November 21 [Day 85] Three centimetres of snow fell overnight covering the ice patches on the access trail and making the ascent both slow and, at times, painful. The temperature was -13C until 1030 and combined with WNW winds gusting to 40 km/h the resulting wind chill made observation uncomfortable. Blowing snow was also a problem from 1100 to 1300, but by 1400 the temperature had reached a very pleasant -8C and the wind had dropped a breezy 30 km/h. The sky was cloudless until 1100 when altostratus cloud began to develop reaching a maximum of 60% from 1400 to 1500 before dissipating to a cloudless condition again at 1700. Raptor movement was very similar to that of yesterday with the first Bald Eagle moving at 1142 and was again slow but steady until the last Rough-legged Hawk went south at 1645. Seven of the day’s 13 Bald Eagles moved between 1317 and 1334, and 3 of the 4 Golden Eagles between 1213 and 1216. The only non-raptor migrants were a flock of 28 Canada Geese flying high to the south east of the ridge at 0923.
At 1453 I heard a very soft mewling sound which I didn’t recognize, in fact in the wind I was not sure that it wasn’t my boot in the snow or my clothing that was making the sound. I immediately forgot about the noise, however, when I spotted two adult Bald Eagles flying towards me and when I put my binoculars down I found that I was looking into the beautiful sapphire blue eyes of a young, but almost fully grown cougar staring at me about 10 metres away. After recovering from the surprise I made myself appear as large as possible by standing on my toes and arching my arms (this was also assisted by the fact that I was wearing six layers of clothing!), while at the same time quietly loosening my pepper spray in its holster. After we stared at each other for about 30 seconds I deliberately and overtly turned my head away in what (I hoped) was a submissive gesture and after another 20 seconds the animal moved down-slope to the east where it stood at the edge of the forest making the same mewling sound that I had originally heard. About 20 seconds later an adult female cougar loped down to the young animal passing about 10 metres to the north of me and both immediately disappeared into the forest. If I thought that the young animal looked large the female looked huge by comparison and I was rather relieved that she completely ignored me. 10.08 hours (921.81) BAEA 13 (578), RLHA 2 (74), GOEA 4 (5407) TOTAL 19 (8114)