The South Livingstone Raptor Count for the spring migration of 2008 has now begun. First official day of counting began on 20th February 2008. Follow the daily movement of raptors on this blog updated daily by Peter Sherrington.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

May 8 [Day 73] I again watched from the Valley View site and with moderate to strong W winds on the ridge all day this time it proved to be the right decision. Cloud cover was 70-100% cumulus, stratus and, late in the day, cirrus and after some early morning cloud drape the mountains were clear all day except for the day’s only serous snow/hail event from 1810 to 1850 when everything was obscured. The temperature at the base of the ridge reached 7C from a low of 1.5C. The favourable winds and clear ridges allowed a reasonable movement of 17 raptors between 0951 and 1905, the highlight of which was an adult light morph Broad-winged Hawk at 1116 which was the 5th of the season and equals the highest count for a RMERF spring count. The 10 Golden Eagles comprised 3 subadults and 7 juveniles, but it is doubtful if the birds would have reached Mount Lorette today as a snowfall of 20-30cm was forecast for the Kananaskis Valley. 12.67 hours (840.4) BAEA 1 (443), SSHA 2 (152), COHA 2 (31), BWHA 1 (5), GOEA 10 (2939), PRFA 1 (15) TOTAL 17 (4055)

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