Mount Lorette (20 Oct 2023) 28 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 20, 2023 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Osprey | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Bald Eagle | 2 | 42 | 44 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 4 | 5 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 2 | 98 | 128 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 1 | 7 | 8 |
| American Goshawk | 1 | 27 | 31 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 16 | 21 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Golden Eagle | 21 | 2000 | 2157 |
| 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 | 0 | 25 | 43 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Unknown Falcon | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 8 | 9 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 8 | 13 |
| Total: | 28 | 2255 | 2504 |
| Observation start time: | 07:15:00 |
| Observation end time: | 17:30:00 |
| Total observation time: | 10.25 hours |
| Official Counter | Annie Finch |
| Observers: | Ruth Morrow |
Visitors:
17 people stopped to chat about the count (and to exchange cool facts about falcons). We were fortunate to have the assistance of Jock and Krishna for the best hours of the day (best both in terms of migrant raptors and the quality of their company).
Weather:
The morning started out at 6°C, rose to 10°C by 2:00 pm, and fell to 8°C by sundown. Cloud cover was a mix of cirrus and cumulus clouds with some very light spitting drizzle in the afternoon. Ground winds were out of the NE for the entire day, rising from light in the morning to moderate with gusts over 20km/h. In the morning, ridge winds were around 30km/h (gusting to 60 km/h) from the SW; after noon, the winds decreased and shifted to the NE/ENE for the remainder of the count.
Raptor Observations:
The first Golden Eagles of the day appeared over Mt. Collembola shortly after 10:00 am, by which time significant heat distortion was already hindering aging. The abrupt reversal in ridge wind direction between noon and 1:00 pm changed and then halted eagle migration. All migrants were observed using the western ridges up until 1:00 pm. The three Golden Eagles struggling south over the Fisher Range a short time later were the final migrant eagles of the day. Conditions seemed manageable, if not entirely favourable, for migration to continue into the afternoon but no eagles seemed to share my opinion.
Migrant Eagles 21 Golden Eagles: 3a, 2sa, 1j, 15u 2 Bald Eagles: 2a
Migrant Raptors 2 Sharp-shinned Hawk: 2u 1 Cooperâs Hawk: 1j 1 American Goshawk: 1u 1 small falcon
Non-migrant Raptors An adult American Goshawk hunted over the west side of the valley at 10:15 am. An adult Bald Eagle flew north from the site towards Mt. Lorette at 4:30 pm.
Non-raptor Observations:
Other highlights of the day included a Pacific Wren calling along the path in the morning, a Wilsonâs Snipe flying a loop over the site in the middle of the day, and a lone Common Redpoll flitting between willows in the afternoon.
1 Wilson’s Snipe 3 gull sp. 2 Canada Jay 1 Black-billed Magpie 5 Common Raven 1 Mountain Chickadee 2 Boreal Chickadee 7 Golden-crowned Kinglet 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch 1 Brown Creeper 1 Pacific Wren 1 American Dipper 1 American Robin 3 Pine Grosbeak 1 Common Redpoll 18 Red Crossbill 2 Pine Siskin 1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
Report submitted by ()
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]
