Mount Lorette (28 Mar 2023) 261 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 28, 2023 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bald Eagle | 9 | 75 | 75 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Northern Goshawk | 0 | 10 | 10 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Golden Eagle | 248 | 1163 | 1163 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipiter | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Unknown Buteo | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 9 | 9 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total: | 261 | 1263 | 1263 |
| Observation start time: | 07:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 19:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 12 hours |
| Official Counter | Ethan Denton |
| Observers: | Lynette MacCulloch |
Visitors:
We had 12 visitors today, 3 of whom stopped to help spot for significant amounts of time.
Weather:
It was overcast in the morning, but cleared quickly into blue skies with a scattering of (mainly cumulus) clouds. We started out at -14, which rose to 0, but it never really felt cold, because there were almost no ground level winds. Ridge winds seemed calm until about 13:30 or so, and increased steadily from there. By 16:00 the eagles were generally moving quite quickly.
Raptor Observations:
An excellent day for migrant raptors, with 248 Goldens, 9 Bald Eagles, and the first Rough-legged and Red-tailed Hawks of the season. The eagles preferred the western ridge early on, switching notably around 14:00 to a flight path high above the eastern side of the valley. A powerful thermal over Old Baldie caught many of our migrants in the afternoon, with as many as 26 Golden Eagles using it at one time! A small number of Goldens snuck by on the west side too in the later afternoon, dropping from Mt. Kidd in front of Boggart, and vanishing along a gully behind the southern side of Nakiska.
We also observed 1 resident GOEA, 3 resident Bald Eagles, and a resident Goshawk.
Non-raptor Observations:
Aprroximately 50 American Robins flew up the valley in several small groups, and a Varied Thrush made a single pass across the meadow. In the afternoon, a migrating Killdeer paused on the river before resuming its journey north, towards Hummingbird Plume.
Report submitted by Ethan Denton (ethan@suechick.com)
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]
