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)