October 2 [Day 13] (Bill Wilson, assisted by Cliff Hansen) It was a much more pleasant day with the temperature reaching a high of 17C at 1500 from a low of -2C and it was 9.5C at the end of the day. Ground winds were WSW generally light but occasionally gusted to 20-30 km/h in the afternoon, while ridge winds were SSW moderate to strong with a maximum gust of 143 km/h at 1700. Cloud cover was initially 5% cumulus but varied between 30% and 70% for much of the day before reaching 90% cumulus and altostratus at the end of the day, so most of the day was sunny. There was early morning fog in the valley which quickly dissipated. It was again a rather disappointing day of raptor movement with only 25 birds counted between 1046 and 1654 with 9 of the birds moving between 1200 and 1300 and only 3 birds occurred after 1500. The flight comprised 3 adult Bald Eagles, 5 Sharp-shinned Hawks (2j,3u), 2 adult Cooper's Hawks, 3 adult Northern Goshawks, 1 small unidentified Accipiter, 1 unidentified Buteo, 9 Golden Eagles (7a,1j,1u) and 1 small unidentified Falcon (either an American Kestrel or a Merlin). There was a reasonable variety of other birds including 1 migrating Common Loon, 1 Swamp Sparrow, 1 Varied Thrush (that sang once), 2 Blue Jays, 32 Grey-crowned Rosy-Finches and a pair of Great Horned Owls that sang at dusk.

12 hours (151.57) BAEA 3 (14), SSHA 5 (30), COHA 2 (5), NOGO 3 (6), UA 1 (2), UB 1 (1), GOEA 9 (177), UF 1 (1) TOTAL 25 (252)

Piitaistakis-South Livingstone: Frank site (Peter Sherrington, assisted by Hilary Atkinson, Denise Cocciolone-Amatto, Raymond Toal, Doug and Teresa Dolmen, Nel Van Kamer, Keith McClary and David Thomas) It was a pleasant day with the temperature reaching 17C at 1300 and 1400 from a low of 13C, ground winds were mainly light SW occasionally gusting to 30-50 km/h in the afternoon, and ridge winds were moderate to strong W all day. Cloud cover was 40-70% cumulus generally giving good observing conditions, and occasional light showers ceased after 1030. The first Golden Eagle was not seen until 1105 but there was then fairly strong movement to 1541 although no migrant Golden Eagle was seen after 1410. Much of the movement was high above the Livingstone Range and the count was dominated by 28 Golden Eagles (13a,5sa,8j,2u) and 24 Sharp-shinned Hawks (4a,1j,19u) that often flew high together, the sharp-shins often following the eagles like pilot-fish as we have observed many times before. Other migrants were 4 Cooper's Hawks (2a,2u), 3 adult Northern Goshawks, 3 small unidentified accipiters, 1 adult male columbarius Merlin and 2 unidentified raptors. Red-tailed Hawks were seen hunting the ridge throughout the day, and 3 light calurus birds (2a,1u) were considered to be migrants. The bird of the day, however, was a red-tail that glided high and fast to the south at 1517, which after much puzzlement on our part, finally soared and showed itself to be an adult light morph Harlan's Hawk, which is a rare plumage type for the subspecies, the great majority of birds being dark. A Northern Pygmy owl singing to the west of us at 1558 completed the raptor count for the day.

6.5 hours SSHA 24, COHA 4, NOGO 3, UA 3, RTHA 4, GOEA 28, MERL 1, UU 2 TOTAL 69