October 27 [Day 36] (Peter Sherrington) The temperature reached a high of 3.5C at 1600 from with lows of -1C at 0800 and 1900. Ground winds were consistently SW all day generally 5-12 km/h with gusts to 22 km/h, while ridge winds were moderate to strong SW-WSW with a maximum gust of 80 km/h at noon. Cloud cover was 20-30% cumulus for most of the day diminishing to 10% at 1800 and completely disappearing by 1900. Despite the apparent ideal migration conditions and an excellent observation cloud backdrop only 31 migrants were recorded between 0919 and 1835. Movement was fairly steady with most of the day's 24 Golden Eagles (17a,4sa,2j,1u) moving high above the Fisher Range, although most of the 7 Bald Eagles (1a,1sa,3j, 2 undifferentiated immatures) flew from Skogan Pass over Hummingbird Plume Hill before joining the Fisher Range. The highest single hour count was only 7 birds (2 Bald Eagles, 5 Golden Eagles) between 1300 and 1400. All the migrant raptors recorded were eagles, but a resident adult female Northern Goshawk with a conspicuously full crop flew low to the south close to the site at 1725. There was a conspicuous movement of passerines to the south up to mid morning, including 5 American Robins, 30 Bohemian Waxwings, 25 White-winged Crossbills, 23 Red Crossbills, 2 Pine grosbeaks and 26 Common Redpolls.

11 hours (416.36) BAEA 7 (93), GOEA 24 (3238) TOTAL 31 (3588)

The adventures of “Elaine” (Golden Eagle #78453)

After having entered NE British Columbia on October 26 Elaine moved rapidly to the SE and today was in the front Ranges of the Alberta Rocky Mountains in the SE corner of Willmore Wilderness Park, at about the same latitude as Edmonton and just north of Jasper National Park. At the rate she is travelling there is a good chance that she will pass over Mount Lorette sometime this coming weekend.