March 28 Daily Flight Summary

the Smith River and Sheep Creek both had a diminished flow by this morning

Official Counter         

Adam Richardson      

Observers       

None

Weather         

5-6 inches of snow fell overnight with another 2 inches falling during the day today

15cm of new snow fell overnight.  -1C at 09:00 and no wind.  The Smith River had begun to recede sometime overnight with the colder temperatures and the rain switching to all snow.  Low nimbo-stratus clouds were streaming in primarily from the east.  Visibility diminished rapidly in the first hour as the next round of snow began to fall.  By 10:00 the count was over as heavy snowfall fell throughout the rest of the day.  Despite the heavy snowfall, the snow accumulations during the day were only 3-5cm as the snow was heavy and wet and compaction was occurring.  In the campground at the end of the day we had gained a centimeter bringing the snowpack back up to 24cm. 

looking up towards the butte I will now be counting from

Raptor Notes 

No migrating raptors were noted in the 1 hour of observation.

One resident S2 BAEA was seen perched in a tree along the bluff to the west of the OP.

Non-raptor Notes

No new arrivals today.  The COGO are courting now in the river.

view looking north from my new perch with Jumbo Mountain to the left of the picture

Visitors           

looking East up Sheep Creek

None.  The rest of the afternoon was spent doing data entry and reconnoitering a new OP atop a bluff directly to the west of the OP I have used for most of this count.  This site is on private land, but after getting to know the family that owns the property better, they graciously offered to let me count from there.  The view is certainly rewarding and at the very least I will be able to determine if I am missing birds heading further west than I can see from my prior OP.  I don’t lose any horizon or view that I already had at the old OP, but gain quite a bit of the western horizon that was blocked from my view by the bluff.  The bluff also has a crack in the escarpment that in the future may be a perfect spot to secure a near owl decoy to.

looking North into the entrance of the Smith River Canyon

Next Day Forecast

Today

A 50 percent chance of snow before noon. Patchy fog before 11am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a high near 38. North northwest wind 5 to 9 mph. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

Tonight

Partly cloudy, with a low around 11. North northwest wind 5 to 9 mph becoming calm after midnight.

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