October 12 [Day 47] Upslope conditions continued until 1700 when the wind shifted from E to NW but winds were light all day, never exceeding 8 km/h, and it was often calm for extended periods. It was cloudless until 1700 when stratocumulus cloud moved rapidly from the NW and after 1800 cloud cover was 100% with snow squalls developing to the NE. The temperature reached 6C from a low of -2C, but the calm conditions and bright sunshine (plus the contrast with the last 3 days) made it feel positively tropical. Calm conditions and cloudless skies are generally the worst combination for raptor movement/observation, but today was an exception with strong movement from 1100 to 1608 after which movement totally ceased, probably because cloud was enveloping the ridges to the north. Most movement was close to the ridge and with the help of Doug and Teresa it was not too challenging to pick the birds out against the blue sky. Sharp-shinned Hawks (67) had their strongest movement since October 3 and at 1256 surpassed the previous seasonal site record of 1247 set in 2006. Golden Eagles passed the 2000 mark at 1313 and the other 5 raptor species seen added only 9 birds to the day’s total of 164. Bill Wilson at Mount Lorette recorded only 21 Golden Eagles before 1700, but between 1700 and 1907 he counted a further 87 birds, but saw no other migrant raptor all day. Bill is going to be the Principal Observer at the Piitaistakis-South Livingstone tomorrow (allowing me to go to Calgary to have Thanksgiving dinner with Barbara and the family), so he will probably count the same 87 birds tomorrow morning. Non-raptor movement was sparse but included the second Lapland Longspur of the season at the site and 2 Northern Pygmy-Owls: one singing and calling at the parking area at 0730 and the regular at the site 300m higher that was first seen at 1000. 11.67 hours (540.58) BAEA 4 (69), SSHA 67 (1285), COHA 1 (223), NOGO 2 (107), RLHA 1 (17), GOEA 88 (2045), MERL 1 (23) TOTAL 164 (4177)