Raptor Migration

My wife Andrea suggested that I start this blog. Initially it was to document the different birds that I was seeing in our yard. I will use the blog for things other than birds, but this weekend I was able to take in one of my favourite annual events. Each spring, raptors migrate through the Pembina Valley. Over the course of a couple months, thousands of birds travel through a small corridor in the Pembina Valley. It's really quite incredible.

This time around, brother Paul joined me in the valley to see what was happening. Below are a few pictures of what we saw.

This is a Red Tail Hawk (white phase)

Here's an adult Bald Eagle cruising overhead

Last, but not least, here's a juvenile Bald Eagle

We stayed to watch the birds for just under 2 hours. In that time, we saw a few hundreds large raptors fly through the valley. From noon to 1pm there were over 40 Bald Eagles and more than 160 Red Tailed Hawks fly overhead. At one point, there were more than 15 birds crossing the valley at the same time. Most of these birds are on their way to summering sites in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.