Mount Lorette (08 Oct 2025) 55 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 08, 2025 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Bald Eagle | 2 | 21 | 25 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 5 | 24 | 54 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 5 | 9 |
| American Goshawk | 1 | 7 | 13 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 1 | 9 | 31 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Golden Eagle | 45 | 873 | 1015 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 5 | 10 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 0 | 4 | 10 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 4 | 10 |
| Total: | 55 | 961 | 1206 |
| Observation start time: | 07:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 18:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 11.13 hours |
| Official Counter | Ethan Denton, Peter Lloyd |
| Observers: |
Visitors:
Around 80 people passed by today, the majority of which stopped to chat. Several people stayed to help watch for a while, and an education group of ~30 schoolchildren passed by quickly.
Weather:
Ridge winds were extremely low today, getting down to just 7km/h at one point! They were predominantly from the SW, in contrast to the northerly winds at ground level. Swaths of cumulus clouds came and went throughout the day without threatening too much, and the temperature held between 5 and 9 degrees. The pressure meter barely shifted from 0851 throughout the day. There were some low clouds which obscured the Western ridges for a while, but these dissipated after an hour or so.
Raptor Observations:
Golden Eagles moved through late – only a couple came through before 2pm, these being split between the ridges and flying laboriously and low. Between 14:00 and 16:30 around 35 eagles passed through. They were mostly picked up at Lorette and followed the Eastern ridge, relatively low. A couple Sharp-shinned Hawks were scattered in, two Bald Eagles flew the ridges, and a dark-morph Red-tailed Hawk was a nice sighting. A Rough-legged Hawk following the Eastern slope of the valley makes for the first of the season!
Residents included 1 Golden Eagle and the adult Goshawk.
Non-raptor Observations:
A small handful of passerines migrated along the valley, as well as some Canada Geese high overhead. A Common Loon flew determinedly along the ridge, in the complete wrong direction.
Other notable birds include 2 White-winged Crossbills, 9 Golden-crowned Kinglets, a female Common Merganser, and a Wilson’s Warbler.
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]
