The South Livingston Raptor Count for the fall migration of 2009 has now begun. First official day of counting began on 25th August 2009. Follow the daily movement of raptors on this blog updated daily by Peter Sherrington. If you enjoy and are inspired by what you are reading, and would consider supporting or joining RMERF, please click on Membership for details.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

September 15 [Day 22] The barometric pressure rose 10 hPa overnight producing another delightful day with the temperature rising to 21.5C from a low of 12C. Winds were W all day varying between 7 and 30 km/h and cloud cover was initially 70% altostratus and cirrus reducing to 2% at 1300, but then cumulus cloud developed reaching 80% at 1900 resulting in excellent afternoon viewing conditions. The day got off to a good start with an adult light morph Broad-winged Hawk at 1049 and movement was fairly continuous until 1850 when the day’s 52nd raptor, an Osprey, flew high to the south. Sharp-shinned (20) and Cooper’s (10) Hawks again dominated the flight, and one of the day’s 8 Red-tailed Hawks was a juvenile dark morph “Harlan’s Hawk”. Other highlights were 2 adult Peregrine Falcons at 1153 and 1718 and 4 Ospreys, the last 3 of which moved after 1724. Once again only 3 Golden Eagles (1 subadult, 2 juveniles) migrated. There was a good passerine movement throughout the morning including 93 Red-breasted Nuthatches, 7 Golden-crowned Kinglets, a season-high 85 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, 18 American Robins, 37 Yellow-rumped Warblers, 1 Townsend’s Warbler, 2 Wilson’s Warblers and 4 White-crowned Sparrows. The avian highlight of the day, however, was a flock of 6 male Wild Turkeys that marched to the south in single file along the western edge of the ridge with their red neck wattles shining like rubies as they were backlit by the sun. This is the first time that the species has been recorded on the ridge-top and at 1,900 m they probably represent the highest ever record of the species in Alberta (and elsewhere?). The first wildlife sighting of the day was a large adult male Black Bear that crossed in front of my vehicle on the access road at 0650. 12.67 hours (273.92) OSPR 4 (24), NOHA 1 (43), SSHA 20 (277), COHA 10 (95), NOGO 2 (39), BWHA 1 (32), RTHA 8 (74), GOEA 3 (47), AMKE 1 (21), PEFA 2 (11) TOTAL 52 (707)

1 comment:

GordN YYC said...

That's pretty cool about the wild turkeys! Funny thing I was looking at an old alberta bird book that I think my was my grandfather's. They had them listed which I thought was surprising. Good reads, thanks for the postings.

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