Mount Lorette (01 Apr 2025) 60 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 01, 2025 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bald Eagle | 2 | 2 | 58 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Golden Eagle | 54 | 54 | 992 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Eagle | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total: | 60 | 60 | 1074 |
| Observation start time: | 06:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 19:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 11.87 hours |
| Official Counter | Caroline Lambert |
| Observers: | Lynette MacCulloch |
Visitors:
Few people came by today. Only about six stopped to talk.
Weather:
It was a pleasant day weather-wise to start, with few clouds initially, but clouds built up throughout the day, advancing and retreating, occasionally throwing graupel at us, occasionally obscuring various parts of the ridges, then clearing up. As we were leaving, low clouds were closing in, seemingly from all sides. The temperature started out at -3C, rose to 6C, then fell to 2C at departure. Ground winds were calm until late afternoon when there were gusts over 20 kph from the northeast. The clouds were moving from the northwest most of the day, swinging around to west by day’s end. Ridge winds could not be ascertained.
Raptor Observations:
The first Golden Eagles were seen shortly after 1000, and the last just before 1800. Initially the observations flipped back and forth between the east ridge and west ridge, but after noon there was a steady progression of eagles flying high and fast over the east ridge. Later in the afternoon the ridge wind must have died down as the last few were needing powered flight to make progress. There was not much light as the sun was often behind clouds, and with the eagles flying against a backdrop of clouds it was difficult to age most of them. The total number of Golden Eagles was 54 (21a, 2sa, 1j, 2ui, 28u). In addition there were two Bald Eagles (1a, 1sa), one adult Sharp-shinned Hawk, two Red-tailed Hawks (one adult light morph and 1u dark morph), and one unidentified eagle.
The resident Golden Eagles were spotted in various places – hunting over Hummingbird Plume, doing display dives over Nakiska. An immature Bald Eagle (second year) flew low over our heads, and one or both of the local American Goshawks were seen and heard several times.
Non-raptor Observations:
There was a good variety of other birds: Trumpeter/Tundra Swan 4, Common Merganser 2, Ruffed Grouse 1 (drumming), Pileated Woodpecker 1, Northern Shrike 2, American Crow 4, Common Raven 8, Black-capped Chickadee 4, Mountain Chickadee 2, American Dipper 1, European Starling 6, Mountain Bluebird 2, Varied Thrush 2, American Robin 5
Report submitted by ()
Mount Lorette information may be found at: eaglewatch.ca
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]
