October 9 [Day 42] This was the most pleasant day for weeks with the temperature rising to 6.5C from a low of 1.5C under sunny skies that were cloudless after 1400. Winds were upslope all day varying from E to NE, generally 5-15 km/h and even, on occasion, calm. Because of the light winds the only birds to move in the morning were 48 Sharp-shinned Hawks and 4 Merlins, and the first Golden Eagle was not seen until 1233. The highlight of the morning was an adult male columbarius Merlin flying flat-out pursuing a Downy Woodpecker that had just taken off from the site, which avoided being taken by suddenly dropping vertically just as the Merlin caught up with it. All the birds flying in the morning moved very close to the site and had us ducking on occasion. The combined species total for the day was 316 (11 species) and was the highest so far this season. The 160 Sharp-shinned Hawks was the highest single day count ever for an RMERF count, and the 15 Bald Eagles was the highest daily total for the season. The Osprey was the latest ever seen on an RMERF count, the previous latest being on October 3 at Plateau Mountain (1997) and at Mount Lorette (2000). One of the 9 Red-tailed Hawks was an adult intermediate morph Harlan’s Hawk, and a single juvenile Peregrine Falcon brought the season’s total to 30. We shared the site with a Northern Pygmy-Owl for much of the day, and passerine movement was again dominated by American Robins (98) and the first significant movement of Bohemian Waxwings (30). Many other small passerines passed by in the crops of Sharp-shinned Hawks! 12.8 hours (465.68) OSPR 1 (15), BAEA 15 (85), NOHA 1 (47), SSHA 160 (811), COHA 1 (168), NOGO 5 (38), RTHA 9 (167), RLHA 1 (4), GOEA 118 (1632), UE 1 (4), MERL 4 (14), PEFA 1 (30) TOTAL 316 (3143)