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Mount Lorette (26 Oct 2025) 13 Raptors

Mount Lorette
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.


Report submitted by ()
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]



Mount Lorette (25 Oct 2025) 11 Raptors

Mount Lorette
Alberta, Canada

Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 25, 2025
Species Day’s Count Month Total Season Total
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 0 1 4
Bald Eagle 0 50 54
Northern Harrier 0 1 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 167 197
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 20 42
Ferruginous Hawk 0 0 0
Rough-legged Hawk 2 17 17
Golden Eagle 7 1886 2028
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 7 13
Total: 11 2197 2442
Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 17:00:00
Total observation time: 9 hours
Official Counter Blake Weis
Observers: Lynn Macintosh

Visitors:
44 people stopped to ask about the count, and 8 stopped to watch for migrants. Special thanks to Morgan and Colin for staying for a few hours and helping to spot birds, feel free to come back any time!

Weather:
The temperature was 2 C at the start of the count, it briefly reached a high of 10 around 4 PM, then fell to 9 before the end. The sky was nearly clear in the morning, but cloud cover increased gradually throughout the afternoon until it was nearly 100% cumulus, altocumulus and cirrus. Ground wind was from the S-WSW, usually light, with the occasional gusts close to 20 km/h. Ridge wind was from the S-SW with variable speed. The Nakiska Ridgetop weather station gave readings as high as 38 gusting to 77 in the morning, and as light as 11 with no gusts in the evening.

Raptor Observations:
When the first two Golden Eagles passed between 10:45 and 11 AM we had some hope that would be the start of a decent movement of eagles, but, unfortunately, that was not to be. The count for the day was 7 Golden Eagles (1a, 2j, 1sa, 1ui, 2u), 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk, 1 Red-tailed Hawk, and 2 Rough-legged Hawks. 1 Rough-legged Hawk used the western ridges, and the rest of the migrants were on the east. Local raptors included a Goshawk that harassed the migrating Red-tailed Hawk, and a Bald Eagle flying around over the river.

Non-raptor Observations:
Other birds observed were 1 American Three-toed Woodpecker, 1 Black-billed Magpie, 1 Clark’s Nutcracker, 10 Common Ravens, 2 Black-capped Chickadees, 6 Golden-crowned Kinglets, 3 Red-breasted Nuthatches, 1 Brown Creeper, 1 Lapland Longspur, 2 White-crowned Sparrows and 1 Harris’s Sparrow.


Report submitted by ()
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]



Mount Lorette (24 Oct 2025) 8 Raptors

Mount Lorette
Alberta, Canada

Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 24, 2025
Species Day’s Count Month Total Season Total
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 0 1 4
Bald Eagle 4 50 54
Northern Harrier 0 1 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 166 196
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 19 41
Ferruginous Hawk 0 0 0
Rough-legged Hawk 0 15 15
Golden Eagle 4 1879 2021
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 7 13
Total: 8 2186 2431
Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 17:00:00
Total observation time: 9 hours
Official Counter Graeme Dunlop
Observers: Jim She, Sonya Pollock

Visitors:
22 visitors stopped to ask about the eagles. 3 people helped scan the empty skies with binoculars.

Weather:
A sunny and quite warm day. The temperature at 0900 was 9C, the high at 1400 was 15C and it was 10C at 1800. Ground winds were SSW-SW all day, initially light but increasing to moderate by late morning. Ridge winds were S to SW, 66km/h to 110km/h all day apart from a brief lull late morning with gusts up to 135km/h. Cloud cover was 10% initially, increasing to 40% late morning before decreasing back to 10% by late afternoon. Mostly cirrus and cirrostratus with some small cumulus clouds. For about an hour in the early afternoon two long rotor clouds streamed out from the ridges near Mt Allan like a pair of giant snow-plumes indicating just how turbulent the atmospheric conditions were. Observing conditions were good to excellent throughout.

Raptor Observations:
The days count was 4 unaged Golden Eagles and 4 adult Bald Eagles. The severe crosswinds/headwinds likely made conditions too unfavourable even for eagles. The first Golden Eagle was seen just after 1400 gliding high over the Fisher Range, yawing like a Turkey Vulture and being blown around like a leaf, something I have never seen an eagle do before! The last 3 Golden Eagles appeared just before 1700, also high over the Fisher Range.

Non-raptor Observations:
The skies were generally quiet but there was a few passerines flying in the morning. Unfortunately most were too distant for me to confidently identify. 1 American Robin, 14 Common Ravens, 1 Downy Woodpecker, 1 Golden-crowned Kinglet, 1 Mountain Chickadee, 4 Clark’s Nutcrackers, 2 White-crowned Sparrows and 1 gull sp.


Report submitted by ()
Mount Lorette information may be found at: eaglewatch.ca
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]



Mount Lorette (23 Oct 2025) 7 Raptors

Mount Lorette
Alberta, Canada

Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 23, 2025
Species Day’s Count Month Total Season Total
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 0 1 4
Bald Eagle 0 46 50
Northern Harrier 0 1 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 166 196
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 19 41
Ferruginous Hawk 0 0 0
Rough-legged Hawk 0 15 15
Golden Eagle 6 1875 2017
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 1 5 6
Unknown Raptor 0 7 13
Total: 7 2178 2423
Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 17:00:00
Total observation time: 9 hours
Official Counter Lynette MacCulloch, Lynette MacCulloch ,
Observers: Bill McKeeman, Roger Jones

Visitors:
45 people passed by, many of them stopping with binoculars and cameras or just to chat and find out more about our work. Big Thanks to Roger and Loree who sat with us for more than an hour looking for a glimpse of a Golden Eagle. Thanks also to Caroline who graced us with a visit and some eagle searching and special mention to Ruth for cheering us on.

Weather:
Arriving at the observation site, the sky was clear, almost no wind and the temperature was 5 degrees Celsius. The wind picked up as the day progressed. The temperature rose to 11 degrees and dropped to 10 by finishing time but the wind had sapped any heat from the air as the sun was sinking lower in the west and clouds covered almost the entire sky. Ground winds gusted about 12- 14 km/hr. from the southwest. Ridge winds were 20plus km/hr. with gusts up to 80km/hr. mostly from the southwest. High winds were strong from the west

Raptor Observations:
It was a difficult day for finding raptors. They showed up very high in the sky mostly around the bumps and were gone before any aging could take place. We saw 6 Golden eagles all unaged and one unknown eagle.

Non-raptor Observations:
Other bird sightings were slightly more successful. Two Red-breasted Nuthatches, two Boreal Chickadees and three Dark eyed Juncos were seen on the path and near the river. A small flock of Golden-crowned Kinglets, a few Mountain chickadees and a flock of Twenty Bohemian Waxwings were in the meadow. A small flock of Pine Grosbeaks flew over as did two magpies. Only about 7 Ravens flew near the mountain tops and over our heads. The male Kingfisher did some fishing briefly in the morning and two immature White-crowned sparrow were in the path on the way out. five White-tailed deer were at the site in the morning.


Report submitted by ()
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]



Mount Lorette (22 Oct 2025) 12 Raptors

Mount Lorette
Alberta, Canada

Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 22, 2025
Species Day’s Count Month Total Season Total
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 0 1 4
Bald Eagle 0 46 50
Northern Harrier 0 1 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 166 196
Cooper’s Hawk 1 11 15
American Goshawk 1 14 20
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 5
Swainson’s Hawk 0 0 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1 19 41
Ferruginous Hawk 0 0 0
Rough-legged Hawk 0 15 15
Golden Eagle 9 1869 2011
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 4 5
Unknown Raptor 0 7 13
Total: 12 2171 2416
Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 17:00:00
Total observation time: 9 hours
Official Counter Ethan Denton , Peter Lloyd
Observers:

Visitors:
Approximately 16 people stopped by.

Weather:
Ridge winds sat around SW 20 for most of the day, occasionally gusting up to 35 or so. Ground winds shifted back amd forth but often blew hard enough to be mildly uncomfortable for observers! The temperature made it all the way up to 11 though, which was wonderful. Cloud cover was sparse, with one block of cumulus and cirrus passing over quickly. Some lenticular could formed in the afternoon but failed to establish dominance over a rebellious blue sky.

Raptor Observations:
It was an incredibly slow day Eagle-wise. Only 9 were observed, almost all fairly low across the Eastern ridge. One managed to find a great deal of height off of Lorette, but lost it graduallg as it progressed across the valley and was quite low by the time it hit South Fisher.
A large adult Cooper’s Hawk cut low through the meadow, a Western Red-tailed Hawk passed along the valley and a young Goshawk crusied past the east ridgeline. 2 resident Bald Eagles and the resident Gos showed throughout the day.

Non-raptor Observations:
In keeping with the raptors, it was exceptionally dead for other birds today. A handful of Nutcrackers were around, as were some Golden-crowned Kinglets. The Ravens were defensive up on Patrick, and fairly playful elsewhere.


Report submitted by Ethan Denton (ethan@suechick.com)
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]



Mount Lorette (21 Oct 2025) 35 Raptors

Mount Lorette
Alberta, Canada

Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 21, 2025
Species Day’s Count Month Total Season Total
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 0 1 4
Bald Eagle 1 46 50
Northern Harrier 0 1 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 166 196
Cooper’s Hawk 0 10 14
American Goshawk 0 13 19
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 5
Swainson’s Hawk 0 0 1
Red-tailed Hawk 0 18 40
Ferruginous Hawk 0 0 0
Rough-legged Hawk 0 15 15
Golden Eagle 34 1860 2002
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 4 5
Unknown Raptor 0 7 13
Total: 35 2159 2404
Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 18:00:00
Total observation time: 9.57 hours
Official Counter Caroline Lambert
Observers: Glenn Webber

Visitors:
There were fewer visitors than there have been recently – only about 13 stopped to ask about the count.

Weather:
It was a cool and breezy day with the sun hiding behind the clouds most of the time, resulting in the observers layering themselves with all available clothing. The starting temperature was 5C and it reached a high of 10C, although it felt much colder due to the wind and lack of warmth from the sun. The temperature had dropped to 6C at the end. Thick cumulus clouds hung darkly over the sky most of the day. Wind Mountain disappeared into the clouds a few times, but otherwise the ridges were clear. It was clearing up by the end, and some cirrus clouds helped with spotting high flying eagles over the east ridge. Grounds winds were blustery from the southwest most of the time, becoming calm by the end. The Nakiska ridge winds were in the range 30-50kph from west-southwest to southwest all day, while the cumulus clouds were moving steadily from the northwest.

Raptor Observations:
The first Golden Eagles were observed very high (four binocular views up) over the Fisher Range shortly before 1100, and after that there was a steady stream of 3-5 per hour, all the way up to the end of the day, with the last couple spotted a few minutes before sunset. All eagles were seen over the east ridge, most high up and moving fast, and appearing small as if they were flying some distance behind the ridge. This presented challenges in spotting them and ageing them. As has been common in the last few days, many of the eagles were being chased out of the area by ravens. We wondered if there was some food source, like a carcass, that the ravens were protecting from opportunistic scavenging eagles. Besides the Golden Eagles (8a, 1sa, 1j, 5ui, 19u), only one other migrant was seen – a juvenile Bald Eagle.
Non-migrants were a Golden Eagle flying north, and an adult Bald Eagle hunting over the slopes of Patrick.

Non-raptor Observations:
The ravens above the east ridge put on quite a show in the morning, with several pairs sky dancing and looking like they were enjoying life. It is hard to know how many there were, maybe 12 to 15. Their activity died down later in the day, although the harassing of passing eagles continued.
Besides the ravens, very few non-raptors were detected – a Ruffed Grouse, the Belted Kingfisher, two Clark’s Nutcrackers, and a Varied Thrush.


Report submitted by ()
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]



Mount Lorette (20 Oct 2025) 30 Raptors

Mount Lorette
Alberta, Canada

Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 20, 2025
Species Day’s Count Month Total Season Total
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 0 1 4
Bald Eagle 3 45 49
Northern Harrier 0 1 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 166 196
Cooper’s Hawk 0 10 14
American Goshawk 0 13 19
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 5
Swainson’s Hawk 0 0 1
Red-tailed Hawk 0 18 40
Ferruginous Hawk 0 0 0
Rough-legged Hawk 0 15 15
Golden Eagle 26 1826 1968
American Kestrel 0 0 0
Merlin 1 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 4 5
Unknown Raptor 0 7 13
Total: 30 2124 2369
Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 17:00:00
Total observation time: 9 hours
Official Counter Dan Parliament
Observers: Neil Denton

Visitors:
The valley was quiet for hikers, but 15 interested visitors came to the site to learn more about raptor migration.

Weather:
The opening temperature was -2 C increasing to +3 C at 1600 hrs (MDT), and continuing to the closing. The ground winds were from the SW at 1-5 km/hr increasing at noon to 6-10 km/hr with occasional gusts to 25 km/hr. The ridge winds were assessed as from the NW at “medium” which is between (11-40 km/hr). The high winds were initially from the SW switching to WSW in the late afternoon and increasing to 60+ with gusts to 100 km/hr. The sky was only 20 % cloud covered but increasing to 80 % at the end of the count day.

Raptor Observations:
The raptor migration flight consisted of 30 birds, consisting of 26 Golden Eagles (16 Adults, 6 Juveniles, and 4 Unaged), 3 Bald Eagles (2 adult, and 1 Subadult), and 1 Merlin(unaged). One resident adult Bald Eagle flew overhead hunting at 1710 hrs (MDT). Twenty Common Ravens were observed cavorting about above the East ridges of Patrick. Throughout the day the Common Ravens appeared in various numbers, requiring the observers to be alert for any migrating raptors mixed in with the flock. Most of the Golden Eagle migrants were harassed to some degree by the Common Ravens. A large number of the migrants were first observed over the Bumps or Fisher Range, as it appeared as the birds flew behind the East ranges to eventually rise above the Bumps. The remaining migrants flew low across Patrick with some flapping and soaring to gain elevation.

Non-raptor Observations:
Most of the non-raptor species appeared in the morning. The non-raptor species were 1 Ruffed Grouse, 3 Mountain Chickadee, 1 Black-capped Chickadee, 2 Boreal Chickadee, 1 Downy Woodpecker, 25 Common Raven, 1 American Robin, 1 Black-billed Magpie, 1 Belted Kingfisher, 1 European Starling, 1 Pine Siskin, 2 White-throated Sparrow and one unexpected Pacific Wren.


Report submitted by ()
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]



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