Mount Lorette (23 Sep 2025) 15 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 23, 2025 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 11 | 11 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Golden Eagle | 13 | 28 | 28 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Total: | 15 | 64 | 64 |
| Observation start time: | 08:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 17:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 9 hours |
| Official Counter | Caroline Lambert |
| Observers: | Neil Denton |
Visitors:
Several groups came by, including one group of school children who were in the area for quite a while. There were plenty of hikers too. About 75 people altogether.
Weather:
The weather was comfortable for humans, but did not seem much of an inducement to migrate for the raptors. The temperature started at 5C, rose to 21C, and ended the day at 18C. Ground winds were mostly light from the SSW with occasional cooling gusts, and ridge winds light to moderate from the southwest. The sky was initially almost completely covered with altocirrus and altostratus clouds, but the clouds gradually drifted to the east until, by 1400, there were no clouds. Some altocirrus clouds were building up to the north at the end of the day.
Raptor Observations:
The first three Golden Eagles were seen around 1000. There were a few every hour until afternoon – after the clouds cleared up, no raptors were seen. All eagles were seen on the east ridge. Early in the day they barely got above ridge level and some needed powered flight to move along. The last few skimmed the ridge. The total was 13 Golden Eagles (1a, 2sa, 4ui, 6u), one Swainson’s Hawk, and one Sharp-shinned Hawk.
Non-raptor Observations:
Numerous flocks of small birds flew past us all day. Some were identifiable as Pine Siskins and American Robins, but most were just dark silhouettes against a bright sky. A couple of Swamp Sparrows were lurking in the willows in the meadow. Other than those, a good variety of small birds were around: 1 Common Merganser, 2 Ruffed Grouse, 1 Belted Kingfisher, 2 American Three-toed Woodpeckers, 1 Northern Flicker, 10 Common Ravens, 2 Mountain Chickadees, 2 Black-capped Chickadees, 3 Boreal Chickadees, 2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, 1 Golden-crowned Kinglet, 2 Red-breasted Nuthatches, 40 Cedar Waxwings, 1 White-crowned Sparrow, and 1 Song Sparrow.
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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]
