Rain in the morning caused a delay in the start of the survey. At 10:00 the
winds were out of the SE at 12-19kph. By 13:00 the winds had shifted to the
NW at 12-19kph which brought the flight to a halt. At 10:00 the ridge was
socked in with fog, but by 10:24 the clouds started lifting rapidly. By
11:00 the visibility was almost to Warriors Ridge, with some stubborn fog
and low clouds in Stone Valley still. By noon visibility had opened up to
Stone Mountain and was excellent. Mostly cloudy skies for the entire day.
Low temperature of 12C at 10:00 and a high of 23C by 13:00.
Raptor Notes
TV 1 (252) OS 1 (19) NH 1 (16) SS 7 (76) RT 3 (201) UE 1 (4) UR 1 (18)
Total 15 (908)
Solid flight considering the weather wasn’t looking good early in the
morning. SS’s led the flight with a total of 7 moving mostly on the S of
Tussey Mountain over Leading Ridge or Stone Valley. The first two were in
the air quickly once the fog lifted at 10:57, one following the other but
keeping its distance. At 13:21 I had 3 in the air at once, two following
the Stone Valley route and the other choosing to fly over Tussey Mountain
to the N. Another grey ghost flew out over Stone Valley.
Other than TUVU, the resident raptors were non-existent.
Non-raptor Notes
COLO 6 13:05, 1 14:29
At the top of the 13:00 hour two separate groups of 3 COLO flew over Tussey
Mountain headed N. The 14:29 COLO literally flew right up the powerline cut
and over the OP. Awesome view of those large feet. Pretty impressive to see
them flying over mountains in this habitat.
Common Merganser 4
Wild Turkey 1
Mourning Dove 1
Common Loon 7
Double-crested Cormorant 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Pileated Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 2
Blue Jay 2
American Crow 1
Common Raven 1
Black-capped Chickadee 4
Horned Lark 1
Tree Swallow 5
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
American Robin 1
Field Sparrow 2
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 1
Song Sparrow 1
Red-winged Blackbird 1
Brown-headed Cowbird 9
Visitors
Jacqui and David McKee hiked out in the afternoon and were great help
spotting as always. Jacqui picked up a distant eagle sp., most likely
a BE.
Jacqui and David McKee
1 hiker
Next Day Forecast
Showers, mainly before 8am. High near 60. Light north wind. Chance of
precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter
of an inch possible.
