Friday, April 12, 2019

April 12 Daily Flight Summary


Official Counter         

Adam Richardson

Observers       

None

Weather         

Trace amount of snow overnight, then heavy snow from dawn until 10:30.  An inch of snow fell during the morning storm and once it stopped the valley was covered in a thick fog.  By 11:30 the fog was burning off fast and by 12:00 it was mostly cloudy with low cumulus clouds and a few cirrus clouds above.  By 13:30 the clouds had lifted and it was partly cloudy for the remainder of the day.  Thermal lift was poor most of the day as the winds were pretty strong out of the N averaging 7-15kph.  A high today of 9C at 15:30 and a steady barometer.  Visibility wasn’t great with clouds low to the east for most of the afternoon.  This wasn’t the case to the west where it was primarily clear most of the day.

Raptor Notes 

A very small unknown raptor, possibly an accipiter or falcon was seen going sky high far to the west at 13:00.  No sooner had I detected the bird than it folded up and shot north.  Between 15:00 and 16:00 a NOHA was spotted going high off Jumbo and this bird primarily folded up and shot north, but far to the east.

The big excitement today was the resident MERL making use of the N-NE winds early in the count that were creating uplift off the bluff I am counting from.  The MERL was literally spotted just behind my shoulder and I thought at first it was a migrant.  A few minutes later it returned on my west side and moved to a snag to the N of me to perch in the tree.  I got a good look at this adult male bird.

Non-raptor Notes

The AWPE continue to grow their squadron’s numbers.  Today 9 came in from the SW and moved off somewhere to the N a short way, possibly Eagle Creek.

Visitors           

None

Next Day Forecast

N/A

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