September 30 [Day 34] Vance was the principal observer until noon to allow Barbara and myself to take possession of our new house in Beaver Mines. Winds in the morning were W 60-70 km/h moderating to 20 km/h at noon, with the temperature crawling up from -1C to 1C. Winds remained around 20 km/h until 1700 when they again freshened up to 40 km/h, and the temperature reached a high of 5C before falling again to 2C with light snow flurries after 1800. Raptor movement was fairly strong up to 1500, and dominated by Golden Eagles, but after mid afternoon the flow slackened considerably as the clouds darkened, suggesting poor weather to the north blocking the flow. No Buteos were recorded, but the 2 Peregrine Falcons made it 6 days in a row that we have recorded the species.
During the month of September we spent 27 days (308 hours) in the field losing 3 complete days to weather (-6.9% and -5.4% compared to 2006 respectively). The combined species total of 1827 for the month was -4.3% lower than last year. Eight species had counts exceeding those of September 2006: Osprey 12 (+9.1%), Bald Eagle (+48%), Broad-winged Hawk 11 (+22.2%), Ferruginous Hawk 3 (cf 0), Golden Eagle 750 (+33%), American Kestrel 30 (+20%), Peregrine Falcon 27 (+145%) and Prairie Falcon (+66.7%). Eight species had counts less than those of September 2007: Northern Harrier 43 (-33%), Sharp-shinned Hawk 546 (-28%), Cooper’s Hawk 141 (-10%), Northern Goshawk (24 (-25%), Swainson’s Hawk 1 (-50%), Red-tailed Hawk 134 (-23%), Rough-legged Hawk 1 (-50%) and Merlin 6 (-71%). 11.5 hours (377.52) BAEA 1 (41), SSHA 13 (560), COHA 2 (154), UA 2 (52), GOEA 96 (753), MERL 1 (8), PEFA 2 (27) TOTAL 117 (1902)