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Mount Lorette (14 Oct 2022) 141 Raptors

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Mount Lorette
Alberta, Canada

Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 14, 2022
Species Day’s Count Month Total Season Total
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 0 4 4
Bald Eagle 7 46 59
Northern Harrier 0 1 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 13 42
Cooper’s Hawk 0 8 19
Northern Goshawk 5 14 21
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 4
Swainson’s Hawk 0 0 0
Red-tailed Hawk 1 19 28
Ferruginous Hawk 0 0 0
Rough-legged Hawk 0 7 7
Golden Eagle 125 1248 1403
American Kestrel 0 0 0
Merlin 0 11 13
Gyrfalcon 0 0 0
Peregrine Falcon 0 1 2
Prairie Falcon 0 2 3
Unknown Accipiter 1 9 15
Unknown Buteo 1 7 8
Unknown Falcon 0 1 3
Unknown Eagle 0 14 18
Unknown Raptor 0 4 7
Total: 141 1409 1660
Observation start time: 07:00:00
Observation end time: 17:45:00
Total observation time: 10.75 hours
Official Counter Graeme Dunlop
Observers: Ruth Morrow

Visitors:
22

Weather:
A day of mixed weather conditions. The temperature started at 0C, rose to a high of 16C, and dropped to 9C at the end. Ground winds were mostly zero to light although they did increase suddenly from late afternoon, becoming quite strong from the east. An interesting variety of medium and high level clouds passed by from a northerly direction with nice amounts of blue sky in between. Ridge winds were also quite variable in both speed and direction, generally moderate with some strong gusts from a W to NW direction but also from NE and SW at times. A band of darker clouds produced some light rain late afternoon before clearing from the north just before sunset.

Raptor Observations:
2 Golden Eagles were seen shortly after sunrise. Movement was slow until late morning, then decent numbers until conditions changed late afternoon. Early birds seemed to be approaching the Fisher Range from the NE (Wasootch). From late morning many birds were seen soaring over distant Skogan Peak before gliding SE over Mt Lorette and continuing south high above the Fisher Range. Flying conditions changed late afternoon as the last few eagles once again seemed to approach the Fisher Range from a NE direction, flying lower and having to use powered flight. Last raptor was seen at 17:55. Daily totals: 125 Golden Eagles (46a, 1sa, 4juv, 74u), 7 Bald Eagles, 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk, 5 Northern Goshawks, 1 Red-tailed Hawk, 1 unidentified accipiter, 1 unidentified buteo.

Non-raptor Observations:
Several small flocks of Snow Geese (28 birds in total) flew south. One flock kept changing flight path and altitude seemingly in response to the presence of Golden Eagles. Other birds were 22 Geese (sp.), 15 Common Raven, 4 Common Merganser, 2 Canada Jays, 3 Black-billed Magpies, 5 Golden-crowned Kinglet, 1 Brown Creeper, 10 Red Crossbills, 24 American Robin.


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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]