By Andrew Berry
Bernheim is happy to announce a new research partnership with Parks Canada and Conservation Science Global to monitor golden eagle nests as part of the ongoing Golden Eagle project. The focus of this international collaboration is to better understand the nesting territory of Athena, the golden eagle tracked from Bernheim since 2019, in Wapusk National Park. Until this year our team had only seen this landscape from aerial photos that provided a broad context of landscape features and habitats. Many questions remained about the eagle’s nests and behavior during their time in Wapusk National Park that extends from April to October.
This research project hopes to answer important questions about golden eagle’s behavior while in Canada. What are they preying upon during their months in the north? What threats do they face from wildlife and weather while on the nest? How do they cooperate during nesting and are they successful in fledging their offspring? Finally, of particular interest to our Bernheim team is whether the offspring would migrate with their parents to Bernheim in the fall?
Researchers with Parks Canada working at Wapusk National Park have done flyovers of Athena’s documented nest and are hoping to install cameras on adjacent trees that would allow us to answer these questions. The cameras would be non-intrusive and installed during winter months when eagles are on their southern range at Bernheim. They would capture images throughout the eagles’ time in Wapusk National Park and will provide valuable data about their behavior and the surrounding environment.
Stay tuned as we hope to soon send updates on Athena from her nesting season in Wapusk National Park. A special thanks to Beckham Bird Club, Cellular Tracking Technologies, Conservation Science Global Inc., Parks Canada, and all the supporters of Birds of Bernheim that make this incredible project possible.