Mount Lorette (16 Oct 2023) 111 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 16, 2023 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Osprey | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Bald Eagle | 3 | 34 | 36 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 4 | 5 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 4 | 94 | 124 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 6 | 7 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 25 | 29 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 15 | 20 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Golden Eagle | 100 | 1698 | 1855 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 9 | 13 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Unknown Accipiter | 1 | 24 | 42 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Unknown Eagle | 2 | 8 | 9 |
| Unknown Raptor | 1 | 8 | 13 |
| Total: | 111 | 1935 | 2184 |
| Observation start time: | 07:15:00 |
| Observation end time: | 17:45:00 |
| Total observation time: | 10.75 hours |
| Official Counter | Annie Finch |
| Observers: | Caroline Lambert, Rosemary Power |
Visitors:
15 people stopped to chat about the count. Special thanks to Michael and Sheila for their enthusiastic help spotting eagles during the peak of the day.
Weather:
The morning started out at 5°C, the high was 16°C at 3 p.m., falling to 15°C by sunset. Ground winds were mild throughout the day with a slight increase in gusts towards the evening. A chinook arch hung behind the eastern ridges all day. Continuously shifting cirrus and cumulus clouds made cloud cover estimations an interesting exercise each hour. Ridge winds were predominantly from the SW, moderate in the morning and increasing through the day to over 60 km/h by 4 p.m. with just up to 100 km/h by 6 p.m.
Raptor Observations:
Migrant Eagles 100 Golden Eagles: 21a, 8sa, 6j, 10ui, 55u 3 Bald Eagles: 2a, 1sa 2 Undifferentiated Eagles
The first Golden Eagles of the day appeared after 9 a.m. and both sides of the valley. Most eagles used the east ridges throughout the day, through the west ridges averaged a few eagles per hour until about 4 p.m. Average route height increased along with ridge winds with some eagles flying very high over Patrick. One Golden Eagle appeared to partake in an in-flight meal, passing something from talon to beak while gliding far overhead. After a morning of backlit birds, aging became easier in the afternoon as the sun came around to an agreeable angle. Aging in the evening proved difficult as we lost light and most eagles flew high, fast, and tightly tucked.
Migrant Raptors 4 Sharp-shinned Hawks: all unaged, spotted high over the ridges harassing Golden Eagles 1 Undifferentiated Accipiter flew directly towards the site from over Lorette 1 Unidentified small raptor harassing Golden Eagle
Non-migrant Raptors A resident adult American Goshawk was first noted hunting over Hummingbird Plume at 12:30 p.m. and observed again later over the west side of the valley.
Non-raptor Observations:
A Varied Thrush hopped along the path in front of me as I walked to the site in the morning. A concerning rustling in the underbrush along the path proved to be a puffed up Ruffed Grouse hurrying away at my approach, rather than my initial impression of a mammal with an appetite. 1 Ruffed Grouse 1 American Three-toed Woodpecker 4 Canada Jay 1 Black-billed Magpie 6 Common Raven 2 Black-capped Chickadee 1 Golden-crowned Kinglet 1 Brown Creeper 1 American Dipper 1 Varied Thrush 13 Bohemian Waxwing 2 Pine Grosbeak 2 Red Crossbill 26 White-winged Crossbill 3 Pine Siskin 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler
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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]
