Mount Lorette (06 Nov 2025) 28 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 06, 2025 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Bald Eagle | 5 | 14 | 82 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 0 | 198 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 0 | 43 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| Golden Eagle | 23 | 180 | 2385 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 0 | 1 | 12 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 1 | 17 |
| Total: | 28 | 197 | 2835 |
| Observation start time: | 09:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 17:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 7.7 hours |
| Official Counter | Ethan Denton , Peter Lloyd |
| Observers: |
Visitors:
Only a couple people stopped, none for long.
Weather:
A balmy day, though often overcast. The sun made fleeting appearances through shifting layers of cumulus clouds. Ground winds fluctuated between 3-5 Beaufort before dropping off in the evening. At ridge level, however, they held above 50km/h gusting up to 100 in the morning. Rain threatened but never materialised fully.
Raptor Observations:
An early push saw 10 eagles blow through before 1030, all flying mid-level along the Eastern ridge. The winds made for easy flying, and birds passed quickly and with little effort. A smattering of eagles followed the same flightpath throughout the day, before 4 Bald Eagles decided to fly through together with a couple Goldens late on.
By incredible coincidence, a group of what appeared to be 4 local Bald Eagles stacked up in a kettle at the exact time that 4 were flying by. Two of the migrants joined the kettle briefly before continuing south – the local birds eventually broke north and vanished into the blue, far up the valley (heading for Barrier Lake, perhaps?). These were the only local raptors to make an appearance today.
Non-raptor Observations:
The Canada Jays finally made an appearance at site, dropping by with their typical curiosity. A couple flocks of Siskins bounced around, but the highlight was a group of Grey-crowned Rosy-finches following the river. There was also a pair of Hairy Woodpeckers foraging in the woods and the nearby wolf willows.
Report submitted by Ethan Denton (ethan@suechick.com)
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]
