October 22 [Day 57] (Valley View site) It was finally a pleasant day with the temperature reaching 11C at 1600 from a low of 5C, ground winds NNW switching to SW at 1250 generally 10-15 gusting 25 km/h, ridge winds moderate WNW all day and 5-70% cumulus cloud cover providing sunny conditions for most of the day. Raptor movement continued where it left off yesterday with the first 2 Golden Eagles appearing at 0819 and 17 birds passing south before 0900. The day’s maximum passage was 48 birds between 1100 and 1200 at which time a day similar to yesterday’s appeared to be in the offing, but the pace dropped in the afternoon before picking up again after 1600 with the last 2 of the day’s 226 Golden Eagles (196a,11sa,19j) flying high to the south at 1841. Bald Eagles again moved strongly with the total of 36 (23a,9sa,4j) being the highest daily count so far,12 Sharp-shinned Hawks finally put the species total for the season above the 1000 mark, and the Northern Harrier at 1410 was only the season’s 2nd adult male in the record total of 95 so far. There was little songbird movement but a Belted Kingfisher at 1020 was the 103rd bird species for the season and the first ever in October. 11.67 hours (673.3) BAEA 36 (176), NOHA 1 (95), SSHA 12 (1003), NOGO 1 (108), RTHA 1 (191), RLHA 1 (35), GOEA 226 (3129) TOTAL 278 (5353)
Mount Lorette [Day 30] (Joel Duncan) Temperatures ranged from 0C to 8C, ground winds were mainly light SW while ridge winds were light to moderate W, and cloud cover started at 70% altocumulus and gradually diminished to 20% by the end of the day. A total of 85 migrant raptors moved between 1006 and 1838 of which 81 were Golden Eagles (44a,10sa,6j,21u), with maximum movement of 17 birds late in the day both between1600 and 1700, and from 1700 to 1800. Three American Tree Sparrows were the first seen this season 11 hours (351.51) BAEA 3 (55), SSHA 1 (55), GOEA 81 (1848) TOTAL 85 (2044)