Mount Lorette (16 Mar 2026) 55 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 16, 2026 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bald Eagle | 4 | 17 | 17 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Golden Eagle | 51 | 249 | 249 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Total: | 55 | 276 | 276 |
| Observation start time: | 06:45:00 |
| Observation end time: | 18:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 11.25 hours |
| Official Counter | Lori Anderson |
| Observers: | Caroline Lambert, Peter Lloyd |
Visitors:
We had 28 visitors to the site and another 30 students, with 6 professors.
Weather:
The theme for the day was wind. Although the west ground wind started out a bit lighter at the start of the count, it increased throughout the day and all around the valley the ridges were howling with up to 164 km/h WSW speeds. By the end of the day, ground winds were knocking everything over, reaching over 40 km/h. Cloud covered 60-100% of the sky with mainly Altostratus, Altocumulus, Cumulus and some Cirrostratus. The temperature started out at �5C and reached +5 by 2:00 and remained the same for the rest of the count.
Raptor Observations:
The first Golden Eagle of the day appeared at Lorette at 9:45 and struggled to make its way across the face. The wind pushed it to the east, and eventually it made its way back, travelling down to the valley behind hummingbird plume and along the McGillivray range. This pattern continued for the next few hours, with birds appearing at Lorette or over the northeast valley on their way to Lorette. The high wind forced them to fly low and take cover below the ridges. Later in the day, the tables turned, and many were located very high above the eastern peaks, flying north high over Lorette and McGillivray. The final tally was 51 Golden Eagles 25 adult, 2 undifferentiated subadults and 24 unknown. 4 adult Bald Eagles.
Non-raptor Observations:
There was very little activity in the meadow today: 2 Mountain Chickadees, 1 Hairy Woodpecker, and 4 Ravens.
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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]
