Mount Lorette (16 Oct 2025) 227 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 16, 2025 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 39 | 43 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 3 | 163 | 193 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 10 | 14 |
| American Goshawk | 1 | 11 | 17 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 18 | 40 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 15 | 15 |
| Golden Eagle | 223 | 1618 | 1760 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 8 | 13 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 0 | 5 | 11 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 4 | 5 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 6 | 12 |
| Total: | 227 | 1902 | 2147 |
| Observation start time: | 07:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 18:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 9.9 hours |
| Official Counter | Ethan Denton |
| Observers: |
Visitors:
We didn’t have many visitors today aside from the Adaptive group, who stopped in for 45 minutes or so midday. Perhaps 8 in all.
Weather:
After many days of slow ridge winds, things finally picked up today. We started out slow at 8km/h SW, but rose to 53 gusting 68km/h SSW, which was much needed. There were no clouds all day up until approximately 16:45 when they swept in and blanketed the sky in a cumulus and lenticular mix. Temps were warm, rising to 12 degrees at the highest, and high winds blew gently from the west.
Raptor Observations:
There were plenty of Golden Eagles today, but very few other raptors. The Goldens (94a, 21s, 12j, 96u) flew a variety of flight paths, but the vast majority followed a jetstream quite high over the Eastern ridge. They were cruising, rarely stopping to bank, and offering very little aid on the ageing front. A handful chose a more reasonable height, and an even smaller number opted to go along the Western ridge. Very few were picked up before reaching Patrick, usually materialising from in behind.
3 Sharp-shinned Hawks and a young Goshawk rounded out the count. The resident Gos flew by and two resident Bald Eagles spent some time along the river.
Non-raptor Observations:
It was a fairly slow day for other birds – a Varied Thrush foraged on the path in, and a female Common Merganser made a brief stop on the river. At one point a Canada Jay made an appearance on a distant treetop.
Report submitted by Ethan Denton (ethan@suechick.com)
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]
