October 30 [Day 39] (Bill Wilson, assisted by Brian McBride) It was a warm day with a starting temperature of 7C which rose to an unseasonal high of 10C at 1300-1500 and was still 6C at 1830. Ground winds were WSW 5-15 km/h to 0900 then 10-20 gusting 30 km/h for the rest of the day with a highest gust of 43 km/h, while ridge winds were strong SW all day regularly gusting over 100 km/h with a maximum gust of 157 km/h at 0800. Cloud cover was 10-30% cumulus to 1400 then variable 40-100% stratus, cumulus and altostratus for the rest of the day. The western ridges were 30-50% obscured between 1000-1100 with very light rain at the site, which increased throughout the afternoon to 90% with light rain persisting after 1500. A total of 21 raptors migrated between 0844 and 1701 with most birds moving very high above the eastern valley to the west of the Fisher Range ridge, with the highest hourly count of 6 birds (1 Sharp-shinned Hawk, 1 Northern Goshawk and 4 Golden Eagles) between 1300 and 1400. The flight comprised 2 Bald Eagles (1a,1j), 1 unaged Sharp-shinned Hawk, 2 Northern Goshawks (1a,1u), 15 Golden Eagles (10a,5u) and an unidentified eagle that was the first bird of the day. Other bird species recorded included 6 unidentified white-headed gulls flying south, 20 Bohemian Waxwings, 6 Pine Grosbeaks and 30 White-winged Crossbills.

10.5 hours (448.36) BAEA 2 (97), SSHA 1 (109), NOGO 2 (35), GOEA 15 (3299), UE 1 (2) TOTAL 21 (3662)

The adventures of “Elaine” (Golden Eagle #78453) As predicted Elaine finished the day of October 29 about 60 km ENE of the northern end of Flathead Lake in the Lewis Range of northern Montana, having covered about 300 km that day. It will be interesting to see if she now slows down as she approaches southern Montana where she wintered earlier in the year, or whether she will continue farther south.

October 29 [Day 38] (Cliff Hansen, assisted by Chris Hunt) The temperature remained at 0C until 0900 and briefly rose to 5.5C at 1400 before falling again to 1C at 1830. Ground winds were SW all day, light to 1200 then 5-15 gusting 25 km/h to 1800 after which they became light again. Ridge winds were SW moderate to strong with a maximum gust of 80 km/h at 1400. Cloud cover was initially 50% cumulus that diminished to 5% at 1400 giving clear blue skies to the east between 1000 and 1400, after which an altostratus arch formed giving 40-80% cloud cover for the rest of the day. A total of 35 raptors migrated slowly but steadily between 1108 and 1750, with most of the birds moving high above the Fisher Range, and the highest hourly count was 8 birds (1 Bald Eagle, 7 Golden Eagles) between 1200 and 1300. The flight comprised 2 adult Bald Eagles, 1 light morph Rough-legged Hawk and 32 Golden Eagles (27a,2sa,2j,1u). Non raptors included a female Northern [Red-shafted] Flicker, 1 Song Sparrow, 36 Pine Grosbeaks and 63 Common Redpolls.

11 hours (437.86) BAEA 2 (95), RLHA 1 (32), GOEA 32 (3284) TOTAL 35 (3641)

Piitaistakis-South Livingstone: Frank site (Peter Sherrington, assisted by Bill Tice, Dan Lee, Phil Nicholas and David Thomas) The temperature high was 5C at 1200 and 1300 with lows of 3C at either end of the day, ground winds were W-WSW generally 5-10 gusting 25 km/h while ridge winds were strong WNW all day. Cloud cover was 30-70% cumulus to 1400 after which 80-90% cumulus, cirrus, altocumulus and lenticular cloud developed resulting in excellent observation conditions all day. The movement was very similar to that at Mount Lorette with the first Golden Eagle not appearing until 1111 with subsequent steady high to very high movement to the south above the Livingstone Range. The flight of 40 raptors comprised 6 Bald Eagles (2a,2sa,2j), 2 adult Sharp-shinned Hawks, 3 adult Northern Goshawks and 29 Golden Eagles (23a,1sa,5j). The resident family of 2 adult and 1 juvenile Golden Eagles were conspicuous throughout the day with an adult bird displaying on several occasions.

7 hours BAEA 6, SSHA 2, NOGO 3, GOEA 29 TOTAL 40

The adventures of “Elaine” (Golden Eagle #78453) Elaine spent the night of October 28 at the northern end of the Livingstone Range near the Highwood Junction which meant that she passed over or close to Mount Lorette earlier that day, and she was probably one of the birds seen from the Piitaistakis-South Livingstone site today. The chances are that she is now in Montana, and if this is the case she moved through the Alberta Rockies in about 2.5 days.

October 28 [Day 37] (Terry Waters) The temperature reached 7C at 1400 and 1500 from a morning low of -3C and was 3C at 1800. Ground winds were SW all day, generally 10-20 gusting 30 km/h and sometimes higher, while ridge winds were very strong gusting above 100 km/h all day and peaking at 136 km/h at 1800. Cloud cover was 100% altostratus and altocumulus all day except for a brief period around 1100 when it reduced to 50%, and between 1400 and 1600 the ridge tops were hazy. For the third straight day raptor movement was sparse with only 18 birds migrating between 1005 and 1658, and 6 of these (2 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 1 Northern Goshawk, 1 Rough-legged Hawk and 2 Golden Eagles) moved between 1000 and 1100. The flight comprised 2 Sharp-shinned Hawks (1a,1j), 1 adult Northern Goshawk, 1 dark morph Rough-legged Hawk and 14 Golden Eagles (9a,1sa,4u). Because of the high ridge winds a number of eagles moved to the west of the Fisher Range and 6 birds flew from Mount Lorette to the south high above the centre of the valley. This is the 3^rd consecutive day of low Golden Eagle movement and it is possible that we are simply running out of birds! Songbirds flew low above the river to the south throughout the day to avoid the wind, including 36 Bohemian Waxwings, 6 Grey-crowned Rosy-Finches, 65 Common Redpolls and 6 Pine Siskins. A late male Brewer's Blackbird was in the Meadow, and a Northern Pygmy-Owl sang from east of the river around noon.

10.5 hours (426.86) SSHA 2 (108), NOGO 1 (33), RLHA 1 (31), GOEA 14 (3252) TOTAL 18 (3606)

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.

October 26 [Day 35] (Cliff Hansen, assisted by Kevin Barker) The high temperature was 4C between 1200 and 1600 from a morning low of -4C, and it was -1C at 1830. ground winds were SW all day initially 5-15 km/h and then 20-25 km/h after 1000, while ridge winds were strong SW and occasionally WSW gusting to 88 km/h in the morning and 142 km/h at 1600. Cloud cover was 40-50% cirrus to 1100 after which 90-100% Chinook Arch cloud (altostratus, lenticular and cirrus) developed that persisted for the rest of the day. The western ridges started to cloud over at 1300 and from 1700 to the end of the day they were 50% obscured, but the east remained clear. It was a disappointing day with only 11 raptors counted between 0855 and 1755 with a best hourly count of only 3 Golden Eagles between 1700 and 1800. The total of 8 Golden Eagles (4a,1sa,3u) was the lowest since the main movement started on October 10, and the only other migrants seen were a juvenile Cooper's Hawk, the season's second Gyrfalcon (a dark bird at 1117) and a distant unidentified raptor. Other bird species were also scarce but included 2 fairly late male Mountain Bluebirds in the Hay Meadow, a Townsend's Solitaire and a probable Harris's Sparrow.

10.75 hours (405.36) COHA 1 (31), GOEA 8 (3214), GYRF 1 (2), UU 1 (2) TOTAL 11 (3557)

October 25 [Day 34] (George Halmazna) Another cool day with a temperature of -10C to 0900 and a high of 3C at 1400 and 1500. It was calm to light SW until late morning when gusts of 15-25 km/h were experienced until 1400 after which they were again light, with afternoon winds varying between SE and NW. Ridge winds were consistently SW-WSW, generally moderate with gusts only occasionally above 50 km/h. It was cloudless to 1100 after which the cover was 20-60% cumulus for the rest of the day but the cloud was often in “the wrong places” meaning that birds often had to be located in a plain blue sky. Despite this the combined species count of 175 was the 6^th highest of the season, with birds mainly moving along the Fisher Range at altitudes ranging from low to very high, with a few birds moving along the western ridges and some high above the middle of the valley. The movement started late with the first Golden Eagle not appearing until 1115 but it then rapidly built up with 60 birds (57 Golden Eagles) moving between 1200 and 1300. The last Golden Eagle was counted at 1744 and the day's last bird was a Bald Eagle at 1810. The total of 156 Golden Eagles (115a,6sa,16j,19u) was the highest since October 17, the 12 Bald Eagles (8a,4j) was the highest so far this season, and other raptors were 5 Sharp-shinned Hawks (1a,1j,3u), 1 adult Northern Goshawk and 1 light morph Rough-legged Hawk. Finches were again the most common non-raptor comprising 7 Evening Grosbeaks, 31 White-winged Crossbills, 74 Common Redpolls and 14 Pine Siskins.

11.5 hours (394.6) BAEA 12 (86), SSHA 5 (106), NOGO 1 (32), RLHA 1 (30), GOEA 156 (3206) TOTAL 175 (3546)

October 24 [Day 33] (George Halmazna) It was another cool day with a starting temperature of -8C, a high at 1500 of 4.5C and 0C at 1900. Ground winds were were mainly light but briefly gusted to 25 km/h in mid-afternoon, and varied from SW-NE throughout the day, while ridge winds were also mainly light, SW to variable, only becoming moderate at 1900. Initial cloud cover was 10-30% cumulus thickening to 100% stratus and cumulus after 1600, which reduced to 80% cumulus by 1900. Snow flurries developed after 1300 becoming snow between 1700 and 1830 that largely obscured the ridges which only partially cleared again after 1830. Despite the relatively calm conditions and afternoon snow it was again a good raptor movement with 132 birds of 5 species moving between a Northern Goshawk at 0812 and 2 Golden Eagles at 1641 and a Sharp-shinned Hawk at 1643 moving ahead of the snow, with a maximum hourly count of 28 (23 Golden Eagles) between 1500 and 1600. The flight was dominated by 102 Golden Eagles, the 13^th three-figure count of the season, which comprised 83 adults, 7 subadults, 9 juveniles and 3 birds of unknown age. Season-high counts were achieved for Bald Eagle (10: 8a,2j) and Sharp-shinned Hawk (14: 2a,2j,10u), while the rest of the total was made up of 1 unaged Cooper's Hawk and 5 Rough-legged Hawks (4 light and 1 dark morph). There were also good numbers of other bird species seen including 6 Clark's Nutcrackers, 2 Brown Creepers, 7 Pine Grosbeaks, 113 White-winged Crossbills and 246 Pine Siskins, while a single flock of 23 Common Ravens flying east from Mount Lorette briefly had George contemplating a 200+ Golden Eagle day!

11.25 hours (383.11) BAEA 10 (74), SSHA 14 (101), COHA 1 (30), RLHA 5 (29), GOEA 102 (3050), TOTAL 132 (3371)