Mount Lorette (07 Nov 2025) 17 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 07, 2025 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Bald Eagle | 1 | 15 | 83 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 0 | 198 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 0 | 43 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| Golden Eagle | 16 | 196 | 2401 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 0 | 1 | 12 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 1 | 17 |
| Total: | 17 | 214 | 2852 |
| Observation start time: | 09:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 17:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 7.75 hours |
| Official Counter | Caroline Lambert |
| Observers: | Guy Kerr, Susan Clarahan |
Visitors:
Five people stopped to ask about the count. A couple of students from a local school came to talk about Golden Eagles for a science fair project.
Weather:
The day started off with low, dark clouds occasionally spitting out snow flakes. As the day wore on the clouds gradually broke apart until by day’s end the sky was about 60% covered in cumulus and cirrus clouds. Parts of the west ridge were shrouded in mist at various times during the day, but the east ridge remained clear. The temperature started at 1C, rose to 6C, and was 4C at the end. The southwest ground wind was blustery, keeping us cool most of the time, and gusting up to about 20kph. Ridge winds were close to west all day and ranged from 30 to 70 kph, at one point gusting over 100kph. High winds were moderate from the northwest.
Raptor Observations:
Seven Golden Eagles between 1100 and 1200 was a treat, but that trend did not continue and only one or two were seen per hour after that, for a total of 16 (2a, 3ui, 11u). Many of these were flying very high over the east ridge, just dark silhouettes against a grey sky, making aging impossible. A few came in low to Patrick, but were able to gain altitude quickly and disappear to the south well above the ridge. One juvenile Bald Eagle was in the mix. Nothing was seen on the west ridge.
One of the Golden Eagles did something I’ve never seen before. It came into Patrick low, gained some height and was heading south towards the Bumps when it did a U-turn and started heading north in a hurry, following the course of the river, as if it had spotted something to eat. It was not included in the total.
The two local adult Bald Eagles were seen flying low in front of Patrick.
Non-raptor Observations:
Several flocks of unidentified birds, heading mostly south, were seen. At least one flock was Redpolls, and another was Bohemian Waxwings. Three Canada Jays were around, plus a Black-billed Magpie. The dipper passed by a couple of times. A couple of Mountain Chickadees were detected on the way in. The East Ridge Ravens were up to their usual antics above the ridge, causing excitement until confirmed as ravens.
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]
Mount Lorette (06 Nov 2025) 28 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 06, 2025 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Bald Eagle | 5 | 14 | 82 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 0 | 198 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 0 | 43 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| Golden Eagle | 23 | 180 | 2385 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 0 | 1 | 12 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 1 | 17 |
| Total: | 28 | 197 | 2835 |
| Observation start time: | 09:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 17:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 7.7 hours |
| Official Counter | Ethan Denton , Peter Lloyd |
| Observers: |
Visitors:
Only a couple people stopped, none for long.
Weather:
A balmy day, though often overcast. The sun made fleeting appearances through shifting layers of cumulus clouds. Ground winds fluctuated between 3-5 Beaufort before dropping off in the evening. At ridge level, however, they held above 50km/h gusting up to 100 in the morning. Rain threatened but never materialised fully.
Raptor Observations:
An early push saw 10 eagles blow through before 1030, all flying mid-level along the Eastern ridge. The winds made for easy flying, and birds passed quickly and with little effort. A smattering of eagles followed the same flightpath throughout the day, before 4 Bald Eagles decided to fly through together with a couple Goldens late on.
By incredible coincidence, a group of what appeared to be 4 local Bald Eagles stacked up in a kettle at the exact time that 4 were flying by. Two of the migrants joined the kettle briefly before continuing south – the local birds eventually broke north and vanished into the blue, far up the valley (heading for Barrier Lake, perhaps?). These were the only local raptors to make an appearance today.
Non-raptor Observations:
The Canada Jays finally made an appearance at site, dropping by with their typical curiosity. A couple flocks of Siskins bounced around, but the highlight was a group of Grey-crowned Rosy-finches following the river. There was also a pair of Hairy Woodpeckers foraging in the woods and the nearby wolf willows.
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]
Mount Lorette (05 Nov 2025) 25 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 05, 2025 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 9 | 77 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 0 | 198 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 0 | 43 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| Golden Eagle | 23 | 157 | 2362 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 0 | 1 | 12 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Unknown Raptor | 1 | 1 | 17 |
| Total: | 25 | 169 | 2807 |
| Observation start time: | 08:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 17:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 8.5 hours |
| Official Counter | Lynette MacCulloch |
| Observers: | Peter Lloyd |
Visitors:
16 people and 1 dog stopped to visit. Thanks to Gabriella, Jamie and Dennis who helped look for eagle for an hour.
Weather:
This morning’s temperature was minus 2 upon arrival at the site. By 13:00 it went up to plus 4, then dropped to 2 degrees in the late afternoon. There was very little scattered cloud in the morning, cirrus, cumulus and a few lenticular clouds which gradually grew in population and variety including stratus and nimbostratus. By mid afternoon the sky was completely covered in varying shades of gray. AS the afternoon progressed, the tops of Mt Kidd, Mt Bogart and Mt Lorette and all of Mt Allan were immersed in low clouds. To the south , the Opal range disappeared, and we could see snow accumulating on the higher parts of the eastern ridges and on Lorette. The wind was very light at ground level, starting from the west and south and switching to the north and east at end of day. There were no obvious wind ridges and reports were unavailable from Nakiska ridge. By observation the high cloud was southwest or west, starting slow and picking up to moderate. A light drizzle started around 3 pm
Raptor Observations:
We saw 23 Golden eagles (14a, 2 juvenile, 1 subadult, 6 unaged), 1 Osprey and 1 unidentified raptor. The majority of the eagles appeared over the bumps or the right side of Patrick which did not give us a good opportunity to age them. They were all flying quite low. Several came over Lorette, going behind Patrick with only glimpses of them as they tried to get some height around the bumps. One flew directly over Olympic and disappeared going south by Mt Kidd. This eagle hardly flapped but had somehow found a good glide route. The Osprey caused a lot of discussion as it circled at the north end of Patrick and then basically followed the river over us with its very long, narrow wings.
Non-raptor Observations:
The Ravens were quite well behaved today as they seemed to be preoccupied with activities other than harassing the eagles. They flew back and forth across the valley over top of us several times and visited on both ridges. In the morning, two magpies joined some of the Ravens scavenging from what appeared to be white fur upstream from the site and on the opposite side of the river. No predatory animals were observed. The Pileated Woodpecker was heard early in the morning very briefly, then the Dipper flew in front of our site several time during the day. Gray Jays visited early in the day and later were seen flying across the river. A flock OF Pine Grosbeaks flew over and then numerous flocks of small birds, Pine Siskins, Red-crossbills were seen. Two flocks of Canada geese each counting close to 100 made their way over us. A single Mallard swam in the still water before flying up stream and a small flock of Mountain Chickadees were in the spruce trees. Two White-tailed deer were in the meadow at the end of the day.
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]
Mount Lorette (04 Nov 2025) 62 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 04, 2025 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Bald Eagle | 5 | 9 | 77 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 0 | 198 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 0 | 43 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| Golden Eagle | 57 | 134 | 2339 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 0 | 1 | 12 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Total: | 62 | 144 | 2782 |
| Observation start time: | 08:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 17:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 8.42 hours |
| Official Counter | Caroline Lambert |
| Observers: | Glenn Webber |
Visitors:
Only one group of 8 hikers stopped to chat.
Weather:
It was a cool morning, but after the sun appeared over the ridge, it warmed up quickly. Although the temperature didn’t get higher than 5C, after starting at -7C, it was comfortably warm all day because there were no clouds and no ground wind. After the sun went behind the west ridge, the temperature dropped quickly to -2C. Ridge winds were light from the southwest, not exceeding 20kph (at least up to 1400 when the Nakiska weather station went offline).
Raptor Observations:
With such light winds at ridge level, and forecast to be that way all day, expectation of seeing many eagles today was low. Contrary to that expectation, 57 Golden Eagles (44a, 6sa, 3j, 2ui, 2u) thought this was the perfect day to fly down the Fisher Range. The first Golden Eagle was seen just after 1300, with a total of 15 in that hour. In mid afternoon there was a lull, making us think that perhaps the movement was done for the day, but, again our expectations were wrong, as there were 16 in the penultimate hour, and 24 in the last hour. The movement didn’t stop until there was no sunlight lighting up east ridge, at sunset. Most of the eagles were first spotted soaring over Mt Lorette, but with such little wind they couldn’t sustain their height over the valley, and most came into the face of Patrick below ridge level. However, in spite of the light wind, once the eagles had soared enough to get above Patrick, most were able to glide along the east ridge without any more soaring or flapping. Most of the Golden Eagles were adults.
Besides the Golden Eagles, there were five Bald Eagles heading south, all adults.
Early in the day an immature Bald Eagle was seen flying up the river, and later two adult Bald Eagles spent some time flying together on the east side of the valley.
Non-raptor Observations:
The walk in from the parking lot was unusually busy with birds this morning, starting with a flock of Bohemian Waxwings flying over, and several groups of Redpolls chattering away in the spruce trees. Near them were a couple of Mountain Chickadees, a Boreal Chickadee, a couple of Red-breasted Nuthatches, and a couple of White-winged Crossbills. More Redpolls and Bohemian Waxwings were seen at the site, along with the Belted Kingfisher, a couple of Black-capped Chickadees, and a Northern Shrike. One Ruffed Grouse was drumming all day. Flying south was a flock of 18 Canada Geese, and flock of Snow Geese.
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]
Mount Lorette (03 Nov 2025) 57 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 03, 2025 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Bald Eagle | 3 | 4 | 72 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 0 | 198 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 0 | 43 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| Golden Eagle | 53 | 77 | 2282 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 1 | 1 | 12 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Total: | 57 | 82 | 2720 |
| Observation start time: | 09:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 18:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 8.25 hours |
| Official Counter | Lori Anderson |
| Observers: | Bill McKeeman |
Visitors:
About 9 people stopped by. A group of 3 had their own binoculars and were assisted in locating the eagles.
Weather:
At the start of the count, the temperature was 0 C, gradually rising to 3.6 C by 14:00 and dropping to 1.5 C by the end of the day. Ground winds were low from the SW with a few gusts up to 10 Km/h. At around 2:30, the wind shifted to the NW. The ridge winds from the SW/WSW were also quite low, averaging 18 km/h for the observational period. Cloud coverage was mostly 100 % for the whole day with Altocumulus, Altostratus and some Cirrus and Lenticular formations later in the afternoon. All ridgelines remained clear throughout the day.
Raptor Observations:
The first eagle of the day came from the McGilvery range and passed behind the peak of Mount Lorette. It continued on to Patrick, gliding low and flapping at times, then along the typical route over the Fisher Range. Most of the birds were found above Patrick or flew low directly into the face of Patrick from the north and then on to the Fisher range. It was easy to age the birds as they flew below the ridge line. The Ravens provided their usual unfriendly escort service through the valley. On several occasions, eagles were observed diving aggressively towards them. The final count was: Golden Eagles 53: 37a, 4sa, 11u, 1 ui, Bald Eagles 3, Accipiter 1. From 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM, we observed a steady but slow pace of about 11 to 12 birds per hour.
Non-raptor Observations:
The first birds to appear this morning were 9 Ravens in convocation, no doubt plotting their mischief for the day. Other birds seen were two Canada Jays. One Black-billed magpie. One Belted Kingfisher. A flock of 18 Canada geese. 80 Pine Siskins in 3 flocks. Numerous Bohemian Waxwings.
Report submitted by ()
Mount Lorette information may be found at: eaglewatch.ca
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]
