February 29 [Day 10] The February “bonus day” was delightful with the temperature reaching a season-high 10C from a low of 2C, moderate to strong west winds all day, and variable amounts of cirrus, altostratus and cumulus cloud providing excellent observation conditions. Raptor movement started surprisingly early at 0743 and by 0754 4 adult and 1 juvenile Bald Eagles had moved north above the Gold Creek valley. At 1112 the first Gyrfalcon of the season, a grey morph female, flew overhead, and 2 more Bald Eagles, 2 Rough-legged Hawks and a Golden Eagle brought the morning’s total to 10 migrants and raised expectations for the afternoon. The afternoon, however, was slow with just 7 more migrants which included the first probable migrant Prairie Falcon of the season at 1724. With the addition of 1 or 2 non-migrant Northern Goshawks, the 6 species of raptor recorded was the highest ever for a February RMERF count. The resident Golden Eagle pair spent a lot of time flying over and perched on Bluff Mountain, as they have done over the last four days, and at 1355 they were observed copulating. The only passerine migrants were 30 Grey-crowned Rosy Finches and a single Common Redpoll, the first seen this season. Tomorrow is the start of the Mount Lorette count which as usual will be conducted from the Hay Meadow site.

February Summary. As this is the first count at this site, comparisons are made with the average of 15 counts at Mount Lorette. We spent 10 days (97.17 hours) in the field which are 7.9% and 14.34% above average respectively. The combined species count of 93 is the highest ever and 440.7% of average and over twice the highest ever count at Lorette which was 41 in 2004. The 49 Bald Eagles (+755%), 3 Northern Goshawks (+1400%) and 35 Golden Eagles (+213%) are all highest counts and Rough-legged Hawk (4) and Prairie Falcon (1) are recorded as February migrants for the first time. The Gyrfalcon is only the second February record, having been recorded at Mount Lorette in 1996.

10.75 hours (97.17) BAEA 9 (49), RLHA 2 (4), GOEA 4 (35), GYRF 1 (1), PRFA 1 (1) TOTAL 17 (93)

February 28 [Day 9] The long-threatened weather finally arrived at 0830 quickly obscuring all the ridges that had hitherto been clear. The temperature dropped from 1.5C to -4C by 1000 and the snow became steady so I left until 1400 when the snow had almost stopped and the mountains were beginning to clear. By 1400 all ridges were clear, the temperature had risen to -1C, a light to medium westerly flow had reestablished and the earlier stratus cloud had given way to 50-80% cumulus. The only migrant raptors were two light morph Rough-legged Hawks moving north at 1611 and 1646: the first ever recorded in February on a RMERF count. A non-migratory Bald Eagle headed south and the resident pair of Golden Eagles appeared late in the day and displayed, and one was still soaring at 1808. A singing Northern Pygmy-Owl at 1550 was the season’s first and at 1605 a tight cloud of around 500 Grey crowned Rosy Finches moved low along the ridge. 7 hours (86.42) RLHA 2 (2) TOTAL 2 (76)

February 27 [Day 8] The barometer dropped a further 3 hPa, but apart from three snowflakes in the late afternoon there was no sign of the expected bad weather. The wind however was strong from the WNW or W all day, probably gusting to 90 km/h on the ridge and causing extensive blowing snow until mid afternoon, and raising the temperature to 8C. Cloud cover ranged from 10-90% cumulus, altostratus and cirrus giving excellent observing conditions, although there was not much to observe. Only 7 migrants moved north all day and four of them moved west of the ridge above the valley, probably because of the very high winds on the ridge. One of the Golden Eagles was subadult; all the other eagles were adults. 9.42 hours (79.42) BAEA 5 (40), GOEA 2 (31) TOTAL 7 (74)

February 26 [Day 7] Winds were WNW to W all day, moderate in the morning becoming strong in the afternoon, with 60-90% cumulus, altostratus and cirrus cloud cover. The temperature briefly reached a high of 7.5C from a low of -1C before falling back to 1C at 1800. A barometric drop of 5 hPa in the afternoon is not a good sign for tomorrow’s weather. Raptor migration started fairly early with a Bald Eagle at 1044 but movement was only sporadic for the rest of the day and was especially slow in the late afternoon when the wind was at its highest. A Golden eagle at 1741, however, was the latest migrant so far this season. All the birds were adults with the exception of a single subadult Bald Eagle. 10.5 hours (70) BAEA 6 (35), GOEA 6 (29) TOTAL 12 (67)

February 25 [Day 6] With 5 cm of fresh snow on the ground an almost cloudless sky allowed the temperature to drop to -10C and despite the sunshine the day’s high was only 3C. Ground winds were light and generally from the SW, with ridge winds becoming moderate after 1400. The calm conditions meant that the first migrant, an adult Golden Eagle, was not seen until 1256, and the 8 subsequent migrant eagles generally moved slowly to the north along the Livingstone ridge: with the exception of a subadult Bald Eagle all were adults. A total of 120 Grey-crowned Rosy Finches flew high to the north in two flocks. Raymond took the morning shift and was compensated for the lack of raptors by the appearance a stag Moose that wandered by just after noon. 10.25 hours (59.5) BAEA 6 (29), GOEA 3 (23) TOTAL 9 (55)

February 24 [Day 5] (Raymond Toal) Fog partially obscured the Livingstone Ridge until 1000 when light snow began and completely obscured it for the rest of the day. The snow became moderate at 1300 and heavy at 1500 when the day’s “observation” ended. The temperature started at -3.5C, rose to -1.5C at noon before falling back to -3.5C after 1400, and ground winds were very light SW all day. The only migrants seen was a flock of 6 Bohemian Waxwings flying north at 0810. A barometric rise of 2 hPa late in the day gives hope for a better day tomorrow. 7.25 hours (49.25), No migrant raptors.

February 23 [Day 4] Another pleasant day with the temperature rising from -1C to 6C, but moderate westerly winds made it feel cooler. The upper flow was strong westerly to 1300 producing variable cirrus and altocumulus cloud that diminished to 5% from 1200 to 1330, but progressively increased to 100% cumulus by the end of the day as a light northerly flow aloft became established after 1330. With moderate westerly winds I was expecting an early start to raptor movement but the first migrant, a juvenile Golden Eagle (the only immature bird of the day), did not pass until 1151. Thereafter movement was fairly steady (for February) until 1642 when the day’s 17^th raptor and 10^th Golden Eagle went north. The day’s Golden Eagle total equals the earliest double-figure count for the species, which was Mount Lorette in 1999, and four days of counting have exceeded the former high total February raptor count of 41 at Mount Lorette in 2004 which was achieved in a count of 14 days. At 1757 I watched a resident Golden Eagle soaring over the Livingstone Ridge drop a small branch (c 75-100 cm long) that it was carrying and stoop to catch it in mid-air, repeating the manoeuver almost immediately after before gliding off to the east carrying the branch. In November 2006 I watched a juvenile bird doing the same thing, but this is the first time I have seen an adult bird “playing” in this manner. At 1345 a flock of 30 Bohemian Waxwings that flew high to the north were probably migrants. 10.75 hours (42) BAEA 6 (23), NOGO 1 (3), GOEA 10 (20) TOTAL 17 (46)

February 22 [Day 3] Another amazing day for February, with the temperature reaching 9C from an overnight low of -3C, and after a cloudless start cirrus cloud provided an excellent backdrop between 1130 and 1700 before it cleared again at the end of the day. Winds were again light, only becoming consistently southwesterly after 1420, coincident with the onset of the main raptor movement. Before that time only an adult Bald Eagle and an adult Northern Goshawk had moved north, but between 1420 and 1509, 6 Golden Eagles migrated north along the Livingstone Ridge, passing over the two resident birds that were perched on the ridge (thereby removing any doubt about their migratory status!). Surprisingly 2 of the birds were immature: 1 first subadult and 1 juvenile. Between 1530 and 1712 another 10 Bald Eagles (including 1 juvenile) followed the same route, and the day’s total of 11 Bald Eagles equals the highest ever total for the whole month of February at Mount Lorette, a sum that was counted over a period of 17 days in 2005! The only passerine migrants were flocks of 14 and 20 Grey-crowned Rosy Finches flying high to the north. 10.5 hours (31.25) BAEA 11 (17), NOGO 1 (2), GOEA 6 (10) TOTAL 18 (29)

February 21 [Day 2] A cloudless day with the temperature rising from a low of -2C to 7.5C and variable ground winds rarely reaching 15 km/h. Raptor movement was sporadic between 1043 and 1712 with 3 Bald Eagles and 3 Golden Eagles moving north along the Livingstone Ridge. A subadult Bald Eagle at 1244 was the first non-adult migrant of the season. The resident pair of Golden Eagles was seen hunting and displaying on occasion, and one bird made an unsuccessful pass at a (resident) Prairie Falcon that easily avoided the diving eagle. The first finches of the season were flocks of 25 and 12 Grey-crowned Rosy Finches flying north along the ridge. 10.42 hours (20.75) BAEA 3 (6), GOEA 3 (4) total 6 (11)

February 20 [Day 1] Today was the start of our 16^th consecutive full-season spring count (the first 15 were at Mount Lorette) and the first to be conducted at the Piitaistakis-South Livingstone site. A comparative count will commence at the Mount Lorette site starting March 1. As the access road to the ridge was still deeply buried in snow we started the count where we finished the fall 2007 survey near the western base of the ridge in Valley View above the town of Frank. The opening day’s weather was splendid with the temperature rising to a high of 8.5C from a low of -6.5, with variable winds that never exceeded 8 km/h and slightly hazy sunshine filtered through a thin cirrus cloud cover. At 1025 the resident pair of Golden Eagles made their first appearance and at 1037 we observed them copulating on the Livingstone Ridge: the earliest in the year that I have ever witnessed. The first migrant of the season, an adult Golden Eagle, moved north along the ridge at 1320, followed at 1510 by an adult Northern Goshawk, and finally three adult Bald Eagles followed the same route between 1541 and 1611. 10.33 hours (10.33) BAEA 3 (3), NOGO 1 (1), GOEA 1 (1) TOTAL 5 (5)