Mount Lorette (09 Apr 2023) 16 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 09, 2023 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bald Eagle | 4 | 24 | 110 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Northern Goshawk | 0 | 5 | 16 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Golden Eagle | 9 | 251 | 1690 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Merlin | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipiter | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Unknown Eagle | 1 | 6 | 16 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total: | 16 | 294 | 1847 |
| Observation start time: | 06:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 19:15:00 |
| Total observation time: | 12.25 hours |
| Official Counter | Blake Weis |
| Observers: | Allison Zukewich |
Visitors:
30 visitors stopped to talk. 3 stayed for a bit to watch for raptors.
Weather:
The day began at 3C, rose to a high of 9 and had fallen to 8 as we were leaving. It was very windy with gusts from the SSW-WSW around 40 km/h. At ridge level wind was very strong from the WSW. Cloud cover was a constantly changing but was most often around 60-80%.
Raptor Observations:
It was a slow day for migration, perhaps the very strong (100+ km/h) ridge winds were too much for stable flight. The movements of one of the migrating eagles as it was kiting into the updrafts reminded me of a car barely keeping control on an icy road. What few migrants we did see were almost all very high, detected out in the sky between Patrick and Lorette before they flew well over Mt. Lorette. Some of them passed above the lowest layer of cumulus clouds. Light and cloud conditions were good but the speed, distance, and angles migrants were viewed from made many of them impossible to age.
At least one resident Goshawk was heard calling in the morning, then not long after was seen hunting over Hummingbird Plume Hill. One of the local Golden Eagles was seen as well.
Non-raptor Observations:
11 Canada Goose 1 Ruffed Grouse 1 Hairy Woodpecker 1 Northern Flicker 1 Canada Jay 9 Common Raven 2 Black-capped Chickadee 1 Mountain Chickadee 2 Boreal Chickadee 3 chickadee sp. 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch 1 Brown Creeper 1 European Starling 2 Mountain Bluebird 3 Varied Thrush 20 American Robin 2 White-winged Crossbill 5 Pine Siskin 6 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]
Count data submitted via Dunkadoo – [Project Details]
