September 18 [Day 25] It was an almost ideal day both for migration and observation with the temperature climbing to 19.5C from a low of 10C, W winds generally between 25 and 40 km/h and 50 to 90% cirrus and altostratus cloud cover providing an excellent backdrop to high flying birds. The day’s count of 150 migrant raptors was the highest so far this season with birds of 11 species moving between 0854 and 1823, and the 1000th bird of the season, a Golden Eagle, flew south at 1626. The flight was dominated by a season high count of 91 Sharp-shinned Hawks and a season high equaling 22 Cooper’s Hawks, many of both species remaining un-aged as they moved very high in the afternoon. The 2 Ospreys brought the season’s total to a site-record 28 birds, while 2 light morph Broad-winged Hawks (a and j) and an adult light morph Swainson’s Hawk increased their season’s record counts to 40 and 7 respectively. One of the 13 Red-tailed Hawks was an adult dark morph “Harlan’s Hawk”. A count of 10 Golden Eagles (1a, 3 sa, 6j) continued the slight increase in migrant numbers of the last three days, and the only disappointment after a week of good falcon movement was that today only a single male American Kestrel was recorded. Passerine movement was sparse and included 21 Red-breasted Nuthatches, 6 Golden-crowned and 2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, 9 Mountain Bluebirds, 8 Yellow-rumped Warblers, 2 White-crowned Sparrows and 11 Oregon Juncos, while finches continue to be very uncommon with only single Cassin’s Finch and American Goldfinch moving today. The songbird highlight, however, was a Grey-cheeked Thrush at 0841 which was the 79th bird species of the season and only the 4th record for the site. 12.5 hours (311.59) OSPR 2 (28), BAEA 1 (10), NOHA 4 (54), SSHA 91 (436), COHA 22 (151), NOGO 2 (44), UA 1 (16), BWHA 2 (40), SWHA 1 (7), RTHA 13 (98), GOEA 10 (76), AMKE 1 (29) TOTAL 150 (1035)