Mount Lorette (26 Oct 2024) 48 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 26, 2024 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bald Eagle | 4 | 60 | 71 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 2 | 75 | 93 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 14 | 14 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 10 | 18 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 16 | 16 |
| Golden Eagle | 39 | 2259 | 2522 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Merlin | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipiter | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Unknown Eagle | 2 | 7 | 7 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 4 | 10 |
| Total: | 48 | 2463 | 2786 |
| Observation start time: | 08:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 17:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 9 hours |
| Official Counter | Blake Weis |
| Observers: | Jennifer Brand |
Visitors:
25 visitors stopped to talk and 14 came to watch migration. Thanks to Joseph, Jim & the Wild Bird Store Group, and everyone else, come back anytime!
Weather:
The temperature was 5 C at the beginning of observation, it rose to 9, and was 8 at the end. Cloud cover was 50-80% cumulus, altocumulus and cirrus. The wind was very strong from the southwest, with gusts close to 50 km/h at ground level, which easily could have have blown over spotting scopes if they weren’t tied down to rocks, and would have blown chairs into the river if they weren’t tied to the kiosk. At ridge level sustained wind was almost always over 100 and gusts were much stronger. At 10 AM the ridge wind was at 130 km/h gusting to 171, which is the highest reading I’ve seen from the Nakiska ridgetop weather station.
Raptor Observations:
The extremely strong wind pushed most of the eagles extremely high into the sky. Those birds used the updrafts off Mt. Lorette and peaks farther north to kite so high that they seemed to detach from the ridge systems, flying several binocular fields of view above the mountains and over the valley, often passing above the lowest layers of cumulus cloud. Golden Eagles are very steady fliers in strong wind, but they teetered like Turkey Vultures as they were catapulted upwards from the updrafts off the SW slope of Mt. Lorette, and the few that were down closer to the mountains seemed to encounter more turbulence and struggled to make headway. Most Golden Eagles stayed tucked up kiting and gliding at great height and speed so were impossible to age, and difficult to spot. Movement was steady from 9:30 AM to 2 PM but slowed after. The last migrant was counted at 4:05 PM.
The total count was 39 Golden Eagles (6 adults, 1 Juvenile, 3 undifferentiated immature, 29 unaged), 4 Bald Eagles, 2 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 1 unidentified accipiter and 2 unidentified eagles. One Golden Eagle and one Bald Eagle flying north were considered non-migrants.
Non-raptor Observations:
Other birds included: 2 Canada Jays, 1 Black-billed Magpie, 5 Common Ravens, 1 Boreal Chickadee, 4 Golden-crowned Kinglets, 1 American Dipper, 1 Redpoll, 1 White-wined Crossbill, 4 Pine Siskins, and 1 Lapland Longspur.
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Mount Lorette information may be found at: eaglewatch.ca
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]
