September 3 [Day 10] The temperature was 17C at 0800 and rose to 22C at 1400, falling back to 16C at 1900. Winds were initially light S, becoming SW at 1010 and WSW after 1600, and wind speeds became increasingly strong gusting to 90 km/h by 1600 and 110 km/h after 1800. Cloud cover was initially 30-70% altostratus and altocumulus, but at 1010 dark cumulus moved from the SW bringing very light rain showers until mid afternoon, but did not produce the forecast thunderstorms. After 1500 the clouds progressively dissipated to 20% cumulus at 1900. There was a light movement of raptors before the winds increased including the season’s first Merlin (an adult female of the columbarius race), 2 Ospreys and a juvenile Peregrine Falcon, but between 1340 and 1609 no migrants were seen and it appeared that the high winds were preventing movement. Between 1609 and 1653, however, there was a flurry of activity with very high-flying birds including 2 more Ospreys, 2 adult Peregrine Falcons and the season’s first migratory Prairie Falcon, but subsequently the high winds finally shut everything down. There was a fairly good songbird movement in the calmer early part of the morning including 16 Golden-crowned Kinglets, 18 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, 17 Yellow-rumped warblers, 3 Townsend’s Warblers and 5 Wilson’s Warblers. The highlights, however, were the site’s second ever Chestnut-backed Chickadee at 0806 (the first being Sept 19, 2006) and a first winter Lark Sparrow at 0908 which is a new species for the Crowsnest Pass area and the 157th recorded for the site. A single Cedar Waxwing flying south at 1207 was the 70th bird species recorded so far this season. A single Long-dash Skipper was also a first for the year and other butterflies on the wing were Northwest Fritillaries, Western Whites and a single Dark Wood Nymph before high winds ended their activity. 12 hours (123.08) OSPR 4 (6), SSHA 2 (88), COHA 2 (21), RTHA 1 (22), MERL 1 (1), PEFA 3 (4), PRFA 1 (1) TOTAL 14 (222)