A week ago, Fred Whiley & I made an scouting trip to Misty Ridge north of Barrhead to check on fall colours & raptor movement. The forecast NW 30-50km/h winds did not materialiize. Instead it was 11C & rained for 4 hrs! On our drive up an imm. Bald Eagle flew over the highway & at the ski hill we observed 2 adult Bald Eagle, small flights of Canada Geese & Sandhill Cranes. The other hightlight was a Pileated Woodpecker flying over the chalet. A repeat trip on Sat. Sept 17 had several distant Red-tailed Hawks, possible Northern Harrier, 2 Sharp-shinned Hawk & 5 Bald Eagles. The fall colours are coming, however it will probably be about 2 weeks before the peak at which time it is a wonderful place to visit. The big push of Sandhill Cranes is still to come, White-fronted Geese are still moving through mixed in with the Canada Geese. For those wanting to see Snow Geese in Oct. the best areas are east towards Wainwright or south of Innisfree at Birch Lake. Swainson's Hawks have not left yet but soon, while start watching for Harlan's Hawks in the Edmonton area over the next couple of weeks. Both Bald Eagle & Golden Eagle will build in numbers through Oct. coming to a peak (depending on weather patterns) around the 3rd week to the end of Oct. They will continue to come through well into Nov. & I will continue to monitor from Misty Ridge until the end of Nov. Harris Sparrows may seen at the end of Sept. into early Oct. in amongst the White-throated & White-crowned Sparrows moving through at that time. Dark-eyed Juncos are starting to move right now. It is an exciting time to be out birding, so hope you have the chance to witness the fall migration as winter will be here before we have time to think about it!
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