Mount Lorette (03 Mar 2026) 17 Raptors

Visitors:
Four passers-by stopped to enquire about the count, and a couple who had been skiing lingered for a while.

Weather:
The starting temperature was 8C, and soon rose to a high of 9C. By the end of the day it was 6C. The initially mostly cloudy sky gave way to more blue sky, but by mid-afternoon altostratus and stratus clouds had moved in from the west, partially obscuring the west ridge, and blocking the sun. The wind was ferocious all day, with grounds winds gusting up to 50kph from the west, making it seem cold in spite of the unusually warm temperature. Ridge winds were very strong from the west, judging by the snow blowing off the ridges. The snow that fell on Friday was disappearing rapidly in the open areas, and in the forest the snow was quite mushy and not deep.

Raptor Observations:
The first migrants were seen soon after arrival, and continued sporadically throughout the day. All 13 of the Golden Eagles (7a, 6u) appeared over the east ridge at least two binocular views above the ridge, with the last few nearly four binocular views up – in other words, they were very, very high. Also going extremely fast. The two Bald Eagles (1a, 1wb) were also high but following the river to the north. A couple of eagles disappeared into the clouds before they could be ID’d.

Non-raptor Observations:
Other birds seen were one Hooded Merganser (male), one Downy Woodpecker, four Canada Jays, five or so Common Ravens, two Black-capped Chickadees, two Mountain Chickadees, one Red-breasted Nuthatch, about five White-winged Crossbills and five Pine Siskins.

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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]