Mount Lorette (18 Oct 2025) 82 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 18, 2025 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Bald Eagle | 1 | 40 | 44 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 2 | 166 | 196 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 10 | 14 |
| American Goshawk | 2 | 13 | 19 |
| 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 | 77 | 1763 | 1905 |
| 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 | 7 | 13 |
| Total: | 82 | 2054 | 2299 |
| Observation start time: | 08:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 17:15:00 |
| Total observation time: | 9.25 hours |
| Official Counter | Blake Weis |
| Observers: | Jennifer Brand, Tiina Moore |
Visitors:
40 People stopped to talk, and 8 stopped to watch migration.
Weather:
The temperature was -3 C at the start of the count, it rose to 5 in the afternoon, then fell slightly to 4 by the end. Ground wind was from the S-WSW, gusting around 20 km/h. Ridge wind was strong from the SW with gusts between 49 and 93. Cloud cover increased from nearly zero in the morning to nearly 100% by the evening.
Raptor Observations:
The count for the day was 77 Golden Eagles (30 a, 3 j, 4 sa, 1 ui, 39 u), 1 adult Bald Eagle, 2 Sharp-shinned Hawks, and 2 American Goshawks. All the migrants used the eastern ridges and the east side of the valley, though height of flight varied. The highest hourly count was 19 migrants between 1 and 2 PM, but movement was steady through most of the day. The first Golden Eagle was seen at 9:10 AM, and the last at 6:45 PM. Local raptors included 3 Bald Eagles flying north over the valley, and 2 American Goshawks.
Non-raptor Observations:
Other birds seen were 1 Belted Kingfisher, 1 Northern Shrike, 1 Black-billed Magpie, 8 Clark’s Nutcrackers flying high up, 20 Common Ravens including a group of 7 which were hanging around the south side of Mt. Patrick and harassing many of the migrating Golden Eagles, 4 Black-capped Chickadees, 3 Mountain Chickadees, 3 Boreal Chickadees, 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch, 1 Brown Creeper, 3 European Starlings, and 1 Varied Thrush.
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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]
