April 22 [Day 48] (Bill Wilson, assisted by Cliff Hansen) The last day of the spring 2012 count started with a temperature of -2C at 0600 that rose to a high of 18C at 1500 and 1600 and was still 15C at 2000. Ground winds were initially WSW (occasionally SE) 2-7 km/h, but by 0900 they were SW gusting to 25 km/h, and after 1100 10-20 gusting 40 km/h, while ridge winds were strong WSW to SW gusting to a maximum of 104 km/h at 1500. The count ended with the highest daily total since April 15 with 22 birds moving between 0807 and 1958 with 14 of the birds occurring after 1800. The first 2 birds moved along the western ridges but the rest were generally first seen over or approaching Mount Lorette and probably originated from Wasootch Creek having moved to the NW below and east of the Fisher Range ridge. The flight comprised 2 adult Bald Eagles, 2 Sharp-shinned Hawks (1j,1u), 2 Red-tailed Hawks of unknown race, morph or age and 16 Golden Eagles (2a,1sa,10j,3u). Other birds included 1 drumming Red-naped Sapsucker, 1 Tree Swallow, 3 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, 3 Mountain Bluebirds, at least 22 American Pipits, 40 Bohemian Waxwings and 1 Song Sparrow. 14 hours BAEA 2 (90), SSHA 2 (25), RTHA 2 (52), GOEA 16 (1034) TOTAL 22 (1259)

LORETTE SUMMARY COUNT (March 1 to April 22)

(With the variance from the average of the 1993-2011 spring counts for the period in parenthesis)

DAYS 48 (-1.3%)

HOURS 495.4 (-8.1%)

TURKEY VULTURE (TUVU) 0 (-100%)

OSPREY (OSPR) 1 (-40.6%)

BALD EAGLE (BAEA) 90 (-49.3%)

NORTHERN HARRIER (NOHA) 2 (-50.6%)

SHARP-SHINNED HAWK (SSHA) 25 (+8.7%)

COOPER’S HAWK (COHA) 6 (-8.1%)

NORTHERN GOSHAWK (NOGO) 16 (-26%)

Accipiter sp. (UA) 7

BROAD-WINGED HAWK (BWHA) (-100%)

SWAINSON’S HAWK (SWHA) 0 (never recorded in this count period)

RED-TAILED HAWK (RTHA) 52 (+107.6%)

FERRUGINOUS HAWK (FEHA) 0 (-100%)

ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK (RLHA) 7 (-53.3%)

Buteo sp. (UB) 3

GOLDEN EAGLE (GOEA) 1034 (-62.8%)

Eagle sp. (UE) 4

AMERICAN KESTREL (AMKE) 2 (+123.5%)

MERLIN (MERL) 5 (-18.8%)

GYRFALCON (GYRF) 1 (-17.4%)

PEREGRINE FALCON (PEFA) 3 (+235.3%)

PRAIRIE FALCON (PRFA) 1 (-52.5%)

Falco sp. (UF) 0

Unidentified Raptor (UU) 0

TOTAL 1259 (-59.1%)