March 16 [Day 23] (Valley View site) The temperature reached 1C from a low of -4C at 0800 and fell back again to -4C at 1900, ground winds were mainly SW-WSW 10-15 gusting 25 km/h, ridge winds were W moderate all day and cloud cover ranged from 70-100% mainly stratocumulus and cumulus. There was an additional 5cm of snow on the ground this morning and snow fell for most of the day, stopping only between 1300 and 1530. The Livingstone Range was clear until 1700 but the ridges to the south were mainly occluded except for a break between 1300 and 1600. Raptor movement only occurred in this period with the exception of a single Golden Eagle that flew north in snow at 1730. The first Golden Eagle appeared at 1318 and movement was continuous to 1550 during which period 80 Golden Eagles and 5 Bald Eagles moved north, and 51 of the Golden Eagles moved between 1400 and 1500 establishing a new spring hourly record for the species at the site. As soon as we finally get a day of decent weather we should expect a large movement of eagles as we are currently running 204 Golden Eagles behind last year’s total at this time and 319 behind last year’s combined species total. 11.5 hours (242.4) BAEA 5 (113), GOEA 81 (663) TOTAL 86 (790)
Mount Lorette (Alan Hingston) 10 cm of fresh snow greeted the observers, the temperature ranged from -5C to 2C and ridge winds were moderate W-SW all day. The west and south were obscured all day, but the Fisher Range to the east remained clear. The only migrant raptors seen were 11 Golden Eagles that moved between 1056 and 1345, with 6 of the birds seen between 1200 and 1300. 11.67 hours (147.1) GOEA 11 (136), TOTAL 11 (157)