RMERF counts, October 9

Monday, October 9 [Day 18] (George Halmazna, assisted by Dan and Cindy Parliament, and Rebeca and Max from Calgary who spent half the day at the site.) 0720-1900. The morning low temperature was 1.5C, the high was 9C at 1500 and it was 6.5C when observation ended. Ground winds were SW all day light at the beginning and end of the day but otherwise 5-15 gusting to 35 km/h, while ridge winds were mostly strong SW all day. Cloud cover was 80-100% cirrostratus, altostratus and cumulus all day and the ridges were clear. There was again a strong Golden Eagle migration with 178 birds (100a, 4sa, 50j, 24u) recorded between 0812 and 1756, all but three of which moved along the Fisher Range. About one-third of the birds glided very high above the ridge making their aging a challenge. Movement was fairly slow in the morning but peaked at 48 birds between 1400 and 1500. The only other migrants seen were 2 adult Sharp-shinned Hawks, and a resident adult Northern Goshawk was also present. The last 5 days have now seen the passage of 1147 Golden Eagles at the site. Other birds reported include 4 American Robins, 1 American Pipit and 3 Pine Siskins, and there were 84 visitors at the site today.

11.67 hours (212.8) SSHA 2 (65), GOEA 178 (1498) TOTAL 180 (1712)

Vicki Ridge [Day 19] (Peter Sherrington, assisted by Mark Sherrington, Doug and Teresa Dolman and Trevor Lewis) 0900-1800 (Observation from the Waterton 61 wellsite on the western flank of the ridge). The starting temperature was 3C which rose to a high of 9C at 1300 where it stayed until observation ceased at 1800. Winds were strong W-WSW all day 25-40 gusting up to 70-80 km/h, and cloud cover was 80-100% altostratus, cirrus, lenticular with occasional cumulus that allowed hazy sunshine for most of the day and provided excellent observing conditions. Most birds moved high along the western side of Vicki Ridge between 0914 and 1748 and the count of 144 raptors of 7 species comprised 3 adult Bald Eagles, 35 Sharp-shinned Hawks (12a, 23u), 1 adult Cooper’s Hawk, 3 adult Northern Goshawks, 5 calurus Red-tailed Hawks (3a, 1u light morphs, and 1 adult dark morph), 13 Rough-legged Hawks (11 light, 2 dark) and 84 Golden Eagles (43a, 12sa, 23j, 6u). By 1400 120 migrants had been seen. with a high hourly count of 36 between 1100 and 1200, but movement subsequently slowed and the last 4 hours only yielded 23 more birds. The only migrating song birds moving south were 6 American Robins, and a flock of 70 Grey-crowned Rosy-Finches that moved high above the ridge at 1636.

BAEA 3 (37), SSHA 35 (549), COHA 1 (76), NOGO 3 (52), RTHA 5 (177), RLHA 13 (59), GOEA 84 (800) TOTAL 144 (1872)

Steeples [Day 14] (Vance Mattson) 1200-1730. The temperature was 7C on arrival but warmed to a high of 14C. Winds were moderate SW with periods of calm and cloud cover was 50% cirrus that increased to 70% altostratus and cumulus by the end of the day. A total of 11 eagles migrated between 1346 and 1702 comprising 10 Bald Eagles (6a, 1sa, 3j) and 1 adult Golden Eagle, but the only real activity occurred between 1530 and 1550 when 8 Bald Eagles were counted. Non-migrants consisted of 4 adult Bald Eagles and 2 resident adult Golden Eagles.

5.5 hours (67) BAEA 10 (61), GOEA 1 (39) TOTAL 11 (255)

MOUNT LORETTE SUMMARY COUNT (September 20 to November 15)

DAYS 18

HOURS 212.8

TURKEY VULTURE (TUVU) 0

OSPREY (OSPR) 1

BALD EAGLE (BAEA) 48

NORTHERN HARRIER (NOHA) 5

SHARP-SHINNED HAWK (SSHA) 65

COOPER’S HAWK (COHA) 14

NORTHERN GOSHAWK (NOGO) 16

Accipiter sp. (UA) 3

BROAD-WINGED HAWK (BWHA) 1

SWAINSON’S HAWK (SWHA) 0

RED-TAILED HAWK (RTHA) 26

FERRUGINOUS HAWK (FEHA) 1

ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK (RLHA) 13

Buteo sp. (UB) 7

GOLDEN EAGLE (GOEA) 1498

Eagle sp. (UE) 2

AMERICAN KESTREL (AMKE) 0

MERLIN (MERL) 4

GYRFALCON (GYRF) 0

PEREGRINE FALCON (PEFA) 3

PRAIRIE FALCON (PRFA) 2

Falco sp. (UF) 1

Unidentified Raptor (UU) 2

TOTAL 1712