Mount Lorette (23 Oct 2022) 84 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 23, 2022 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Bald Eagle | 1 | 60 | 73 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 1 | 18 | 47 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 12 | 23 |
| Northern Goshawk | 0 | 18 | 25 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 22 | 31 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 11 | 11 |
| Golden Eagle | 81 | 1721 | 1876 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 11 | 13 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Unknown Accipiter | 0 | 8 | 14 |
| Unknown Buteo | 1 | 10 | 11 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 14 | 18 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 7 | 10 |
| Total: | 84 | 1924 | 2175 |
| Observation start time: | 08:45:00 |
| Observation end time: | 17:30:00 |
| Total observation time: | 8.25 hours |
| Official Counter | Blake Weis |
| Observers: | Allison Zukewich |
Visitors:
24 visitors passed through Hay Meadow.
Weather:
For the first couple hours of the day all ridges were obscured by low cloud and snow. The count commenced at 9:45 am when the snow stopped and the ridges started clearing. Low cloud lingered covering about 80% of the surrounding mountains until 2 pm. The clearing allowed for a decent movement of Golden Eagles in the late afternoon and evening. The temperature remained fairly steady between 0 and 2 C. Wind at ground level was light from the NW. At ridge level wind was light from the NE until the early afternoon when it started blowing from the SW, though only reaching 36 km/h. About 30 cm of snow had fallen in the last 24 hours.
Raptor Observations:
The first migrant was sighted flying relatively low along the valley shortly after noon. Migration built up over the next few hours with a peak of 29 migrants between 2 and 3 PM. They continued to trickle in until late in the evening. The last one was recorded 10 minutes before sunset. Most of the migrants were using the eastern ridges, though one used the Kananaskis Range to the west, and a few early birds flew down the valley while the ridges were still shrouded in clouds. The lack of significant wind or thermals forced most of them to use powered flight. No non-migrant raptors were observed.
Non-raptor Observations:
One snowshoe hare was uncharacteristically visible near the path in the morning, starting to change color almost (but not quite) in time for the recent snowfall: inaturalist.ca/observations/139827994
Other Birds: Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca) 1 Common Merganser (Mergus merganser) 5 Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) 1 Hairy Woodpecker (Dryobates villosus) 1 Canada Jay (Perisoreus canadensis) 2 Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia) 1 Common Raven (Corvus corax) 10 Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) 2 Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli) 1 Boreal Chickadee (Poecile hudsonicus) 3 Golden-crowned Kinglet (Regulus satrapa) 6 Brown Creeper (Certhia americana) 1 European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 13 Varied Thrush (Ixoreus naevius) 1 American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 2 American Pipit (Anthus rubescens) 1 Cassin’s Finch (Haemorhous cassinii) 1 Lapland Longspur (Calcarius lapponicus) 1 Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) 1
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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 Dunkadoo – [Project Details]
