Mount Lorette (27 Mar 2024) 44 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 27, 2024 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bald Eagle | 3 | 51 | 51 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Golden Eagle | 41 | 1434 | 1434 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipiter | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 12 | 12 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total: | 44 | 1509 | 1509 |
| Observation start time: | 07:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 19:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 11.83 hours |
| Official Counter | Caroline Lambert |
| Observers: | Rosemary Power, Susan Wilberg |
Visitors:
About 12 people stopped to chat, and three came with binoculars to help spot.
Weather:
The starting temperature was -3C. It warmed up to 4C, and dropped to 1C by the end of the day. Initially the sky was half filled with fluffy white clouds drifting across the sky from west to east, with a layer of cirrus above, but the clouds gradually thickened and lowered and, while never completely covering the sky, dropped some snowflakes on us, and partially obscured the west ridge. Snow plumes on the east ridge indicated strong winds at that level from the west to southwest that continued all day. Ground winds were mostly light from a westerly direction with occasional gusts.
Raptor Observations:
The first two Golden Eagles were spotted before 0900. With the strong ridge winds, there was hope for substantial migration movement for the rest of the day, but there were few birds until late in the day. There were thick grey clouds blotting out the mountains to the south, which may have impacted the migration. 25 of the 41 Golden Eagles (26a, 1sa, 14u) were seen in the last three hours after the clouds had thinned and lifted a bit. Most were gliding high over the east ridge, but a few showed up on the west ridge. Three adult Bald Eagles were deemed to be migrants.
Non-migrant eagles were a bit problematic, as we needed to follow them to see if they would head north or not. One Golden Eagle crossed from west to east, and three were seen going from east to west, one of which did a display dive. The pair of Bald Eagles that have been hanging out in the area were seen again.
Non-raptor Observations:
The beautiful, sweet song of a Brown Creeper was heard while walking in to the site in the morning. In the evening there was a chorus of robins singing in trees along the river. Other birds were: Canada Goose 6, Black-billed Magpie 1, Common Raven 7, Black-capped Chickadee 3, Mountain Chickadee 2, Boreal Chickadee 4, Red-breasted Nuthatch 1, Brown Creeper 1, American Robin 8, Red Crossbill 2
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Mount Lorette information may be found at: eaglewatch.ca
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]
