RMERF counts, November 1-3

Wednesday, November 1 NO OBSERVATION (weather). (Joel Duncan, assisted by Patrick Farley). Snow all day and the mountains were obscured apart from a brief appearance of the summit of Mount Lorette. Joel and Pat left the site at 1400 when it became apparent that no improvement could be expected.

Vicki Ridge NO OBSERVATION (weather). Snow all day that obscured all ridges.

Steeples NO OBSERVATION

Thursday, November 2 NO OBSERVATION (weather). Heavy snow all day, mountains obscured.

Vicki Ridge NO OBSERVATION (weather). Heavy snow all day that obscured the ridge.

Steeples NO OBSERVATION (weather). Snow all day that obscured all ridges.

Friday, November 3 NO OBSERVATION (weather). Snow stopped in the afternoon but ridges remained partly obscured and driving to the site was not advisable. The count will probably resume tomorrow.

Vicki Ridge NO OBSERVATION (weather). Snow persisted to early afternoon when the ridges cleared but heavy snow prevented access to the site. I hope to resume the count tomorrow.

Steeples [Day 33] (Vance Mattson) 1130-1800. The site was covered in 30cm of snow and the ridges were entirely obscured when Vance arrived at the site at 1130. It was -6C and calm, and by 1330 it was apparent that the cloud was not going to lift so he moved away from the mountain ridges to see if migration was occurring over the valley which was probable as the last two days had been almost a steady barrage of snow accompanied by poor visibility.           It was not until he arrived at Wasa, however, at 1400, that the first migrants were seen with 4 Bald Eagles and 2 Golden Eagles soaring over the Kootenay River, followed by an Osprey and 6 more eagles before 1500. The next hour saw 10 migrants, and the hour between 1600 and 1700 saw 27 migrants. The last migrants, 4 adult Bald Eagles, all moved between 1700 and 1706.           The final total of 54, which is the second-highest of the season, was 1 Osprey, a season high count of 38 Bald Eagles (20a, 1sa, 17j), 3 Northern Harriers (2 adult females, 1j), 2 light morph Rough-legged Hawks and 10 Golden Eagles (5a, 2sa, 3j. The migrants initially soared at length either over the low ridges just west of the Kootenay River or directly above it; however, from 1630 onward the migrants consistently flapped their way south either over the river or just east of it.           All migration, however, was concentrated over the river area, with no migrants passing over Wasa Lake, which is situated just east of the river. The ridges of the Rockies were heavily obscured during the entire observation period.           The temperature rose to a high of -2C, calm conditions prevailed all day and the skies were 60% altostratus, altocumulus, and lenticular that gave providing partially sunny conditions. A single adult Bald Eagle constituted the only non-migrant seen.

6.5 hours (154.5) OSPR 1 (7), BAEA 38 (247), RLHA 2 (12), GOEA 10 (120) TOTAL 54 (563)

MOUNT LORETTE SUMMARY COUNT (September 20 to November 15)

DAYS 38

HOURS 416.6

TURKEY VULTURE (TUVU) 0

OSPREY (OSPR) 2

BALD EAGLE (BAEA) 150

NORTHERN HARRIER (NOHA) 6

SHARP-SHINNED HAWK (SSHA) 81

COOPER’S HAWK (COHA) 18

NORTHERN GOSHAWK (NOGO) 27

Accipiter sp. (UA) 3

BROAD-WINGED HAWK (BWHA) 1

SWAINSON’S HAWK (SWHA) 0

RED-TAILED HAWK (RTHA) 29

FERRUGINOUS HAWK (FEHA) 1

ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK (RLHA) 26

Buteo sp. (UB) 10

GOLDEN EAGLE (GOEA) 3172

Eagle sp. (UE) 6

AMERICAN KESTREL (AMKE) 3

MERLIN (MERL) 5

GYRFALCON (GYRF) 4

PEREGRINE FALCON (PEFA) 7

PRAIRIE FALCON (PRFA) 6

Falco sp. (UF) 3

Unidentified Raptor (UU) 2

TOTAL 3542