November 9 [Day 75] (Valley View site) It was a pleasant day with the temperature rising to 6.5C from a low of 0C, ground winds generally W-SW gusting to 30 km/h in the morning but diminishing after noon and moderate to strong W ridge winds becoming moderate after 1100. Cloud cover was 40-100% mainly cumulus and cirrus with altostratus and then cirrostratus developing after 1500, all of which gave excellent viewing conditions. After yesterday’s November record count at Lorette I was expecting a good day and I wasn’t disappointed with a total of 110 migrant raptors moving steadily between 0758 and 1654, with maximum movement of 20 birds between 1500 and 1600. The combined species total is the 3rd highest November count for the site and the latest ever fall count over 100 both at the site and at any RMERF count being one day later than yesterday’s count of 114 at Mount Lorette. The Golden Eagle total of 81 (71a,3sa,7j) is the second highest November count for the site while the 25 Bald Eagles (16a,4sa,5j) is the 5th highest of the season and the highest since November 1. An adult female Northern Harrier seen at 1336 is the latest ever record for the species at the site by 2 days and extends the season’s record count to 99, and an adult grey morph Gyrfalcon at 0949 was the 8th of the season. 10.67 hours (869.47) BAEA 25 (364), NOHA 1 (99), NOGO 2 (133), GOEA 81 (4090), GYRF 1 (8) TOTAL 110 (6588)
Mount Lorette [Day 46] (Cliff Hansen (am) and Des Allen (pm)) Temperatures ranged from 0C to 5C, ground winds were SW 5-20 km/h, ridge winds were strong SW all day and cloud cover averaged 50% cumulus and cirrus with altostratus forming a Chinook Arch to the east. Thanks to Cliff and Des we were able to extend the count by a day, but only 9 migrant raptors were seen (3 Bald and 6 Golden Eagles) with the last Golden Eagle moving south at 1548. 6.58 hours (493.73 hours) BAEA 2 (100), GOEA 7 (2368) TOTAL 9 (2624).
The final totals for the count between September 20 and November 9 were as follows (with the totals at Piitaistakis-South Livingstone for the same period in parenthesis). Days 46 (49), Hours 493.73 (545.88), OSPR 4 (18), BAEA 100 (353), NOHA 5 (43), SSHA 57 (561), COHA 10 (148), NOGO 25 (88) UA 3 (18), BWHA 1 (5), SWHA 0 (0), RTHA 18 (95), FEHA 0 (2), RLHA 16 (61), UB 0 (5), GOEA 2368 (3973), UE 1 (3), AMKE 1 (33), MERL 4 (21), GYRF 1 (8), PEFA 4 (27), PRFA 2 (5), UF 1 (3), UU 3 (8) TOTAL 2624 (5478)