Mount Lorette (21 Sep 2026) 9 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 21, 2026 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| American Goshawk | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Golden Eagle | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Falcon | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total: | 9 | 15 | 15 |
| Observation start time: | 08:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 17:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 9 hours |
| Official Counter | Lori Anderson |
| Observers: | Sandy Graham |
Visitors:
About 40 people came to the area, and 15 or so stopped to query. A special thanks to Oliver and Steph Hobbs from Leeds Yorkshire UK, who came at just the right moment and helped us spot an Eagle.
Weather:
It was a beautiful summer day, beginning at a chilly 5�C in the morning and gradually warming to a high of 20�C around 4:00 p.m., before dropping to 18�C by the end of the day. Despite the cool start, later it became quite hot in the sunshine and felt like summer finally. The sky remained almost completely clear throughout the day. In the morning, there was only a minuscule amount of lenticular cloud visible to the north of the valley, which quickly disappeared. The ridges remained completely unobscured all day. There was a slight haze, possibly from smoke from a distant wildfire. The morning was calm, but SW winds picked up later in the day, averaging around 6 km/h with occasional gusts reaching 20 km/h. Ridge winds were predominantly from the south-southwest for most of the day, generally at moderate speeds.
Raptor Observations:
Today we found 4 Golden Eagles: 1a, 2sa and 1u. The first one of the day was spotted gliding near Mt. Lorette at 12:20. It took the typical Eastern route over to Patrick, then wove through the “bumps” on Fisher North and on southward. The other 3 Goldens followed suit. A Juvenile Goshawk flew close, right over our heads and crossed the river to perch on a tree for a few minutes. Other raptors seen were: 1 Broad-winged Hawk and 3 Falcon sp. A resident Golden Eagle flew into the face of Mt. Patrick, stopping briefly at one location before continuing to a second, where it remained.
Non-raptor Observations:
1 Northern Flicker, 1 Common Yellowthroat, 1 Dark-eyed Junco, 1 Mountain Chickadee, 1 American Robin, 2 Tree Swallows, 1 Barn Swallow, 9 Ravens, 1 Common Merganser. Apart from the birds, a smorgasbord of flying insects filled the air. A white-spotted sawyer beetle spent some time investigating a backpack, and a Mourning cloak Moth decided that I was to be a great source of minerals and who knows what else. It sat on my hand and proceeded to “lick” me with its proboscis for about 20 minutes. It felt like little ice cubes were being deposited with every probe.
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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 Trektellen.org – [Project Details]
