Mount Lorette (31 Oct 2025) 106 Raptors
Alberta, Canada
| Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 31, 2025 | |||
| Species | Day’s Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Bald Eagle | 5 | 64 | 68 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 168 | 198 |
| 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 | 0 | 21 | 43 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 17 | 17 |
| Golden Eagle | 101 | 2063 | 2205 |
| 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 | 0 | 10 | 16 |
| Total: | 106 | 2393 | 2638 |
| Observation start time: | 08:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 17:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 9 hours |
| Official Counter | Graeme Dunlop |
| Observers: | Susan Clarahan |
Visitors:
8 people stopped to ask about the eagle migration
Weather:
The temperature was -4C at 0900, reached a high of 5C at 1500 and was 5C at the end, but it felt much colder as persistent southerly winds blew at 10-30 gusting to 40 km/h all day. Ridge winds were S to WSW, 20km/h to 55km/h gusting up to 100km/h. Cloud cover began with 80% stratocumulus and altostratus cloud which thickened to a blanket of altostratus that persisted to 1430 when it broke up to 80-60% lenticular, altocumulus and cirrostratus after the passage of a warm front. Although the warm front was weak (zero precipitation and cloud base remaining above the peaks) it did cause some subtle shifts in the weather: wind direction shifted clockwise about 20 degrees, temperature increased by 3 degrees, relative humidity began to rise and the dull grey skies gave way to much brighter conditions from the west. The low western sun shining on these varied and ever-changing lenticular clouds over the Fisher Range and Mt Lorette created some spectacular skies.
Raptor Observations:
There was a surprisingly strong eagle migration with 96 Golden Eagles observed between 1015 and 1415. Unfortunately the passing of the warm front may have created suboptimal flying conditions as only a further 4 Golden Eagles were seen between 1415 and 1705. All eagles were seen on the eastern ridges, usually gliding at or near ridge level. Some eagles were seen gliding across from Mt Lorette but most seemed to approach the ridges from the north east. The cloud layer helped with locating eagles but the flat light made ageing them very difficult. The final count was 5 Bald Eagles (4a, 1sub adult) and 101 Golden Eagles (28a, 1sa, 10 juv, 62u)
Non-raptor Observations:
8 Common Ravens, 1 Pileated Woodpecker, 5 Clark’s Nutcrackers, 70 Bohemian Waxwings, 12 Red Crossbills, 2 Pine Grosbeaks.
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Mount Lorette information may be found at: eaglewatch.ca
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]
