Mount Brown Hawk Watch Summary Report 2018
Bate L and Belt J. 2018. Mount Brown Hawk Watch Summary Report 2018. Glacier National Park. West Glacier, MT
We officially kick-started the Mount Brown Hawk Watch Program in September 2018. This was in spite of wildfire threatening to shut it down for a second year in a row. It was a fitting year to start the program, given that 2018 was the “Year of the Bird”, in celebration of the 100-year anniversary of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Our main focal species, the Golden Eagle, is a long-distance migrant. Glacier National Park (GNP) boasts one of the most important Golden Eagle (GOEA) migration routes in North America. Biologists recorded nearly 2000 GOEA migrating past Mt. Brown annually from 1994 through 1996. Recent trend data from outside GNP, however, indicate significant declines in their numbers, attributed to environmental contaminants, habitat loss, prey declines, and climate change. We are in a position here in GNP, to collect additional data on migrating GOEA numbers to aid in the population assessment and conservation of GOEA and other raptors by establishing a Hawk Watch site.
- Type
- Unpublished Report
- Authors
- Bate, Lisa; Belt, Jami
- Date of Issue
- 2018
- Publisher
- Glacier National Park
- Units
- CRCO , GLAC
- Keywords
- golden eagles, hawk watch, hawkwatch, migration routes
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Birds