Mount Lorette (17 Oct 2024) 186 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 17, 2024 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bald Eagle | 2 | 42 | 53 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 69 | 87 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| American Goshawk | 1 | 11 | 11 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 9 | 17 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 2 | 11 | 11 |
| Golden Eagle | 181 | 1762 | 2025 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Merlin | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipiter | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| Total: | 186 | 1929 | 2252 |
| Observation start time: | 07:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 18:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 10.2 hours |
| Official Counter | Caroline Lambert |
| Observers: | Rosemary Power |
Visitors:
About 12 visitors stopped to learn about the count, including several who stayed a while to look for eagles.
Weather:
It was another cool day with temperatures ranging from 1C to 5C, finishing at 2C. It was warm enough when the sun was shining, but it kept hiding behind clouds, and the wind, although light, didn’t help. Ground winds were never higher than about 15kph from the west to southwest. Ridge winds were light to moderate, mostly from the southwest. Cloud cover was stratocirrus and cumulus, with the stratocirrus clouds over the east ridge in the morning, gradually giving way to blue sky. The clouds ranged from 10% to 75% coverage, with the cumulus clouds moving slowly from the northwest.
Raptor Observations:
There was a steady stream of Golden Eagles all day long, sometimes soaring, but mostly just gliding along the east ridge, sometimes high, and sometimes low. Light in the morning was poor for aging, but improved as the sun swung around to the west. 8 were seen in the first hour, then 10-13 each hour during the morning, then numbers gradually increased to 33 between 1600 and 1700. The last eagle was seen at 1810. The total was 181 (94a, 8sa, 8j, 11ui, 60u). Additionally there were two Bald Eagles (1a, 1sa3), one American Goshawk, and two Rough-legged Hawks.
Non-raptor Observations:
Ravens were coming and going all afternoon above the east ridge, causing quite a distraction. It was hard to say how many there were – at least 10. Other birds were: Canada Goose 3, Larus sp. 3, Common Loon 6, Canada Jay 3, Black-capped Chickadee 4, Boreal Chickadee 2, Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2, Golden-crowned Kinglet 2, American Dipper 1, Pine Siskin 2
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Mount Lorette information may be found at: eaglewatch.ca
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]
