Mount Lorette (12 Nov 2024) 12 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 12, 2024 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bald Eagle | 2 | 37 | 112 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 1 | 94 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 1 | 20 |
| Golden Eagle | 10 | 167 | 2774 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Merlin | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipiter | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Total: | 12 | 209 | 3090 |
| Observation start time: | 09:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 17:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 8 hours |
| Official Counter | Caroline Lambert |
| Observers: | Ruth Morrow |
Visitors:
The first two groups of people were hikers, but then a number of families came by, as it is a school holiday. About 40 people stopped to talk about the count.
Weather:
The day started out mostly clear with a few cumulus clouds, but the clouds gradually built up until at the end of the day most of the valley was covered in low stratus cloud, the west ridge was almost completely obscured, and a few flakes of snow were falling. The temperature started at 3C, rose to 5C, and fell to 4C at the end. Ground winds started out low, became moderate, and were calm at the end of the day. Ridge winds started out strong, above 80 kph from the southwest, but gradually diminished throughout the day, down to about 30 kph from the southwest. Upper winds appeared to be moderate from the west.
Raptor Observations:
With the strong ridge winds early in the day, expectations were high for early sightings, but nothing was seen until almost noon. Migrants were sparse, although there was a late afternoon rush of 3 in the last half hour when it was too dark to make out any details for aging. All migrants were seen on the east ridge, gliding along at a moderate speed, some quite high, and some low. The totals were 10 Golden Eagles (5a, 5u) and two adult Bald Eagles.
Only two non-migrant raptors were seen – two adult Bald Eagles circling together low over the river.
Non-raptor Observations:
Other birds were also sparse – 2 Canada Jays, about 5 Common Ravens, 1 Boreal Chickadee, 15 Bohemian Waxwings, and a couple of Redpolls.
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Mount Lorette information may be found at: eaglewatch.ca
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]
