Mount Lorette (25 Oct 2026) 6 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 25, 2026 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 40 | 50 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 6 | 10 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 55 | 83 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 10 | 22 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 12 | 24 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 3 | 16 | 19 |
| Golden Eagle | 2 | 1677 | 1943 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 5 | 7 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 0 | 4 | 9 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 4 | 9 |
| Unknown Eagle | 1 | 5 | 8 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 14 | 18 |
| Total: | 6 | 1854 | 2220 |
| Observation start time: | 08:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 18:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 9.25 hours |
| Official Counter | Ethan Denton |
| Observers: | Christa Clifford |
Visitors:
31 people came by, with 19 stopping to chat. Many thanks to those who stayed for a while despite the low movement!
Weather:
It was a chilly day with low clouds obscuring the sun throughout and north winds at ground level ranging up to a Beaufort 3. Ridge winds were exceptionally low and from the South. Pressure dropped by 4 points over the course of the day, and temps stayed between -5�C and -1�C.
Raptor Observations:
Despite the low clouds, three eagles snuck through. One stayed deep in the mist and was consequently unidentifiable, but the other two were low, slow, and clearly adult Goldens.
Three Rough-legged Hawks were observed, all at Patrick between peak level and the treeline.
The local Goshawk made two appearances, but other than that, no local raptors were seen.
Non-raptor Observations:
It was a good day for non-raptors, despite a slow start. Four Common Loons whistled high over the Eastern ridge, a flock of Canada Geese came over the valley, and a single Snow Bunting flew through the meadow. Sticking around was a flock of Dark-eyed Juncos and American Tree Sparrows, with one White-crowned Sparrow mixed in. A Varied Thrush briefly foraged on the riverbank, near where our female Common Merganser spent some time diving around.
The big surprise was an unidentified Flycatcher – a bird of the empidonax genus which represents the latest ever empid record in Alberta. Unfortunately it made its way south before a positive ID could be made.
Report submitted by Ethan Denton (ethan@suechick.com)
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]
