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| looking upstream along the Smith River with frozen over Sheep Creek coming in on the left |
Official Counter
Adam Richardson
Observers
None
Weather
-6C at 09:30 with mostly clear skies. By 11:30 the winds had picked up out of the
south at 4-10kph. Light cloud cover all
day off the edges of the horizon, but clear over the OP. To the E it looked like there may have been
some light precipitation. A high of 9C
at 16:30 with 28cm of snow. The snow is
melting fast in most places. The river continues
to run from 10:30-13:30 just upstream of the OP.
Raptor Notes
15 migrating raptors came north to the Smith River Canyon
primarily during the 13:00-15:00 hour.
(11) GOEA (1) BAEA (2) RLHA (1) RTHA.
The first real kettle formed on top of Jumbo in the 13:00 hour with
several GOEA, RTHA and RLHA all circling together. Careful tracking of the birds showed these to
be migrants as they came N to Berkins Butte passing to the east of the butte
and on N into the Smith River Canyon.
Things remained steady through the following hour and shut down
completely after 15:00.
Today’s 9-hour effort yielded some additional clues into these
spring migrants’ behavior with possibly a better understanding of the flight
lines they are using. It finally occurred
to me that Jumbo is taking a lot of sun since the face I am watching is the NW
aspect of the mountain. At the time of
day that kettles do form it makes sense the migrants would be on the east side
of the Smith River since it has the most solar input during this time of the
day. The west side may become more of a
player later into the seasons count when the mornings are warmer, but by and
large the east facing slopes still have the majority of snow clinging to
them. There are a few rock outcrops that
lie on the west rim that have melted out earlier than the surrounding faces and
these can be useful to watch later in the afternoon as well.
When migrating raptors come off the top of Jumbo, they
appear to be taking one of three routes, two of which were in use today. One route is north along the Smith River Road
which is plowed and definitely gives the birds a little thermal advantage even
when the temps are well into the negatives.
This was the primary route in use during my first week. The second route in use today was to come
down a series of hills into a little rise to the east of the OP that separates
the Sheep Creek and Smith River watersheds.
This rise was in heavy use today and makes for exciting head on views of
the migrants. Seeing a dark-morphed RLHA
take this route today was a highlight. The
third route I have seen off of Jumbo has been to come to this same rise, but
then to quickly cross directly over the OP to the western bluff above the OP. That was the route in heavy use on 14 March
when birds much like today were going sky high.
This isn’t a complete list of the flight paths I have
observed to date and as they come into play again, I will make an attempt to share
more what I have learned since I have been at Camp Baker. I would imagine as well that once the snow has
melted off the surrounding hills these routes may all change yet again.
Resident raptors were active as well today escorting
migrants away from their established territories. The most memorable siting today was a
resident adult BAEA flying down the draw to the SW of the OP then directly to
the bluff in the side canyon to the NW of the OP. This is the same canyon I believe two adult
GOEA are nesting in (I have seen them carrying sticks up into here). As the BAEA passed overhead I could hear the heavy
wingbeats whooshing through the air. It
not only made an impression upon me, but it clearly made an impression on the
two resident GOEA and one migrant adult BAEA (most likely the source of the
consternation). It was quite obvious
what was going on as the migrant went sky high and headed north immediately and
the two GOEA evaporated to the W.
Our resident adult light-morphed RTHA put on a nice rollercoaster
display down the flightpath above the rise to the east of the OP. Nice to see this bird getting in on the territorial
action.
Non-raptor Notes
I have been enjoying the (2) MOCH that include the OP in
their morning forays. They always have
something to say and the one is so aggressive that I think it is my singing
back to it that causes them to come visit and make sure no other MOCH is thinking
about setting up shop in their territory.
Hearing the wing whistle of the (7) COGO brought back many fond memories
of the Mackinaw Straits this time last spring.
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| the snow covered "parking" area |
Visitors
None. An update on
the Camp Baker snow situation. The campground
is on a temporary closure and Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks would greatly
appreciate your avoiding visiting the area until the snow has melted and the
roads have dried up. I will provide an
update on when the closure has been lifted.
For now, those thinking of visiting the count site I would hold off for
several reasons. I personally wouldn’t
want traffic to the count site causing the road to be torn up. Our road is also shared with many ranchers in
the surrounding area who have been very generous to me already and I wouldn’t
want to cause that relationship to be strained as a result of traffic on muddy
roads. There is a steep hill out of Camp
Baker in particular that would be prime suspect late in the afternoon when the
snow banks have melted across it causing it to become a quagmire. Folks in Montana know what I am talking about
so please forgive me cautioning those in the know already. Lastly, the site where I am counting from is
a quagmire as well. It is drying fast,
but I am trying to minimize my impact in the area so that I may maintain a
positive working relationship with Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks, specifically
the Camp Baker crew. Like the area
ranchers they have been very kind to the project so I am treading as lightly as
possible. Like the saying on the old
homestead in Alaska used to say – Follow the Alaskan Code: Leave it cleaner than
you found it!
I will provide updates on the snow and road situation as
things improve. The one good thing about
this is it will allow for more time to assess if this site is worth the visit. I am still waiting for a good day of passing
migrants and am hopeful the late wintry weather has just delayed the timing of
raptor migration by several weeks. A
good resource here is the Camp Baker HMANA site which hopefully will have the
numbers and data up shortly!
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| the snow bank I take my measurements from is to the left of the picture - 28cm left. |
Next Day Forecast
Tonight-
A slight chance of rain and snow after 5am. Mostly cloudy,
with a low around 22. North northwest wind 5 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation
is 20%.
Sunday-
A chance of rain and snow before 11am, then a chance of rain
after noon. Patchy fog before 10am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a high near
47. North wind 5 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Little or no snow
accumulation expected.
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