Mount Lorette (05 Oct 2023) 142 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 05, 2023 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Osprey | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Bald Eagle | 6 | 12 | 14 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 29 | 47 | 77 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| American Goshawk | 7 | 10 | 14 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 4 | 9 | 14 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Golden Eagle | 86 | 302 | 459 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 2 | 6 | 10 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Unknown Accipiter | 3 | 9 | 27 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Unknown Eagle | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Unknown Raptor | 2 | 4 | 9 |
| Total: | 142 | 413 | 662 |
| Observation start time: | 07:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 17:45:00 |
| Total observation time: | 10.58 hours |
| Official Counter | Caroline Lambert |
| Observers: | Jessica Banas |
Visitors:
Very few people came by the site today, and of those, four were just brief chats and only one stayed for any length of time.
Weather:
The temperature started out at 1C, rose to 9C, and ended at 8C. Clouds started out at 100% coverage with cumulostratus clouds, which gradually broke up into individual cumulus clouds, which in turn gradually gave way to blue sky in the afternoon. Ground winds were strong from the northeast most of the day, with just a couple of hours in the afternoon when they were from the northwest. The wind abated in the late afternoon. Ridge winds were light from the northeast to east in the morning, then became variable from the southwest, before swinging back around to the northeast by the end of the day.
Raptor Observations:
Given the northeast winds at ridge level, not much was expected today. However, birds were flying, although only a few found the secret route that had them gliding high over the east ridge. Most were labouring along the ridge with powered flight, often dropping below tree level before finding a thermal. Many of them came into the east ridge in the middle of the Bumps, low and at a sharp angle. Perhaps the most surprising thing of the day was the number of accipiters, mostly Sharp-shinned Hawks, that seemed to be everywhere. Many of these were flying along the east ridge with the eagles. One particularly annoying one was hunting to the south of the site and kept showing up in our binoculars. Our count of 29 Sharp-shinned Hawks (not including the annoying one), while a high number, pales in comparison with the count on Oct 1, 2015, when the observers that day tallied 98!
The final numbers were 86 Golden Eagles (37a, 8sa, 12j, 2ui, 27u), 6 Bald Eagles (2a, 1ui, 2wb, 1j), 7 Northern Goshawks (4a, 1j, 2u), 29 Sharp-shinned Hawks (4a, 3j, 22u), 3 unknown accipiters, 4 Red-tailed Hawks (1a, 1j, 2u), 2 Merlins, 3 unidentified eagles, and 2 unknown raptors.
Non-raptor Observations:
With so many Sharp-shinned Hawks in the air, it was no surprise that we didn’t see any Bohemian Waxwings today! Other birds were: Canada Goose 2, Ruffed Grouse 4, Downy Woodpecker 1, Black-billed Magpie 1, American Crow 13, Common Raven 5, Black-capped Chickadee 4, Mountain Chickadee 2, American Dipper 1, Lapland Longspur 2, White-crowned Sparrow 1
Predictions:
Moderate southwest winds forecast for the next few days should make for excellent migration conditions for this peak eagle migration period!
Report submitted by ()
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]
