Mount Lorette (06 Oct 2022) 27 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 06, 2022 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 14 | 27 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 5 | 34 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 2 | 6 | 17 |
| Northern Goshawk | 1 | 5 | 12 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 6 | 15 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Golden Eagle | 20 | 239 | 394 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 6 | 8 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Unknown Accipiter | 2 | 4 | 10 |
| Unknown Buteo | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Unknown Eagle | 1 | 5 | 9 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Total: | 27 | 298 | 549 |
| Observation start time: | 07:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 19:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 11.17 hours |
| Official Counter | Caroline Lambert |
| Observers: | Graeme Dunlop, Lynette MacCulloch |
Visitors:
25 visitors came by and chatted with us.
Weather:
The weather pattern from previous days continued with blue skies, few clouds, a slight haze (an orange glow to the sunrise suggested a distant forest fire), and warm temperatures, ranging from 0C in the morning to a high of 16C, dropping to 12C at the end of the day. Initially the wind was calm, but it picked up in the afternoon, coming from the northeast. At ridge level the wind was light and also from the northeast. These conditions were not favourable either for the migrating raptors or spotting them.
Raptor Observations:
The first few eagles were spotted soaring above Mt Lorette around noon. These were then picked up flying low over the east ridge. As the northeast wind increased, though, it appeared that most eagles were coming in low and disappearing behind the east ridge. Some were seen low over the south end of the Fisher Range, but some did not reappear. A few came in high, but dropped quickly and disappeared behind the ridge. Nearly all were using powered flight. The tally at the end of the day was 20 Golden Eagles (10a, 1sa, 9u), 2 Cooper’s Hawk, 1 Red-tailed Hawk, 1 small accipiter, 1 buteo sp. and 1 unknown eagle.
Non-raptor Observations:
A couple of dippers entertained us in the morning, and one of the Belted Kingfishers flew past in the afternoon. The Swamp Sparrow is still hiding in the willows, and the Ruffed Grouse is still drumming. Other birds were a Northern Shrike, a Black-billed Magpie, a Brown Creeper, and 5 Common Ravens. At least 20 American Robins flew by heading south.
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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]
