Mount Lorette (25 Sep 2025) 6 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 25, 2025 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Northern Harrier | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 3 | 11 | 11 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 15 | 15 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Golden Eagle | 0 | 34 | 34 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 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 | 1 | 5 | 5 |
| Total: | 6 | 87 | 87 |
| Observation start time: | 08:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 17:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 9 hours |
| Official Counter | Lynette MacCulloch , Lynette MacCulloch |
| Observers: | Bill McKeeman |
Visitors:
Twenty three people stopped to chat. Our last visitor was quite breathless when she arrived to tell us that she had seen a cougar near the pump houses as she was coming towards us. After a bit of questioning we determined that she had not seen a cougar but either a Lynx or a Bobcat.
Weather:
Upon arriving at the parking lot, my car thermometer was sitting at zero, but at the observation site the temperature was plus 2. By mid afternoon the temperature was up to 19 degrees where it stayed until we left. The sky remained cloudless for the duration of the day with one or two small cumulous clouds appearing and then being shredded before disappearing. Fog dominated the Bow Valley on the drive out but in the Kananaskis valley only mist rose from the river, which also melted away once the sun got to the valley bottom. There was very little wind until mid morning when it switched from north to west and then south south west with a Beaufort wind scale of 2-3 and gusts of 4-5 BFT. The ridge top winds were BFT of 5 with gusts to 8 . Smoke appeared in the southern part of the valley and spread up to Lorette but gradually dissipated so only the far south end of the valley was hazy. Genereally visibility was quite good.
Raptor Observations:
It was an exceptionally dismal day for raptor observation. A very beautiful Northern Harrier was seen flying down the west side of the valley. Three Sharp-shinned Hawks were observed flying along Patrick and the east side of the valley and one Merlin was also seen on the east side of the valley. An unknown raptor was seen on the east side over the bumps and along side Old Baldy.
Non-raptor Observations:
There were a lot of small bird sightings, but not the usual antics of of ravens. Only 7 were seen and they were quite distant. Pine Siskins were seen periodically flying up and down and around the valley, sometimes landing in he nearby trees behind us. 30 American Robins, 2 Lincoln Sparrows, 1 Swamp Sparrow,1 Song Sparrow,1 Black-billed Magpie, 2 Canada Jays, 2 Northern Flickers, 2 American Pipits, 1 Belted Kingfisher, 2 American Dippers made up the avian visitors.
Predictions:
I will be very interested to see what tomorrow brings, weather wise and migration wise!
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 Trektellen.org – [Project Details]
