April 10 [Day 53] (Valley View site) Under a cloudless sky the temperature dropped to -9C at 0700, but rose to 5.5C between 1500 and 1630. Ground winds were mainly light SW to 1400 after which they gusted to 15-20 km/h becoming light again after 1800, and ridge winds were probably light to moderate W-SW although the lack of cloud made them difficult to define. Thin cirrostratus cloud began to develop at 1800 and reached 1005 by 1900. The first migrant raptor, a Golden Eagle, did not appear until 1258 and by 1500 only 6 birds had been recorded and it seemed that yet another poor day’s migration was in the offing. After 1500, however, the pace picked up and when the last Golden Eagle flew north at 1911 40 migrant raptors had been counted, the highest total since April 1. The Golden Eagle total of 28 was the highest for six days and comprised 2 adults, 9 subadults and 17 juvenile birds, which is the highest percentage of juveniles so far and indicates that we are well advanced in the migration of the species, although today we only recorded the 2000th bird of the season at 1703 a number that was reached on March 22 in 2008 and on March 26 last year. It appears that the Golden Eagle count is going to be very low this year. Other migrants were 6 Bald Eagles (3a,3sa), 1 adult female Northern Harrier, 1 adult Sharp-shinned Hawk (the first this month!), and 4 adult light morph calurus Red-tailed Hawks. As snow was forecast for the area tomorrow I left for Calgary for a much needed break immediately after finishing the count. 12.5 hours (617.9) BAEA 6 (343), NOHA 1 (5), SSHA 1 (8), RTHA 4 (52), GOEA 28 (2010)

Mount Lorette [Day 41] (Jim Davis) The temperature rose to a high of 4C at 1400 from a low of -9C, ground winds were W 5-10 gusting 20 km/g becoming light after 1500, and ridge winds were W probably moderate, although the lack of cloud often made it hard to assess. A total of 16 migrant raptors occurred between 1035 and 1707, comprising 4 adult Bald Eagles, 1 adult Northern Goshawk, 10 Golden Eagles (5a,4j,1u) and the season’s first Merlin, an adult male of the race columbarius. Half of the migrant raptors and 7 of the Golden Eagles moved across Mount Allan to the west of the Hay Meadow site. Five Purple Finches, some of which were singing, were a first record for the site this year. 12.25 hours (461.7) BAEA 4 (82), NOGO 1 (21), GOEA 10 (1132), MERL 1 (1) TOTAL 16 (1268)