April 6 [Day 33] (Terry Waters, assisted by Pat Bulman) Terry was greeted by 10 cm of fresh snow at the site where the temperature was -10C at 0830, which rose to 5C at 1700 and was 3C at 1900. Ground winds were generally light SW-NNW, occasionally gusting to 15 km/h, while ridge winds were also mainly light SW-SSW reaching 14 km/h at 1600. The sky was cloudless to 1100 when scattered cumulus developed that reached 80% at 1400 before dissipating to 30% at the end of the day. A few light snow flurries occurred between 1300 and 1600 that briefly obscured both the eastern and western ridges which were otherwise clear all day. A total of 93 raptors of a season-high 8 species migrated between 0905 and 1804 with 25 of the birds moving between 1700 and 1800. The flight comprised 8 Bald Eagles (5a,3sa), 1 adult male Northern Harrier (the first of the season), 3 adult Sharp-shinned Hawks, 1 adult Northern Goshawk, 4 unidentified small accipiters (that were probably also Sharp-shinned Hawks), 5 adult calurus Red-tailed Hawks, 1 light morph Rough-legged Hawk, 69 Golden Eagles (52a,6sa,11j) and the first American Kestrel of the season, a male. Surprisingly (and rather depressingly) for the time of year both the combined species and Golden Eagle totals were the 4^th highest of the season. The percentage (almost 25%) of immature Golden Eagles was the highest of the season so far. The calm conditions resulted in a lot of soaring flight with most of the birds seen before 1300 moving along the western route and subsequently over the centre of the valley and finally high over the Fisher Range to the east. Song birds seen included 5 Golden-crowned Kinglets, 2 Varied Thrushes, over 70 American Robins, 1 Song Sparrow and 4 Grey-crowned Rosy-Finches. 10.5 hours (322.83) BAEA 8 (51), NOHA 1 (1), SSHA 3 (10), NOGO 1 (4), UA 4 (5), RTHA 5 (13), RLHA 1 (6), GOEA 69 (894), AMKE 1 (1) TOTAL 93 (991)

The further adventures of “Elaine” On April 5 Elaine continued to move to the ENE and on April 6 she flew another 45 km to the NE and is now less than 70 km from her summer range north of the upper North Fork of the Chandalar River in the eastern Philip Smith Mountains.