November 11 [Day 51] (Peter Sherrington, assisted by Chris Hunt) The temperature was 5C at 0700 and rose to a high of 6C between 1000 and 1200, falling quickly to 0C at 1700 after a cold front passed in mid afternoon. Yesterday's strong SW-SSW winds persisted throughout the morning with ground wind gusts between 26 and 55 km/h, moderating in the afternoon with gusts to 20 km/h, while ridge winds were strong SW all day gusting between 128 and 178 km/h in the morning and 61-78 km/h in the afternoon. Cloud cover was 100% altostratus and cumulus all day giving gloomy conditions but a good observation background to the east and north. The cold front brought light snow between 1345 and 1730, and both the western and eastern ridges were substantially occluded between 1500 and 1620 after which they all quickly cleared. The only migrant raptors seen from the site were single juvenile Bald Eagles moving high above the Fisher Range at 1016 and 1209, but Chris Hunt reported a juvenile Golden Eagle flapping low towards the south over HW 40 at 1701 as he was leaving, a bird that could not be seen from the Hay Meadow site. Despite the strong winds there was a persistent movement of Common Redpolls (269) and White-winged Crossbills (28) towards the south throughout the morning, and other birds included 50 Bohemian Waxwings and 8 Pine Grosbeaks and an American Dipper that flew high to the west at 1452.

10.33 hours (558.44) BAEA 2 (134), GOEA 1 (3452) TOTAL 3 (3876)

The adventures of “Elaine” (Golden Eagle #78453) On November 10 Elaine was still in the same general area that she was on November 7.