Mount Lorette (03 Nov 2022) 58 Raptors

Visitors:
One visitor came with binoculars to watch migration. Six others stopped to talk

Weather:
It was a windy day at ridge level with gusts exceeding 70 km/h. At ground level the wind was moderate, typically around 10 km/h with gusts up to 20. Cloud cover was low in the morning, around 20% which made spotting high-flying birds difficult. In the afternoon cloud cover increased to 60-80% which helped spotting. Temperature was a chilly -8 C in the morning which increased to -2 C in the afternoon. 20-30 cm of snow had fallen in the last couple days.

Raptor Observations:
Most of the migrants were flying high over the eastern ridges, kiting into the strong updrafts then gliding south well above the Fisher Range. Some birds were high enough to detach from the ridges and flew down the east side of the valley. Others seemed to have trouble maintaining height and came low in front of Mt. Patrick before finding another updraft and kiting high again.
The total count consisted of 49 Golden Eagles (27 adults, 4 sub-adults, 1 juvenile, 2 undifferentiated immature and 15 unaged), 6 Bald Eagles (3 adults & 3 sub-adults), 1 adult Northern Goshawk and 2 unidentified eagles. Local raptors included an adult Bald Eagle that was once again flying low over the river in the morning and an adult Northern Goshawk flying west to the south of the site.

Non-raptor Observations:
Common Merganser 11 One on the river, ten flying south Belted Kingfisher 1 Canada Jay 2 Common Raven 10 Golden-crowned Kinglet 3 Brown Creeper 1 American Dipper 1 European Starling 8 Seven flying south and one hanging around Bohemian Waxwing 25 Red Crossbill 8 Dark-eyed Junco 2

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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 Dunkadoo – [Project Details]