October 31 [Day 66] (Denise Cocciolone-Amatto) Denise decided to watch from the Valley View site located at the western base of the ridge. The temperature there (which is usually 3-4C warmer than the ridge top) ranged from 3C to 17C, and winds were light all day, not exceeding 8 km/h, while winds at ridge level were probably also light. Cloud cover was initially 20% altocumulus increasing to 100% altostratus at 1500 before thinning to 70% at 1800. The calm conditions meant that although the first migrant raptor, a Rough-legged Hawk, occurred at 0832 the second, an unidentified Buteo was not seen until 1248. After that there was slow but steady movement but the day’s total of 31 migrants was the lowest count since September 22 (apart from the weather interrupted day on October 4) and only 4 species of raptor were recorded including the 52nd “Harlan’s Hawk” of the season: the subspecies now accounts for 25% of the season’s total Red-tailed Hawk count. The comparative count at Mount Lorette wrapped up today after 30 days of uninterrupted counting, with the last 3 days producing 8, 8 and 11 Golden Eagles respectively. Cliff is presently auditing the data but reports that the total Golden Eagle count is just over 2000, compared to a count of 3999 over the same period (October 2-31) at Piitaistakis-South Livingstone. 10 hours (754.99) BAEA 3 (219), RTHA 1 (209), RLHA 1 (70), UB 1 (5), GOEA 22 (4786), UE 3 (11) TOTAL 31 (7481)

October summary For the first time we spent 31 days (353 hours) in the field at the site in October with only the count on October 4 being significantly curtailed because of adverse weather conditions. The days and hours are 8.8% and 9.7% above average respectively. The combined species count of 5141 is 4.15% above average and is the second highest for the month behind last year’s count of 5605. Only Northern Goshawk (140) set a new monthly high and was 42.1% above average, while Osprey (3, +100%), Broad winged Hawk (1, +100%) and Gyrfalcon (2, = average) equaled previous monthly high counts. Golden Eagles (4059) were 7.8% above average, Peregrine Falcons (7, +40%) and Prairie Falcons (9, +38.5%) were all above the average of the last two years, but all other species were below average. Bald Eagle (181, -33.7%) was probably low because the persistent warm weather has meant that northern water bodies remain largely unfrozen, so significant southward movement of the species has yet to commence. Northern Harrier (7, -17.6%) was only 2 below the highest count of 9 last year, and Sharp-shinned Hawk (516, -6.1%) , Cooper’s Hawk (44, -2.3%) and Red-tailed Hawk (57, -3.4%) were all just slightly below average. A single American Kestrel was only the 3rd to be recorded in the month, and the 15 Merlins were 23.1% below average and the lowest count ever for the month.