February 22 [Day 7] (Valley View site) It was calm with occasional gusts to 6 km/h at the valley bottom until 1330 and it didn’t appear to be much windier on the ridge. Between 1330 and 1630 winds were W-WSW 5-10 gusting 15 km/h, dropping again to less than 5 km/h after 1630. The temperature reached a season high 9C from a low of -6C and cloud cover was 60-100% thin cirrostratus in the morning becoming 40-90% thin altocumulus and altostratus in the early afternoon that gradually thickened to 100% altostratus after 1530. Overall it felt like spring and coats were removed for the first time this season! The calm conditions meant that the first migrant raptor, an adult Golden Eagle, did not appear until 1244, and the second, an adult Bald Eagle, not until 1354. As the wind increased the flow of birds became more steady with 1500-1600 yielding 6 migrants (1 Bald Eagle, 1 Rough-legged Hawk and 4 Golden Eagles) and 1700-1800 5 migrants (2 Rough-legged Hawks, 2 Golden Eagles and the season’s first Prairie Falcon at 1718). The day’s last migrant was a subadult Golden eagle at 1739. The Golden Eagle recorded at 1701 was the 100th raptor of the season and represents the earliest date that we have reached a three-figure total; 8 days earlier than last year’s previous record on March 1st (last year was a leap-year). Both Bald Eagle (54) and Golden Eagle (43) have already established new February record counts and Rough-legged Hawk (4) has equaled the month’s high count. The weather forecast for the coming week, however, suggests that we may have seen most of the month’s movement already, with snow predicted for the rest of the month. Bohemian Waxwings continue to appear in good numbers with 225 counted today. A single White-winged Crossbill flying north just after 0800 was a first February record for the site, as was a single Canada Goose flying high to the west at 1722, 14 days earlier than last year’s first occurrence. 11 hours (72.25) BAEA 7 (54), RLHA 3 (4), GOEA 7 (43), PRFA 1 (1) TOTAL 18 (104)