Mount Lorette (18 Apr 2024) 3 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 18, 2024 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 19 | 78 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 11 | 12 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 18 | 21 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| Golden Eagle | 3 | 186 | 1771 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipiter | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 1 | 14 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total: | 3 | 249 | 1922 |
| Observation start time: | 07:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 15:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 7.67 hours |
| Official Counter | Caroline Lambert |
| Observers: | Glenn Webber |
Visitors:
A few people walked by, but none stopped to talk.
Weather:
About 10cm fresh snow was on the ground on arrival at the site. The weather had finally cleared up overnight, but then gradually deteriorated as the day wore on. The temperature at the start of the day was -7C. It rose to a high of 1C and had dropped to -2C by departure time. Cumulus clouds gradually built up during the day from almost none to 100% coverage. By noon the higher peaks were coming and going behind clouds and squalls of snow. Ground winds were light from the east, while upper winds were low from a northerly direction. The count was terminated a little early when falling snow obliterated all the ridges.
Raptor Observations:
Only three migrant raptors were seen, all Golden Eagles (2sa, 1u). One subadult dove a few times on the sheep that were grazing high up on Nakiska, startling them, before moving off to the northwest. All three were seen on the west side of the valley.
An American Goshawk was heard calling in the morning. One adult Golden Eagle sat for a while on a rock near the grazing sheep, then took off to the northeast over the valley. Two adult Red-tailed Hawks were seen a couple of times at the north end of the valley. Later, three adult Red-tailed Hawks were seen interacting with each other between us and Mt Kidd. Eventually two moved off to the north of the valley, and the other disappeared to the south. We wondered if there was some territorial dispute going on.
Non-raptor Observations:
Compared with other days, there were not many non-raptor birds around: Canada Goose 2, Ruffed Grouse 1, Northern Flicker 1, Northern Shrike 1, Common Raven 7, Black-capped Chickadee 1, Mountain Chickadee 4, Golden-crowned Kinglet 1, Brown Creeper 1, European Starling 1, Varied Thrush 2, American Robin 1, Fox Sparrow 1, Dark-eyed Junco 2
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Mount Lorette information may be found at: eaglewatch.ca
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]
