Mount Lorette (04 Oct 2022) 59 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 04, 2022 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Bald Eagle | 3 | 13 | 26 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 2 | 4 | 33 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 3 | 14 |
| Northern Goshawk | 1 | 4 | 11 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 1 | 2 | 11 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Golden Eagle | 51 | 191 | 346 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Unknown Accipiter | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Unknown Eagle | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Total: | 59 | 229 | 480 |
| Observation start time: | 06:45:00 |
| Observation end time: | 18:15:00 |
| Total observation time: | 10.53 hours |
| Official Counter | Caroline Lambert |
| Observers: | Rick Robb |
Visitors:
The 47 visitors included a group of 28 students and two teachers from Western Canada High School in Calgary.
Weather:
The abnormally warm weather continued yet again today. On arrival it was 2C with frost on the ground, but once the sun came over the east ridge, it quickly warmed up to 21C. It cooled off rapidly when the sun went behind the west ridge, dropping to 13C when we left. There were no clouds in the sky to start with, but there was much haze in the air making spotting the raptors quite challenging. The haze cleared up by mid afternoon, and a few clouds appeared over the east ridge, which helped with spotting a great deal. Ground winds were again light. Ridge winds from the Nakiska station were reported to be light, ranging from easterly to southwest, but there must have been stronger winds at higher levels, as the migrants were able to fly high and fast.
Raptor Observations:
Initially the eagles were popping up at random places along the east ridge, quickly gaining altitude by soaring and then moving to the south. As the day went by we were finding them coming into the ridge at great heights – eventually we spotted some riding thermals above Mt Lorette to high levels, and they were able to maintain those heights as they flew quickly to the east ridge and along the ridge. Many of them appeared to be flying on the other side of the ridge as they looked quite small and far away, and were difficult to track and age. The number of Golden Eagles, 51 (27a, 4sa, 4j, 16u), was well below expectations for this period of the migration. Other migrants were three adult Bald Eagles, one Red-tailed Hawk, two Sharp-shinned Hawks and a Northern Goshawk. Non-migrants were a Merlin hunting along the river in the evening, and a second year Bald Eagle.
Non-raptor Observations:
The local Ruffed Grouse is still drumming away. Tom the American Dipper came by in the morning and hopefully avoided the Merlin that was hunting along the river in the evening. Other birds were one Belted Kingfisher, one Black-billed Magpie, three Common Ravens, one Red-breasted Nuthatch, one European Starling, 25 American Robins flying south in small groups, 11 Red Crossbills looking delighted with our bumper crop of spruce cones, and two American Tree Sparrows.
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Mount Lorette information may be found at: eaglewatch.ca
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]
Count data submitted via Dunkadoo – [Project Details]
