The Piitaistakis (South Livingstone Ridge)and Mt. Lorette Raptor Counts for the spring migration of 2010 are underway. Follow the daily movement of raptors in these field notes by Research Director Peter Sherrington and his citizen scientist colleagues.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

May 13 [Day 80] (Piitaistakis Ridge site) It was another beautiful day with a temperature high of 12C helping to make a few small holes in the snow pack on the ridge. Winds were mainly W gusting to 30-35 km/h after 1630, but before then they were mainly light and even calm for extended periods. Cloud cover started at 10% cirrus and gradually thickened with cumulus developing, reaching 70-80% after 1400 and giving excellent observing backdrops. Despite the seemingly ideal migration and observing conditions only 2 migrant raptors were recorded: an unaged Sharp-shinned Hawk at 1330 and a subadult Golden Eagle at 1736, and resident raptors and even ravens were also hard to find. The first Red-disked Alpine butterfly of the season looked a little incongruous flying over an unbroken expanse of snow. I have decided to return to the Valley View site for a couple of days to give the snow a chance to melt a little more, and to assess whether the raptor migration might, in fact, be almost over for the season. 11.75 hours (914.9) SSHA 1 (68), GOEA 1 (2164) TOTAL 2 (2960)

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