S HAWK (SWHA) 0

RED-TAILED HAWK (RTHA) 9

FERRUGINOUS HAWK (FEHA) 0

ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK (RLHA) 0

Buteo sp. (UB) 0

GOLDEN EAGLE (GOEA) 83

Eagle sp. (UE) 0

AMERICAN KESTREL (AMKE) 0

MERLIN (MERL) 1

GYRFALCON (GYRF) 0

PEREGRINE FALCON (PEFA) 2

PRAIRIE FALCON (PRFA) 0

Falco sp. (UF) 0

Unidentified Raptor (UU) 0

TOTAL 134