Mount Lorette (30 Sep 2025) 38 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 30, 2025 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Bald Eagle | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 30 | 30 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 22 | 22 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Golden Eagle | 36 | 142 | 142 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Gyrfalcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| Total: | 38 | 245 | 245 |
| Observation start time: | 08:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 19:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 10.33 hours |
| Official Counter | Caroline Lambert |
| Observers: | Allison Zukewich |
Visitors:
As it was a holiday, there were many people on the trail today, and about 40 stopped to help watch for eagles, spread out over the afternoon. We hope that those who came earlier in the day and did not see much will come back some other time later in the day.
Weather:
The temperature started at 8C, rose to 15C, and cooled down to 14C by sunset. The sky was overcast with light drizzle all morning, but at noon the clouds began to break up until by the end of the day there was 50% coverage with cumulus clouds. Ground winds were light all day, and ridge winds were mostly light from the southwest. The cumulus clouds were moving in from the west most of the day.
Raptor Observations:
In spite of the light winds reported at the Nakiska station on the west side of the valley, the eagles were finding enough wind on the east side to glide high above the ridge with no soaring or flapping. As always, the gliding posture made aging a challenge. No eagles showed up until after noon, when the clouds started breaking up. At first it was a steady trickle, but by 1500 the numbers were at a more expected level for this time of year, with 30 between 1500 and 1800, for a total of 36 (17a, 1sa, 18u). In addition there was one Osprey and one immature Bald Eagle heading south.
Other raptors were an American Goshawk hunting at the north end of the valley, and another at the far south of the valley. There was also a Red-tailed Hawk hanging out over Hummingbird Plume.
Non-raptor Observations:
One highlight of the day was seeing a flock of four Varied Thrushes flying south – the orange flash in their wings stood out against the grey backdrop of Patrick. It’s not often that these are identifiable as they fly by. Other than those and various flocks of unidentifiable birds there was 1 Belted Kingfisher, 10 Pine Siskins, 2 Canada Jays, 8 Common Ravens, a couple of Mountain Chickadees, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, two Red-breasted Nuthatches, a Savannah Sparrow, and an American Robin.
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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]
