November 15 [Day 52] (Cliff Hansen, assisted by Kevin Barker and Chris Hunt) The temperature was -6C at 0815, rose to a high of 2C at 1400, and was -1C at the end of the day. It was initially calm with NE winds 5-15 km/h developing after 1000, that gusted to 25 km/h around 1100 and became light after 1600. Ridge winds appeared to be mainly light, and it was essentially cloudless all day although up to 30% of the sky was covered by degrading aircraft condensation trails for much of the day. The final day of the fall 2012 count produced 6 migrant raptors between 0959 and 1542, the flight comprising 4 Bald Eagles (2a,1sa,1j) and 2 Golden Eagles of indeterminate age. All birds were flapping continuously and appeared to have trouble maintaining altitude. This is the sixth consecutive day that have produced two migrant Golden Eagles, and the six days following the two days of poor weather on November 8 and 9 yielded only 24 migrant raptors, including the 12 Golden Eagles. By contrast, the 7 days leading up to the poor weather event produced 370 migrants of which 305 were Golden Eagles. This strongly suggests that birds were moving ahead of the cold front that produced the two-day shut-down. Other birds seen included a female Green-winged Teal on the river, 1 juvenile Northern Shrike, 1 Golden-crowned Kinglet, 1 Pine Grosbeak and 1 Common Redpoll.

9 hours (530.09) BAEA 4 (128), GOEA 2 (2635) TOTAL 6 (2987)

The further adventures of “Elaine” Elaine spent several days, presumably hunting, about 10 km east of the central part of Canyon Ferry Lake, but by November 15 she had moved again to the NW and is presently east of the northern end of the lake, close to where she was on November 4.

MOUNT LORETTE PROVISIONAL FINAL COUNT, FALL 2012, with variance from long-term average in parenthesis, excluding incomplete counts in 1992, 1997, 2002, 2006-2008.

DAYS 52 (-5%)

HOURS 530.09 (-5.9%)

TURKEY VULTURE (TUVU) 0 (n/a)

OSPREY (OSPR) 2 (-26.3%)

BALD EAGLE (BAEA) 128 (-52.45)

NORTHERN HARRIER (NOHA) 6 (-42.9%)

SHARP-SHINNED HAWK (SSHA) 63 (-55.2%)

COOPER’S HAWK (COHA) 10 (-58.9%)

NORTHERN GOSHAWK (NOGO) 30 (-38.1%)

Unidentified Accipiter (UA) 5

BROAD-WINGED HAWK (BWHA) 1 (-86.3%)

SWAINSON’S HAWK (SWHA) 0 (n/a)

RED-TAILED HAWK (RTHA) 26 (-24.3%)

FERRUGINOUS HAWK (FEHA) 0 (n/a)

ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK (RLHA) 61 (+12.7%)

Unidentified Buteo (UB) 2

GOLDEN EAGLE (GOEA) 2635 (-27.3%)

Unidentified eagle (UE) 2

AMERICAN KESTREL (AMKE) 0 (n/a)

MERLIN (MERL) 5 (-30%)

GYRFALCON (GYRF) 1 (-68.2%)

PEREGRINE FALCON (PEFA) 6 (+12%)

PRAIRIE FALCON (PRFA) 2 (=)

Unidentified Falco (UF) 1

Unidentified raptor (UU) 1

TOTAL 2987 (-29.7%)

RMERF extends many thanks to Cliff Hansen for organizing a well-conducted fall 2012 count; to the five Principal Observers: George Halmazna (15 days), Terry Waters (11 days), Cliff Hansen (10 days), Bill Wilson (9 days) and Joel Duncan (7 days); and to the Assistant Observers and all the members and supporters who contributed to a very successful season.