Mount Lorette (15 Oct 2022) 69 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 15, 2022 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Bald Eagle | 5 | 51 | 64 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 3 | 16 | 45 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 1 | 9 | 20 |
| Northern Goshawk | 1 | 15 | 22 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 1 | 20 | 29 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 1 | 8 | 8 |
| Golden Eagle | 55 | 1305 | 1460 |
| 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 | 0 | 9 | 15 |
| Unknown Buteo | 2 | 9 | 10 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 14 | 18 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| Total: | 69 | 1480 | 1731 |
| Observation start time: | 07:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 18:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 10.83 hours |
| Official Counter | Blake Weis, Caroline Lambert |
| Observers: | Blake Weis, Deb Hornsby |
Visitors:
About 30 visitors came to the site. We are again indebted to the help of Theresa Gawron and James Bannon, who helped with spotting and identifying for over seven hours. Several others came with binoculars as well.
Weather:
Once more the day was marked by blue skies and light winds. At ridge level the wind started out from the southwest, but became variable in the middle of the day, swinging back to southwest in the evening. The temperature ranged from just below freezing to 14C, dropping to 10C at the end.
Raptor Observations:
The light winds resulted in a slow day for migrants. Most were initially seen soaring over Lorette, then coming in to the east ridge at various levels, sometimes soaring again, sometimes gliding through, sometimes needing powered flight. The count was 55 Golden Eagles (34a, 9sa, 7j, 5u), 3 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 1 Cooper’s Hawk, 1 Northern Goshawk, 5 Bald Eagles (3a, 2sa), 1 Red-tailed Hawk, 1 Rough-legged Hawk, and two unid. buteos.
Non-raptor Observations:
Toward the end of the day a Bald Eagle came to sit in a tree across the river, allowing us to study it closely. At first glance it looked like an adult, but closer examination showed some dark on the head, the remnants of an “osprey mask” behind the eye, and a few tail feathers tipped with black – so almost an adult, but not quite. We wondered if it had been responsible for a large fish, the remnants of which a couple of ravens were feasting on. Other birds were two Common Mergansers, 2 Northern Goshawks, 1 Belted Kingfisher, 1 Downy Woodpecker, 2 Canada Jays, 1 Black-billed Magpie, 1 Clark’s Nutcracker, 6 Common Ravens, 1 Golden-crowned Kinglet, 2 Red-breasted Nuthatches, 1 Brown Creeper, 1 American Dipper, 40 Red Crossbills, 1 American Tree Sparrow, 6 Dark-eyed Juncos, 1 European Starling, and 1 American Goldfinch.
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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]
