Mount Lorette (10 Nov 2026) 18 Raptors

Visitors:
Only a few people walked by, and none stopped.

Weather:
The wind was brutal. At ground level it was mostly in the range 10-15 kph, with gusts measuring up to 50 kph, swirling around and coming at us from various directions. The weather vane in the meadow swung back and forth between south and west. Ridge winds on Nakiska started out at 57 kph and built up to 120 kph, mostly from the southwest, with gusts up to 138 kph, putting it in hurricane force territory. It had died down a bit by the end of the day. Some of the cumulus clouds were moving from west to east, and some appeared to move from north to south. The temperature stayed in a narrow range, starting at 4C, rising to 6C, and finishing at 5C, but feeling much colder due to the relentless wind. The sky was almost completely covered most of the day with heavy, dark cumulus clouds and a bit of altostratus. Cloud cover was down to 50% when we left.

Raptor Observations:
Given the strength of the ridge winds on the west side of the valley, we were surprised to see any migrant raptors at all. But there were a few, spaced out throughout the day. All were gliding along the east ridge, above ridge level but surprisingly not that high. Some appeared to be tossed around by the wind. With the lack of soaring and low light, it was a challenge to age any of them. The total was 15 Golden Eagles (4a, 2ui, 9u), and three Bald Eagles (2a, 1sa).
There were two instances of a non-migrant adult Bald Eagle. The second one flew low over our heads, circled around a while, then settled at the top of a tree just down the river.
The counts over the last few days have been a bit higher than average. If this trend continues, then this will not be the lowest fall count ever, just the second lowest. The count was negatively impacted by three days of bad weather during the peak of the migration.

Non-raptor Observations:
There were not many other birds around. Three Canada Jays came by, a flock of about 40 Bohemian Waxwings paused briefly in some nearby trees, ravens were seen frequently along the ridges and flying over the valley, the dipper flew by once, and some Black-capped Chickadees were heard.

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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]