Good Morning Birders: Thanks to the terrific work of Peter Sherrington and his associates, most hawkwatchers and many other birders are now well aware of the huge population - 3,000 to 5,000 and perhaps more - of Golden Eagles that migrate in spring and fall of every year through the Canadian Rockies.
Using data from Hawk Cliff, near St. Thomas, Ontario and checking dates and numbers for Holiday Beach near Amherstburg, Ontario and the Southern Michigan Raptor Research sites south of Detroit, Bill Smith and I have determined that in this fall of 2008 hawkwatchers along the north shore of Lake Erie have counted at least 250 Golden Eagles. In the same season hawkwatchers at Hawk Ridge near Duluth, Minnesota have counted 169 Golden Eagles, while the highest fall 2008 count in Pennsylvania, at Waggoner's Gap, reached 238 Golden Eagles. It is virtually certain that birds seen in one of these regions were not counted in one of the others, so this means that at least 657 Golden Eagles were seen in eastern North America this fall. That's a lot of Golden Eagles folks! Thus the question in the subject line of this email - is anyone studying eastern Golden Eagle populations? It would seem that there are at least three different populations. Where are they? What habitat are they using? Are they doing as well as these numbers indicate, or ??? Looking at maps, I think the Duluth birds come from the west side of James and Hudson's Bays, the Lake Erie birds from the east side of those bays and the Ungava area of northern Quebec, while the Pennsylvania birds come from northeastern Quebec and northern Labrador. If anyone has information I would appreciate a private email. I will compile any replies and post them to Birdhawk and Ontbirds. Thanks everyone. Mike -- Mike Street Ancaster, Ontario, Canada [email protected] _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For instructions to join or leave ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdssetup.php ONTBIRDS Guidelines may be viewed at http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdsguide.php
