October 6 [NO OBSERVATION] Rain, heavy at times, fell all day with cloud completely enveloping the mountains.

October 5 [Day 16] (Jim Davis, assisted by Cliff Hansen) The temperature was -2C at 0700 and rose to a high of 10C at 1400 and was still 9C at 1610 when the count was terminated because of heavy rain. Ground winds were calm to 1300 then E-NE 5-7 km/k thereafter, and ridge winds were S-SW moderate to 1300 after which they were NE-ENE 4-12 km/h. Cloud cover was 10-20% altostratus to 1300 after which it thickened and lowered from the south to 90% stratus and was100% after 1500. Steady rain started at 1506 finally obscuring all the ridges that started to be draped by cloud after 1500. The first migrant was a Sharp-shinned Hawk at 0753 which flew low to the south above the river, the last bird was also a Sharp-shinned Hawk at 1459 and the highest hourly count was 10 birds between 1300 and 1400. Only 6 birds moved above the western ridges while the rest moved south above the Fisher Range to the east. After yesterday's count the total of only 23 migrants was disappointing and comprised 5 Bald Eagles (3a,2j), 7 Sharp-shinned Hawks (1j,6u), 2 unaged Cooper's Hawks, 2 light morph calurus Red-tailed Hawks (1a,1j), 5 Golden Eagles (4a,1j) and 2 adult Peregrine Falcons. The non-raptor highlight was a Belted Kingfisher chasing a juvenile Northern Shrike, and other birds included 3 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, 6 Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warblers, 9 Dark-eyed Juncos (9 slate-coloured morphs and 1 Oregon morph), 19 Grey-crowned Rosy-Finches and 42 Pine Siskins.

9.25 hours (185.15) BAEA 5 (21), SSHA 7 (48), COHA 2 (8), RTHA 2 (8), GOEA 5 (389), PEFA 2 (8) TOTAL 23 (501)

October 4 [Day 15] (George Halmazna, assisted by Michael Woertman) The temperature rose to a high of 17C at 1600 from a low of 2C, and was 8.5C at 1900. Ground winds were often calm or light, mainly SW (occasionally S or SE), gusting to 40 km/h around 1400, and ridge winds were strong SSW-SW all day gusting to 120 km/h in the morning and 166 km/h in the afternoon. Cloud cover was 100% altostratus and cumulus to 1300 after which it reduced to 50% but increased again to 90% by the end of the day. Movement started relatively early when the first of a season-high total of 189 Golden Eagles was recorded, and persisted to 1744 when the last of the Golden Eagles went south. The highest hourly count was 44 Golden Eagles between 1100 and 1200. The combined species total of 201 birds was also the highest this season and comprised 2 adult Bald Eagles, 7 Sharp-shinned Hawks (5a,2u), 1 adult Northern Goshawk, 1 adult light morph calurus Red-tailed Hawk, 189 Golden Eagles (162a, 5sa,22j) and 1 unaged Peregrine Falcon. A Northern Shrike was the only other bird of note.

12 hours (175.9) BAEA 2 (16), SSHA 7 (41), NOGO 1 (7), RTHA 1 (6) GOEA 189 (384), PEFA 1 (6) TOTAL 201 (478)

October 3 [Day 14] (George Halmazna) The temperature rose to a high of 15.5C at 1600 from a morning low of 2C, ground winds were mainly NE gusting to 18 km/h at 1500, but it was often calm, while ridge winds were strong SSW-SW all day gusting to 160 km/h at 1800. Cloud cover was 100% cirrus and cirrostratus thickening to altostratus and cumulus, diminishing to 70% at 1500 and 1600, and valley fog, that obscured all the ridges, persisted until 1000. The first raptor, a Cooper’s Hawk, was not seen until 1354, the last, 4 Golden Eagles, went south at 1645 and 15 of the day's 25 migrant raptors (14 Golden Eagles and 1 Peregrine Falcon) were recorded between 1600 and 1700. The flight comprised 1 Osprey, 4 Sharp-shinned Hawks (3a,1j), 1 juvenile Cooper's Hawk, 18 Golden Eagles (16a,2sa) and 1 Peregrine Falcon of unknown age. Non-raptor species included the season's first Hermit Thrush, 1 Varied Thrush, 2 Blue Jays, 150 Pine Siskins and a singing Great Horned Owl. 12.33 hours (163.9) OSPR 1 (2), SSHA 4 (34), COHA 1 (7), GOEA 18 (195), PEFA 1 (5) TOTAL 25 (277)

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

October 1 [Day 12] (Jim Davis) The temperature was 5C at 0700 and rose to a high of 7C at 0900 before falling to 3C at 1100 when the site was abandoned because of heavy rain. The wind was very light SW and cloud cover was 100% stratocumulus. Light rain fell from 0700 to 0920, and rain resumed at 1000 becoming heavy at 1100. The western ridges were obscured all day but the Fisher Range to the east was partially open giving some possibility of raptor movement but it too became enveloped in cloud at 1100. Cliff later confirmed that this weather persisted for the rest of the day. No raptors were seen but other birds included 1 migrating Common Loon, 110 American Robins, 5 Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warblers and 1 slate-coloured morph Dark-eyed Junco.

5 hours (139.57) TOTAL 0 (227)

Piitaistakis-South Livingstone: Frank site (Peter Sherrington, assisted by Hilary Atkinson and Raymond Toal) This was the first reconnaissance count of 10 planned for each weekend day during October, but the start was not encouraging as steady rain fell to 0945 and light rain showers persisted until noon. The northern part of the Livingstone Range was obscured by cloud until 1245 and was subsequently draped in local cloud until 1430. Temperatures ranged from 5.5C to 8C and the wind was SSW-SSE, mainly light but occasionally gusting to 15 km/h. The first migrant raptor was not seen until 1355 but the next two hours saw a sporadic movement of birds along the Livingstone Range with the last bird seen at 1551. The flight was 1 adult Bald Eagle, 4 unaged Sharp-shinned Hawks, 1 adult Northern Goshawk, 1 adult light morph calurus Red-tailed Hawk, 2 unaged dark morph Harlan's red-tailed Hawks and 11 Golden Eagles (2 adults, 5 subadults and 4 juveniles). A surprise was two Short-eared Owls that circled high at 1419, flapping above a slowly migrating Golden Eagle on the Piitaistakis Ridge and furnishing just the 3^rd record of the species for the count. There were few passerine migrants but 11 American Robins and 2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets moved south before noon and a flock of 12 Red Crossbills perched briefly at 1557 before continuing south. Many thanks to David Thomas for producing an annotated panorama of the Livingstone Range (using a splendid photograph taken by Raymond) for the use of visitors to the site, and for spending several hours in the parking lot of the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre to guide visitors to the site. Details on accessing the Frank site may be found on our website.

6.5 hours BAEA 1, SSHA 4, NOGO 1, RTHA 3, GOEA 11 TOTAL 20

September 30 [Day 11] (Cliff Hansen, assisted by Anita Walker) Warm weather returned with an initial temperature of 10.5C that rose to a high of 23.5 at 1500 and slowly fell to 16C at 1900. Ground winds were variable S-SW initially 5-10 km/h but gusted to 35 km/h between 1100 and 1500 after which they again became light, and ridge winds were SW-SSW moderate to strong gusting to 102 km/h at 1300. In the morning cloud cover was 40% altostratus that formed a Chinook arch over the Fisher Range to the east, that diminished to 20% as the arch slowly drifted east at 1300 after which it reduced to 10% by 1400. At 1900 90% cumulus, altocumulus and cirrus cloud suddenly developed that persisted for the rest of the day. The arch made high-flying birds easy to detect but aging was impossible in many cases as the birds were silhouetted against the altostratus cloud. It was a delightful day to be in the field but raptor movement was quite slow and sporadic with only a single Cooper's Hawk counted between 1300 and 1700. The day's flight was 28 birds that mainly glided high above the Fisher Range between 0900 and 1900 and which comprised 1 adult Bald Eagle, 1 adult female Northern Harrier, 1 juvenile Cooper's Hawk, 1 juvenile light morph calurus Red-tailed Hawk, 23 Golden Eagles (7a,1sa,2j,13u) and 1 unaged American Kestrel. After 1700 the birds moved lower against the face of the Fisher Range, and the busiest hour of the day came between 1800 and 1900 when 7 birds (6 Golden Eagles and the Red-tailed Hawk) moved. Non raptors were relatively scarce but included a Northern Shrike, 5 Grey-crowned Rosy-Finches and 115 Pine Siskins.

12.33 hours (134.57) BAEA 1 (11), NOHA 1 (2), COHA 1 (3), RTHA 1 (5), GOEA 23 (168), AMKE 1 (2) TOTAL 28 (227)