Mount Lorette (30 Oct 2022) 19 Raptors

Visitors:
10 visitors stopped at the site

Weather:
Early in the day wind was strong with gusts up to 40 km/h at ground level and up to 114 km/h at ridge level. Cloud cover varied from 20% to 70% until the afternoon. Between 1 and 3 pm the wind died down a bit and the storm that had been clinging to the Kananaskis Range to the west moved into the valley. The count was concluded at 3:30 pm as rain settled in.

Raptor Observations:
In the morning migrants were flying high, gliding in the strong wind over the Fisher Range. Most of them kept their wings and tail tucked in, were backlit in front of cloud and sometimes passed behind the low cumulus making them very difficult to age. As the wind died down in the afternoon the eagles dropped to more of an average height, still gliding but not far above ridge level. They moved through slowly but steadily until the ridges socked in around 3 pm. The final count included 19 Golden Eagles (7 adults and 12 unaged). One resident adult Bald Eagle was flying low over the river in the morning.

Non-raptor Observations:
Other birds: Belted Kingfisher 1 American Three-toed Woodpecker (Northwest) 1 Canada Jay 2 Black-billed Magpie 1 Common Raven 9 Black-capped Chickadee 2 Mountain Chickadee 1 Boreal Chickadee 1 Golden-crowned Kinglet 3 Bohemian Waxwing 30 Red Crossbill 2 Pine Siskin 1

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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 Dunkadoo – [Project Details]