Mount Lorette (15 Oct 2023) 262 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 15, 2023 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Osprey | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 31 | 33 |
| Northern Harrier | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 5 | 90 | 120 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 6 | 7 |
| American Goshawk | 2 | 25 | 29 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 15 | 20 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Golden Eagle | 253 | 1598 | 1755 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 1 | 9 | 13 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Unknown Accipiter | 0 | 23 | 41 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 6 | 7 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 7 | 12 |
| Total: | 262 | 1824 | 2073 |
| Observation start time: | 06:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 18:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 11.17 hours |
| Official Counter | Jessica Banas |
| Observers: | Allison Zukewich |
Visitors:
We had 30 visitors who stopped by to chat, including some children who were very excited to learn about Golden Eagles. Special thanks to the dependable spotting skills of Theresa & James.
Weather:
The weather in the morning was quite humid and cloudy, with scattered light showers, however this did not seem to hinder some early birds excited by some strong ridge winds. Throughout the early morning the winds died down a bit, between 8-18 km/h from the W. By midday, the skies were partly cloudy and the ridge winds stayed consistent at 24-50 km/h SW throughout the afternoon with gusts up to 72 km/h. The temperature started at 7C and reached a high of 13 C.
Raptor Observations:
The days total was 262 migrants, including 253 Golden Eagles (108a, 74sa, 27j, 44u), 5 Sharp-shinned Hawks (4a, 1u), 2 American Goshawk (2j), 1 Merlin (1 a t/m), 1 Northern Harrier (1 brown). The Eagles started moving early, first seen at 7:54 in the morning, and stayed consistent throughout the day. The birds primarily used the eastern ridges, but a number of birds were able to stream across the valley from Mt. Lorette over to Old Baldy, skipping the usual path to Patrick. In the morning, there was significant cloud cover and birds were easy to age, by mid-day the light and partial cloud cover kept it easy, but by evening the aging became much more difficult. One of the challenges of the day was following the many different paths the eagles seemed to be taking. One of the early eagles was able to poach something from the top of Patrick (perhaps a ptarmigan or some other round fluffy object), dropping and catching it once, before finally dropping it and moving on to migrate. We were treated to a visit by the resident Goshawk, flying low through the valley, and a local bald eagle was seen multiple times throughout the day – starting by zooming along the river at first light, and then associating with migrants in various spots throughout the day. There was also a local Golden Eagle that was hanging around Lorette, occasionally escorting other migrants through the valley.
Non-raptor Observations:
Other birds included: Ruffed Grouse 1, Canada Jay 2, Golden-crowned Kinglet 3, Common Raven 14, American Dipper 1, American Robin 3, Bohemian Waxwing 24, Townsend’s Solitaire 1, Pine Grosbeak 10, Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch 28, White-winged Crossbill 2, Pine Siskin 2, Yellow-rumped Warbler 1, Common Merganser 3, Common Loon 2, Black-billed Magpie 1, Black-capped Chickadee 3
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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]
