Mount Lorette (28 Sep 2025) 23 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 28, 2025 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 5 | 28 | 28 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| American Goshawk | 3 | 5 | 5 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 3 | 22 | 22 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Golden Eagle | 5 | 82 | 82 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 1 | 5 | 5 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 2 | 6 | 6 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Unknown Falcon | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| Total: | 23 | 177 | 177 |
| Observation start time: | 07:30:00 |
| Observation end time: | 18:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 10.5 hours |
| Official Counter | Lori Anderson |
| Observers: | Brett McGrath, Tina Moore |
Visitors:
The site was busy with people all day. About 25 stopped to express interest in what we were doing. One highlight was meeting a young couple with two very young children. They were so enthusiastic that they spread out a picnic blanket, pulled out a bird book and binoculars, and eagerly tried to learn all they could about birds and nature. A big shout-out to them – Louis, Kelly, Alex, and Flora Jackson. Margaret and David Meisner also stopped by the site to help out. They used to volunteer to help Peter Sherrington many years ago.
Weather:
It was a beautiful fall morning with low-lying cumulus clouds covering all of the surrounding ridges. After 10:00 the cloud coverage slowly dissipated, and the peaks were revealed. For the rest of the day cloud coverage averaged about 30% cumulus, cirrus, cirrostratus, and a thin layer of haze, filling the sky all day. The temperature at the start of the count was 8°C and slowly rose to 14°C by 16:00. At the end of the count it was 13.5°C. Ground winds blew from the north all day, averaging about 8 km/h with recurrent gusts up to 15 km/h. Ridge winds averaged 13 km/h from the SW and started picking up at the end of the day with gusts to 40 km/h.
Raptor Observations:
Migration was slow today. The majority of the birds were found over Hummingbird plume, and flew over the west side of the valley. There were more accipiters and falcons than eagles. Visibility today was not optimal, to say the least, with thin fog in the air which affected our ability to find, identify and age the migrants. At the end of the day when the Ridge winds picked up, more birds were found over the eastern ridges. In total, we had 5 adult Golden Eagles, 5 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 1 Cooperâs Hawk, 3 American Goshawks, 3 Red-tailed Hawks. 1 Merlin, 1 Peregrine Falcon, 2 unidentified accipiters and 1 unidentified falcon. In addition to the migrants, we had a few resident appearances of Golden Eagles and American Goshawks. There was a Merlin seen hunting around the meadow and a Sharp-shinned Hawk located in a tree nearby.
Non-raptor Observations:
12 Common Ravens, 1 Black-capped Chickadee, 1 Belted Kingfisher, 1 Common Goldeneye, 4 Clarkâs Nutcrackers, 1 Blue Jay, Mountain Chickadees, Boreal Chickadees, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, American Robins, multiple flocks of Pine Siskins, Dark-eyed Juncos, White-crowned Sparrows, Lincolnâs Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, Red-breasted Nuthatch, 1 Brown Creeper, 1 Northern Flicker, A large flock of geese and continuous flocks of small birds throughout 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]
Mount Lorette (27 Sep 2025) 42 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 27, 2025 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 8 | 23 | 23 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 4 | 19 | 19 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Golden Eagle | 24 | 77 | 77 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| Unknown Buteo | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Unknown Raptor | 1 | 6 | 6 |
| Total: | 42 | 154 | 154 |
| Observation start time: | 08:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 18:15:00 |
| Total observation time: | 10.27 hours |
| Official Counter | Blake Weis |
| Observers: | Allison Zukewich |
Visitors:
40 People stopped to ask about the count. 11 stayed to watch for migrating raptors. Thanks to everyone who did, feel free to come back anytime!
Weather:
The temperature was 12 C upon arrival, it rose quickly to a high of 16, then fell slightly to 15 as we were leaving. Wind was gusty from the SW all day, reaching 20 km/h in the morning and approaching 40 at times in the afternoon at ground level. Ridge wind was similarly strong. The Nakiska Ridgetop weather station recorded gusts between 67 and 110. Cloud cover varied from 20 to 50% cumulus, altocumulus , and cirrus.
Raptor Observations:
Most migrants were taking advantage of the updrafts from strong SW wind to move very high and fast over the Fisher Range, usually 2-3 binocular fields of view above the mountains. A few Golden Eagles were high enough to disappear between the lowest layers of cumulus cloud. A couple hawks used to west ridges, and some Sharp-shinned Hawks were migrating low over the valley and hunting along the way. Identification and ageing the migrants was very difficult because of backlit conditions, wind shaking the scope, and migrants kiting and gliding high and fast without slowing to soar. Spotting conditions were improved greatly by clouds that persisted over the Fisher Range. Many of the migrants would have been nearly impossible to spot in a blue sky. The count for the day was 24 Golden Eagles (6 a, 2 j, 4 ui, 12 u), 8 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 1 Cooper’s Hawk, 4 Red-tailed Hawks, 3 unidentified Acciprine Hawks, 1 unidentified Buteo, and 1 small unidentified raptor. Local raptors included a Red-tailed Hawk hunting between Hummingbird Plume Hill and Mt. Lorette, and a Golden Eagle that briefly harassed a migrating Red-tailed Hawk near Old Baldy Hill before flying north.
Non-raptor Observations:
1 American Three-toed Woodpecker, 1 Hairy Woodpecker, 1 Clark’s Nutcracker, 17 Common Ravens, 1 Black-capped Chickadee, 2 Mountain Chickadees, 2 Boreal Chickadee, 5 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, 9 Golden Crowned Kinglets, 130 American Robins, 260 Pine Siskins, 8 Dark eyed-Juncos, 5 White-crowned Sparrows, 3 White-throated Sparrows, 1 Lincoln’s Sparrow, 2 Savannah Sparrows, 1 Swamp Sparrow and 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler.
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 (26 Sep 2025) 25 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 26, 2025 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 4 | 15 | 15 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 15 | 15 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Golden Eagle | 19 | 53 | 53 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Total: | 25 | 112 | 112 |
| Observation start time: | 07:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 18:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 10.2 hours |
| Official Counter | Caroline Lambert |
| Observers: | Allison Zukewich, Jim She, Roger Jones |
Visitors:
About 15 people stopped by, including a couple who helped spot for a while.
Weather:
The temperature started at 8C, rose to 15C, and fell to 12C at the end. Most of the time the ground wind was calm, but there were periods of much stronger wind, gusting up to 40 kph. Ridge winds were consistently from the southwest, starting out moderate and building to 55kph with gusts to 85. High winds were initially from the northwest, but had veered to westerly by mid-afternoon. The sky started out 50% covered with cirrus and cumulus clouds, which gradually cleared, but then a wide band of altostratus moved in from the west in the early afternoon, giving us almost 100% cloud cover for a few hours, before moving off to the east. By the time the count ended, there were almost no clouds to be seen. Between the wind and the varying cloud cover we felt chilled at times, and warm at other times.
Raptor Observations:
The below average count of Golden Eagles continued today. We wondered if wild fires to the north of us were causing the eagles to divert down the west side of the Rockies, as another hawk watch on the west side of Glacier National Park in Montana has seen twice as many eagles as we have over the same time period – in previous years we’ve counted more than them. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues.
However, we did see enough eagles to make the observers happy and keep us on our toes. The first couple of eagles were spotted at 0915, but then there was a lull until noon, after which there was a steady number. The peak of the day was 1600-1700 when 5 were seen. The last eagles were seen at 1830. All were seen on the east ridge, some high, some low, most gliding along easily with little effort. The totals were 19 Golden Eagles (6a, 2sa, 1j, 1ui, 9u), 1 Merlin, 1 Cooper’s Hawk, and 4 Sharp-shinned Hawks.
There were two instances of adult Golden Eagles seen on the west side of the valley that appeared to be hunting, and were considered to be one or both of the local pair. A gorgeous intermediate morph adult Red-tailed Hawk was seen several times as it hunted over the valley.
Non-raptor Observations:
Identifiable non-raptors were few and far between. Apart from a dozen ravens that were seen throughout the day, there were a couple of Boreal Chickadees, a Mountain Chickadee, one Ruby-crowned Kinglet, one Belted Kingfisher, about forty American Robins, about 15 Pine Siskins, and two Yellow-rumped Warblers. Many flocks of unidentifiable small birds flew by heading south.
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 (25 Sep 2025) 6 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 25, 2025 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Northern Harrier | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 3 | 11 | 11 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 15 | 15 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Golden Eagle | 0 | 34 | 34 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Unknown Raptor | 1 | 5 | 5 |
| Total: | 6 | 87 | 87 |
| Observation start time: | 08:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 17:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 9 hours |
| Official Counter | Lynette MacCulloch , Lynette MacCulloch |
| Observers: | Bill McKeeman |
Visitors:
Twenty three people stopped to chat. Our last visitor was quite breathless when she arrived to tell us that she had seen a cougar near the pump houses as she was coming towards us. After a bit of questioning we determined that she had not seen a cougar but either a Lynx or a Bobcat.
Weather:
Upon arriving at the parking lot, my car thermometer was sitting at zero, but at the observation site the temperature was plus 2. By mid afternoon the temperature was up to 19 degrees where it stayed until we left. The sky remained cloudless for the duration of the day with one or two small cumulous clouds appearing and then being shredded before disappearing. Fog dominated the Bow Valley on the drive out but in the Kananaskis valley only mist rose from the river, which also melted away once the sun got to the valley bottom. There was very little wind until mid morning when it switched from north to west and then south south west with a Beaufort wind scale of 2-3 and gusts of 4-5 BFT. The ridge top winds were BFT of 5 with gusts to 8 . Smoke appeared in the southern part of the valley and spread up to Lorette but gradually dissipated so only the far south end of the valley was hazy. Genereally visibility was quite good.
Raptor Observations:
It was an exceptionally dismal day for raptor observation. A very beautiful Northern Harrier was seen flying down the west side of the valley. Three Sharp-shinned Hawks were observed flying along Patrick and the east side of the valley and one Merlin was also seen on the east side of the valley. An unknown raptor was seen on the east side over the bumps and along side Old Baldy.
Non-raptor Observations:
There were a lot of small bird sightings, but not the usual antics of of ravens. Only 7 were seen and they were quite distant. Pine Siskins were seen periodically flying up and down and around the valley, sometimes landing in he nearby trees behind us. 30 American Robins, 2 Lincoln Sparrows, 1 Swamp Sparrow,1 Song Sparrow,1 Black-billed Magpie, 2 Canada Jays, 2 Northern Flickers, 2 American Pipits, 1 Belted Kingfisher, 2 American Dippers made up the avian visitors.
Predictions:
I will be very interested to see what tomorrow brings, weather wise and migration wise!
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 (24 Sep 2025) 17 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 24, 2025 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Bald Eagle | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 4 | 8 | 8 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| American Goshawk | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 4 | 15 | 15 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Golden Eagle | 6 | 34 | 34 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Total: | 17 | 81 | 81 |
| Observation start time: | 07:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 17:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 9.15 hours |
| Official Counter | Ethan Denton |
| Observers: | Peter Lloyd |
Visitors:
Approximately 35 people walked the trail today, and they all stopped to say hello!
Weather:
Temperatures were pleasant, holding between 9 and 13 degrees all day. The sun beat down from a largely cloudless sky until a scattering of small cumulus clouds came in around 16:00. The wind was constant, averaging 3-4 Beaufort.
Raptor Observations:
Almost all of our raptors were seen before 12pm! The 6 Golden Eagles (4a, 1j, 1u) were split between the Eastern and western ridges, and stayed low for the whole time they were in sight. Other raptors included 4 Red-tailed Hawks, 4 Sharp-shinned Hawks, a low-flying Cooper’s Hawk, and a distant American Goshawk. A resident subadult Bald Eagle made a few passes, and was dive-bombed by a resident Red-tailed Hawk at one point.
Non-raptor Observations:
Siskins were moving down the river in small groups all morning, and several skeins of Canada Geese crossed over high. There was a White-crowned Sparrow in the bushes, and the resident American Dipper made a brief appearance.
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]
