May 24 [Day 86] (Piitaistakis Ridge) The temperature rose to 14C at 1200 from a low at 0800 of 8.5C, but fell to 8C at 1400 as light rain and hail fell between 1325 and 1425 and subsequently rose again to 11C for the rest of the day. Cloud cover ranged from 100-30% mainly altocumulus and cirrus with towering cumulus developing between 1300 and 1430 which appeared to presage a thunderstorm that didn’t materialise. Winds were S light until 1400 when they became moderate NE-E gusting to 35 km/h for the rest of the day, although the upper flow appeared to remain southerly. Raptor movement was sporadic with 8 birds moving between 0818 and 1720, of which 3 were juvenile Golden Eagles. Of note were an un-aged Turkey Vulture at 1555, a juvenile light morph Swainson’s Hawk at 0957 and a juvenile light morph Ferruginous Hawk at 1133 that brought the season’s total to 11, equaling last spring’s count. A Cassin’s Finch singing near the parking area was a first spring record, 2 Fox Sparrows singing near the site represented a new species for the count and 2 Dusky Flycatchers singing by the access trail in the evening were a first record for the season and the 93rd species recorded this spring so far. Tomorrow will be the last day of the spring 2009 count. 12.83 hours (980.9) TUVU 1 (6), NOHA 1 (37), SWHA 1 (7), RTHA 1 (213), FEHA 1 (11), GOEA 3 (2736) TOTAL 8 (3836)