Golden Highway
Canadian Geographic|March/April 2018

How Alberta birders-turned-citizen scientists discovered a golden eagle migration route through the Rockies

Sarah Hewitt
Golden Highway

ON A BRIGHT DAY in early spring, a group of citizen scientists stands in a forest clearing off the Hay Meadow trail in the front range of the Rocky Mountains, about 75 kilometres west of Calgary, binoculars trained skyward. They’re scanning for golden eagles, one of the largest raptors in North America. Before long, a speck appears above an unnamed peak. It catches a thermal, circles high and soars overhead as the people below strain to glimpse the band of white across the tail base that differentiates a juvenile from an adult.

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