October 9 [Day 45] (Valley View site after 1100) After spending 1.5 hours (it normally takes 35-40 minutes) climbing to the ridge top in drifts often above my knees I found a temperature of -15C with E-SE winds up to 11 km/h and about 20 cm of fresh snow. By 1000 I was so cold that I decided to go down again, but not before finding fresh Cougar tracks just to the north of the site, the animal having recently crossed the ridge from west to east. The temperature at the Valley View site was a much more pleasant -9C, which rose to -6C at 1400 before falling to -13C at 1900 under a cloudless sky, and light snow persisted until 1330. Winds were light all day initially E and becoming SW-W after 1330, and cloud cover was 100% stratocumulus to1400 breaking up to 40-50% cumulus to1700 after which it was cloudless. The first raptor was a Rough-legged Hawk at 1228, and the first Golden Eagle was at 1304 but concerted movement didn’t begin until after 1400 peaking at 25 birds between 1600 and 1700 with the last of the day’s 48 Golden Eagles (32a,6sa,10j) moving at 1834. An Osprey at 1215, looking most incongruous flying against the snow covered mountains, raised the season’s record total to 48, and the 19 Bald Eagles (12a,5sa,2j) that moved between 1543 and 1809 was the highest count so far this season. At 1327 a smaller goose flying west above the Crowsnest Valley with 6 Canada Geese turned out to be a Greater White-fronted Goose [bird species # 95] which is a new species for the count [#160] and is also a bird that is not on the Crowsnest Pass checklist. More prosaically 4 south-bound European Starlings were the 96th species for the season, a Wilson’s Snipe flying high to the south over the valley was the 97th and represented a first fall record for the count, and a Steller’s Jay at 1757 was the 98th bird species seen so far. I shall probably continue to watch for the Valley View site until it warms up a bit! 11.75 hours (533.88) OSPR 1 (48), BAEA 19 (76), RTHA 1 (174), RLHA 3 (20), GOEA 48 (1128) TOTAL 72 (3087)
Mount Lorette [Day 17] (George Halmazna 0715-1300, Des Allen 1300-1915) The temperature at 0715 was -19C and dropped further to -21C before rising to -4C between 1300 and 1700 after which it fell to -11C at 1900 under a cloudless sky. Winds were variable and light all day, and cloud cover reached a maximum of 60% altostratus at 1000 reducing to 10% at 1400 and was cloudless after 1700. The first raptor of the day was a Northern Goshawk at 1156 but the first of the day’s 51 Golden Eagles wasn’t seen until 1405, they peaked at 17 between 1700 and 1800 and the last went south at 1820. Not only was the count of Golden Eagles close to that at P-SL but the age structure was also gratifyingly similar: 30a, 3sa, 7j and 11u. 12 hours (211.84) BAEA 1 (16), NOGO 1 (16), GOEA 51 (892) TOTAL 53 (1012)