October 16 [Day 49] After two days with little or no cloud today we had 100% to 80% altostratus and cumulus cover with the sun only breaking through after 1600. To compound the gloom there was a couple of hours of smoke haze in the late morning. Winds were mainly westerly 20-30km/h in the morning but gusted to 54 km/h by mid afternoon, and the temperature rose to 8C from a start of 6C, falling to 4C by 1900. The first migrant Golden Eagle was not seen until 0921 but thereafter we had a steady stream of birds until 1855 when the last Golden Eagle moved high to the south in the gathering dusk. Sharp-shinned Hawks continue to move strongly but otherwise the day was dominated by Golden Eagles again (210): the last 6 days have produced 1845 migrants. The combined species total of 5564 is 1002 higher than on this date this year: either we are going to have a record count this fall or November is going to be very thin! Migrating finches dominated passerine movement and comprised 188 Grey-crowned Rosy Finches, 14 Purple Finches, 5 Pine Grosbeaks and 6 Common Redpolls, while a male Pileated Woodpecker and a Steller’s Jay added colour to the ridge in the morning. 12 hours (549.94) BAEA 7 (191), NOHA 1 (53), SSHA 36 (1138), COHA 2 (184), NOGO 2 (63), GOEA 210 (3521), MERL 2 (22) TOTAL 260 (5564)