Mount Lorette (26 Oct 2025) 13 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 26, 2025 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Bald Eagle | 2 | 52 | 56 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 167 | 197 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 11 | 15 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 14 | 20 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 1 | 21 | 43 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 17 | 17 |
| Golden Eagle | 9 | 1895 | 2037 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 9 | 14 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 0 | 5 | 11 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 5 | 6 |
| Unknown Raptor | 1 | 8 | 14 |
| Total: | 13 | 2210 | 2455 |
| Observation start time: | 08:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 17:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 9 hours |
| Official Counter | Cameron Harvey |
| Observers: | Allison Zukewich |
Visitors:
17 visitors stopped and asked about the count. Several took us up on the offer to help spot for at least a few minutes with provided binoculars.
Weather:
Gusty winds and intermittent snow squalls would be a good summary of today’s weather. The temperature started out at 4C and rose to a high of 6C before falling down to 3C at the end of the count. The sky was mostly cloudy with low cumulus clouds for most of the day, sometimes becoming close to overcast. Several snow squalls blew through the valley, at time obscuring the ridges. Surface winds were generally from the SW and were gusty, ranging from almost calm to 40 km/h. Of particular note were the high ridge winds which, during the count, ranged from 62-109 km/h sustained and 97-140 km/h gusts.
Raptor Observations:
Migrant raptors included: 9 Golden Eagles (4a, 1sa, 4u), 2 Bald Eagles (1a, 1 sa), 1 Red-tailed Hawk and 1 unidentified small raptor. All Golden Eagles were seen before 13:22 MDT. All eagles were seen on the East ridge and the flight path was high with several eagles being seen 2-3 bino FOVs over the bumps. All migrant raptors were tucked in a glide without stopping to soar; however, lighting conditions allowed for the aging of eagles if they were spotted over, or before, the bumps. Eagles that were first seen further down the ridge went unaged.
The only non-migrating raptor seen was a Sharp-shinned Hawk that was travelling north up the valley.
Non-raptor Observations:
Non-raptors included: 2 Black-capped chickadee, 1 Golden-crowned Kinglet, 7 Common Ravens, 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch, 1 Black-billed Magpie, 2 Clark’s Nutcracker, 1 American Dipper and 17 Common Mergansers who gave us a flyover while moving swiftly southward.
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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]
