Mount Lorette (03 Apr 2026) 20 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 03, 2026 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bald Eagle | 1 | 2 | 64 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| American Goshawk | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 4 | 4 | 12 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Golden Eagle | 10 | 12 | 1038 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Eagle | 1 | 1 | 16 |
| Unknown Raptor | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Total: | 20 | 23 | 1147 |
| Observation start time: | 08:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 18:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 9.75 hours |
| Official Counter | Caroline Lambert |
| Observers: | Michelle Hart, Tiina Moore |
Visitors:
Since it was a holiday the trail was quite busy. 60-70 people walked by, and about a dozen stopped to ask what we were doing, or to watch for a bit.
Weather:
It was mostly cloudy most of the day, with the sun occasionally breaking through the low clouds to warm us. The east ridge stayed clear all day but the higher parts the west ridge occasionally faded away. The temperature started at -3C and rose to +5C, ending the day at +3C. Ground winds were light, mostly from between west and south, while ridge winds also seemed light judging by the lack of blowing snow most of the time. When we did see snow plumes, it seemed that the wind was swinging from west to south. High winds were low from the northwest.
Raptor Observations:
It was a disappointing day for migrating Golden Eagles, with just 10 spotted (5a, 2ui, 3u), mostly high over the east ridge, with the first seen just before noon and the last at 16:45. A few needed to soar to gain altitude. However, the local Golden Eagles put on quite a show – at one point we had a Golden Eagle doing display dives over Old Baldy at the same time another one was doing display dives at the other end of the valley over Skogan Pass near Collembola. Were these rival eagles, or a pair marking the boundary of their territory? Later we saw two together doing display dives and playing around with each other over Nakiska.
Other migrating raptors were more plentiful – four adult Red-tailed Hawks, one adult Bald Eagle, one American Goshawk, one Sharp-shinned Hawk, one small accipitrine hawk, one unknown eagle, and one small unidentified raptor.
Besides the two local Golden Eagles, one Red-tailed Hawk and one Bald Eagle were considered to be not migrating.
Non-raptor Observations:
There did not seem to be as many non-raptor species as might be expected for the time of year. There is still snow cover everywhere, which might impact the species that like to forage in the meadow. These other birds were one Mallard, one Canada Goose, one Killdeer, one Hairy Woodpecker, a Northern Flicker, about seven Common Ravens, a Black-capped Chickadee, a couple of Mountain Chickadees, a couple of Varied Thrushes, about five American Robins, and about 25 Bohemian Waxwings.
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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]
