Mount Lorette (15 Mar 2024) 406 Raptors

Visitors:
A dozen or so visitors stopped by to chat today. We were incredibly grateful for the assistance of Mark and Suzanne for their help spotting eagles!

Weather:
The morning started out with clear skies and a temperature of -2°C. The temperature peaked at 10°C at 4:00 pm, and fell to 6°C by sundown. It got quite warm in the middle of the day, and I’m certain we all got sunburns. High cirrus and scattered cumulus clouds combined and recombined all day, proving and ever changing backdrop for spotting eagles. Light conditions were excellent for all day, except for the 46 eagles who were backlit over the western ridges after 3:00 pm. Most other unaged eagles were due to volume, not conditions. Ground winds started light from the south and SE in the morning, and from the SW in the afternoon. Ridge and high level winds were difficult to determine due to lack of spindrift off the peaks and being too busy to check the direction and speed of the passing clouds.

Raptor Observations:
What a day! Eagles streamed over both sides of the valley for hours, often in kettles or gliding strings of 8or more birds. Luckily we were a robust team today; my deepest thanks to Michael, Sheila, and Jim for spotting hundreds of eagles while I was busy looking the other way. Ruth was a dream to work with, as always, and made hectic air traffic control look easy.
My sources tell me that today was the third highest count since 2007 at the Mt. Lorette site. The highest was 507 on 20 March 2015, and the second highest was 437 on 24 March 2011. We were thrilled to get our last little group of three Golden Eagles over Mt. Patrick at 7:42 pm today, just a few minutes before official sunset, to push us over into the 400s!
A particularly popular thermal formed on the backside of the south flank of Olympic Summit, announcing itself with a surprise kettle of 16 adult Golden Eagles just after noon; it easily produced over 100 Golden Eagles throughout the day. About 250 eagles used the eastern ridges, including all but one Bald Eagle. All 95 of the eagles spotted after 4:30 pm used the eastern ridges or appeared high over the east side of the valley. Kettles behind Olympic Summit and strings of half a dozen or more high-gliding eagles over the Bumps contributed the bulk of today’s birds. It was steady and fun and everyone was nice.
Migrant Eagles 401 Golden Eagles: 274a, 1sa, j, 1ui, 125u 5 Bald Eagles: 3a, 2sa, j, u
No other migrant raptors were observed.
Non-migrant Raptors Two adult American Goshawks appeared mid afternoon, swooping and gliding together over the east side of the valley.

Non-raptor Observations:
An orderly line of 10 Canada Goose flew high over the site in the morning. A dozen Bohemian Waxwings flitted around the site for most of the day, alternately perching high atop trees, flycatching, and making forays to the ground. Two Black-capped Chickadees sang from the forest edge. A handful of Common Ravens were around the valley today, keeping us honest. A Belted Kingfisher flew past along the river, as did a Hairy Woodpecker. We were listed late in the day by a disheveled-looking Canada jay, and late in the evening we were serenaded by an American Robin from across the river.

Report submitted by ()
Mount Lorette information may be found at: eaglewatch.ca
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]