Mount Lorette (07 Apr 2024) 73 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 07, 2024 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bald Eagle | 1 | 13 | 72 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| American Goshawk | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 1 | 10 | 13 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| Golden Eagle | 66 | 122 | 1707 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipiter | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total: | 73 | 157 | 1830 |
| Observation start time: | 09:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 18:45:00 |
| Total observation time: | 9.75 hours |
| Official Counter | Jessica Banas |
| Observers: | Allison Zukewich |
Visitors:
There were 4 visitors to the site, two that helped with the count for a short while. Overall the meadow was very quiet, despite the nice weather.
Weather:
It was a beautiful day, with partial cloud cover, but lots of bright sun and blue sky. For the first few hours the west ridges were entirely obscured by low cumulus clouds, but as the day went on they lifted – however there was snowfall on and off throughout the day on the west ridges only. The temperature started at 2C and rose to 6C in the late afternoon. The ground winds were quite low from W to SW throughout the day. The ridge winds were challenging to judge, but at the very end of the day blowing snow was seen on the West Ridges. In all, the weather was very unique each hour.
Raptor Observations:
With the interesting weather came an interesting selection of raptors. Many of the birds were soaring high, choosing paths down both the East and West Ridges. The local Golden Eagle was seen multiple times throughout the day harassing migrants on the West ridges. The largest challenge in aging was that when the ridge winds seemed low, many of the birds were seen just popping out briefly over the west ridge. In total for migrating goldens there were: 18a, 20sa, 8j, and 18u. Other migrating raptors included 1 Red-tailed hawk (western lm), 2 Northern Goshawks (2a), 1 Bald Eagle (2nd Year), 2 Sharp-Shinned Hawks (1a, 1j) and 1 Merlin (Taiga a). There were many local raptors seen today as well, two Golden Eagles (1a, 1sa), two adult Bald Eagles, and an adult Male Taiga Merlin that was seen sitting in a tree for over an hour close to the site. He kept the valley quiet of passerines for the duration of his visit.
Non-raptor Observations:
Other observations included: 1 American Crow, 4 Common Raven, 6 Black-Capped Chickadee, 1 Mountain Chickadee, 1 Golden-Crowned Kinglet, 4 American Robin, 3 Bohemian Waxwing, 2 Dark-eyed Junco.
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Mount Lorette information may be found at: eaglewatch.ca
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]
