Mount Lorette (14 Oct 2026) 159 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 14, 2026 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Bald Eagle | 4 | 16 | 26 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 5 | 9 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 6 | 51 | 79 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 6 | 18 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 7 | 19 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 9 | 12 |
| Golden Eagle | 142 | 887 | 1153 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 5 | 7 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 0 | 4 | 9 |
| Unknown Buteo | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Unknown Falcon | 1 | 4 | 9 |
| Unknown Eagle | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Unknown Raptor | 4 | 11 | 15 |
| Total: | 159 | 1012 | 1378 |
| Observation start time: | 06:45:00 |
| Observation end time: | 18:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 11.25 hours |
| Official Counter | Graeme Dunlop |
| Observers: | Christina Furtado, Ethan Denton, Peter Lloyd |
Visitors:
About 20 people stopped to have a chat. Thanks to Ethan, Toby and Jeff for helping to spot eagles in the afternoon.
Weather:
The temperature at 0745 was 7C, the high was 12C at 1500 and it was still 8C at 1900. Ridge winds were SW-WSW all day, initially very strong with gusts just over 100 km/h and then 30-55 gusting 60 km/h for the rest of the day. A weak warm front had passed overnight so there was some varied early cloud cover with 50% altostratus (that formed a Chinook Arch), altocumulus, and cirrostratus. The Arch quickly began to slip out of sight to the east and the cloud soon lifted from the western ridges leaving 20-30% cumulus which gradually reduced through the afternoon becoming clear by 1400.
Raptor Observations:
The count was 152 birds of 3 species between 0835 and 1815 that comprised 4 Bald Eagles (2a, 2sa), 6 Sharp-shinned Hawks (1a, 5u), 142 Golden Eagles (53a, 4sa, 3j, 11ui, 71u), 1 unidentified eagle, 1 unidentified buteo, 4 unidentified raptors and an unidentified large falcon that was seen over Mt McDougall, too far to confirm identification unfortunately. The previous days count had decent numbers of eagles late in the day so I was hoping for a busy morning. The first 4 eagles were seen at 0835 and they were quickly followed by another 44 in the next 25 minutes, they were all using the Skogan Peak – Lorette – Fisher Range flyway. Movement then slowed but remained steady with a further 34 eagles seen up to 1030 when things suddenly became very quiet with few birds flying until activity picked up again mid afternoon with 49 eagles observed between 1500 and 1800. All but 4 of the Golden Eagles were seen using the eastern ridges. Most of them flew high and they were often quite difficult to find against the blue sky. A number of birds were not picked up until they flew closer to the ridgeline on Mt McDougall far to the south east.
Non-raptor Observations:
Other birds were a 2 American Robins, 1 Belted Kingfisher, 1 Northern Flicker, 1 Northern Shrike, two Canada Jays, 2 Black-billed Magpies, 1 Clark�s Nutcracker, about 20 Common Ravens and several Pine Siskins.
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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 Trektellen.org – [Project Details]
