Mount Lorette (21 Oct 2025) 35 Raptors

Visitors:
There were fewer visitors than there have been recently – only about 13 stopped to ask about the count.

Weather:
It was a cool and breezy day with the sun hiding behind the clouds most of the time, resulting in the observers layering themselves with all available clothing. The starting temperature was 5C and it reached a high of 10C, although it felt much colder due to the wind and lack of warmth from the sun. The temperature had dropped to 6C at the end. Thick cumulus clouds hung darkly over the sky most of the day. Wind Mountain disappeared into the clouds a few times, but otherwise the ridges were clear. It was clearing up by the end, and some cirrus clouds helped with spotting high flying eagles over the east ridge. Grounds winds were blustery from the southwest most of the time, becoming calm by the end. The Nakiska ridge winds were in the range 30-50kph from west-southwest to southwest all day, while the cumulus clouds were moving steadily from the northwest.

Raptor Observations:
The first Golden Eagles were observed very high (four binocular views up) over the Fisher Range shortly before 1100, and after that there was a steady stream of 3-5 per hour, all the way up to the end of the day, with the last couple spotted a few minutes before sunset. All eagles were seen over the east ridge, most high up and moving fast, and appearing small as if they were flying some distance behind the ridge. This presented challenges in spotting them and ageing them. As has been common in the last few days, many of the eagles were being chased out of the area by ravens. We wondered if there was some food source, like a carcass, that the ravens were protecting from opportunistic scavenging eagles. Besides the Golden Eagles (8a, 1sa, 1j, 5ui, 19u), only one other migrant was seen – a juvenile Bald Eagle.
Non-migrants were a Golden Eagle flying north, and an adult Bald Eagle hunting over the slopes of Patrick.

Non-raptor Observations:
The ravens above the east ridge put on quite a show in the morning, with several pairs sky dancing and looking like they were enjoying life. It is hard to know how many there were, maybe 12 to 15. Their activity died down later in the day, although the harassing of passing eagles continued.
Besides the ravens, very few non-raptors were detected – a Ruffed Grouse, the Belted Kingfisher, two Clark’s Nutcrackers, and a 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]