Mount Lorette (12 Oct 2024) 199 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 12, 2024 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bald Eagle | 12 | 30 | 41 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 19 | 56 | 74 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 8 | 8 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 9 | 17 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 6 | 9 | 9 |
| Golden Eagle | 159 | 1224 | 1487 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Merlin | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipiter | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Unknown Eagle | 1 | 5 | 5 |
| Unknown Raptor | 2 | 3 | 9 |
| Total: | 199 | 1359 | 1682 |
| Observation start time: | 07:30:00 |
| Observation end time: | 17:45:00 |
| Total observation time: | 10.17 hours |
| Official Counter | Blake Weis |
| Observers: | Lynn Macintosh |
Visitors:
60 people stopped to talk, and 9 stayed with binoculars to watch migration.
Weather:
The temperature was -4 C at the start of observation, it rose to 12, then fell to 7 at the end. Ground wind was light with a few gusts around 15 km/h in the afternoon. Ridge wind was also low, mostly below 20 with gusts only reaching 30 near the end of the day. Cloud cover was between 40 and 60% most of the time. Observing conditions were generally good to excellent.
Raptor Observations:
Migrants passed by steadily between 9:40 AM and 6:45 PM. The 1-2 PM hour had the highest count with 36. Movement was mostly low along the eastern ridges, but a few eagles and Rough-legged Hawks did use the western route. The light wind forced most raptors to flap and soar, though stronger wind in the last hour allowed some eagles to glide a bit higher up. The count was 159 Golden Eagles (54 adults, 48 juveniles, 4 sub-adults, 15 undifferentiated immature, 38 unaged), 12 Bald Eagles, 19 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 6 Rough-legged Hawks, 1 unidentified eagle and 2 small unidentified raptors. Resident raptors included an adult Bald Eagle flying north, and two Sharp-shinned Hawks that were hanging around high on the Fisher Range harassing migrating raptors.
Non-raptor Observations:
1 Ruffed Grouse, 2 Downy Woodpeckers, 1 Hairy Woodpecker, 1 Northern Shrike, 3 Canada Jays, 7 Common Ravens, 2 Black-capped Chickadees, 1 Mountain Chickadee, 3 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, 4 Golden-crowned Kinglets, 2 American Dippers, 1 American Robin, 25 Pine Siskins, 1 Dark-eyed Junco, and 1 Mourning Cloak butterfly.
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Mount Lorette information may be found at: eaglewatch.ca
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]
