Mount Lorette (08 Oct 2026) 48 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 08, 2026 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 11 | 21 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 5 | 9 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 1 | 40 | 68 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 6 | 18 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 4 | 16 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 1 | 8 | 11 |
| Golden Eagle | 45 | 526 | 792 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Unknown Raptor | 1 | 6 | 10 |
| Total: | 48 | 620 | 986 |
| Observation start time: | 07:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 18:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 10.68 hours |
| Official Counter | Lynette MacCulloch |
| Observers: | Peter Christensen |
Visitors:
We had quite a crowd at the site around noon. 3 young women from the Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation helped spot eagles as well as Sarah and Wolfgang who have come out several times before to help. About 27 enthusiastic people stopped altogether.
Weather:
Arriving at the site before sunrise, the temperature was plus 5 degrees celsius with a light breeze from the northwest. There were cumulonimbus and cumulus clouds covering most of the sky, but they were replaced by fluffy cumulus clouds by the time the sun hit our spot by the river. The wind also dropped and the temperature climbed to 16, the high of the day. the clouds returned as the sun went behind the western ridge and the wind became quite gusty at times in the late afternoon, alternating with calm periods. The ridge winds were south to southwest at 30km/hr to 73km/hr with gusts between 37 km /h and 106 km/hr. High winds were mostly South-west with moderate pace.
Raptor Observations:
Most of the raptors were seen over the eastern ridges, sailing high in the sky, with two eagles coming over Hummingbird plume and using the western ridge. Once again they were so high it was impossible to properly age them. Several of the eagles were travelling quite fast and must have hit some kind of opposing wind over Fisher as they slowed remarkably, almost stalling, then turning and continuing. I have never witnessed this before.
We counted 45 Golden eagles (13a,7ui, 25 ua), 1 Rough-legged Hawk, 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk and 1 unknown raptor. We saw the adult Goshawk hunting several times on the west side of the valley and over Hummingbird plume.
Non-raptor Observations:
Other birds and wildlife seen were at least 25 Ravens, 1 White-crowned Sparrow, 1 American Tree sparrow, 2 Song Sparrow, 3 Black-capped chickadees, 1 Mountain chickadee, 1 Golden Crowned Kinglet, the Belted Kingfisher was heard but not seen as was the Ruffed grouse drumming. 11 Mule deer came over the ridge on Nakiska and went back again.
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 Trektellen.org – [Project Details]
