Mount Lorette (05 Oct 2026) 45 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 05, 2026 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Bald Eagle | 3 | 8 | 18 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 2 | 16 | 44 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| American Goshawk | 1 | 2 | 14 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 3 | 15 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| Golden Eagle | 32 | 294 | 560 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Prairie Falcon | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Falcon | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 4 | 8 |
| Total: | 45 | 338 | 704 |
| Observation start time: | 06:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 18:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 11.07 hours |
| Official Counter | Lori Anderson |
| Observers: | Allison Zukewich, Caroline Lambert, Christine Ouellet, Graeme Dunlop |
Visitors:
About 60 visitors stopped by the site today.
Weather:
The temperature was 11�C first thing in the morning, rising to a high of 16�C at 1 p.m., where it remained for the rest of the day and dropping by 1�C to 15�C as we left the site at the end of the count.
Cloud cover was sparse throughout the day, ranging from 0 to 30%, with cirrus, lenticular, and cirrostratus clouds observed. The wind blew from the south and southwest, starting light in the morning and gradually increasing in strength throughout the day, with gusts reaching up to 40 km/h at one point. At ridge level, the wind was moderately strong, with gusts as high as 97 km/h.
Raptor Observations:
Today�s raptor activity started out strong, with two-thirds of the birds recorded before 1 p.m. I wondered whether the afternoon formation of large lenticular clouds over the eastern ridges may have played a role in the decline in activity.
It was one of the most challenging days I�ve encountered because the birds were flying very high, and the lighting often reduced them to silhouettes, making identification and observation difficult. Most of the birds glided at a considerable altitude and did not offer views of their upper feather coverage. All of the eagles flew over the eastern ridges.
The totals are: 32 Golden Eagles (11a, 2sa, 1j, 4ui, 14u), 3 adult Bald Eagles, 2 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 1 American Goshawk, 2 Rough-legged Hawks, 2 Merlins, 1 Prairie Falcon and 2 Falcon sp. A resident Goshawk was seen hunting a few times throughout the day. A golden Eagle was observed displaying while interacting with a Raven on Mt. Baldy.
Non-raptor Observations:
1 Varied Thrush, 1 Belted Kingfisher, 13 Robins, 10 Ravens, 2 Gull sp., 2 Black-capped Chickadees, 1 Dark-eyed Junco, 1 Common Merganser.
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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]
