Bald eagle numbers fall precipitously in British Columbia Park

An annual bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) count in Brackendale Provincial Park in British Columbia revealed the lowest number of bald eagles in the park’s 30-year history. In the past, bald eagles had often used the park as a stopover when migrating north for the winter. However, this year when volunteers with the Brackendale Winter Eagle Forest Festival counted the birds in Squamish River Valley, they recorded only 411 eagles compared to as many as 3,000 in the past. The reason for this decline is likely a decrease in the salmon population in the Squamish River resulting from adverse weather this past year, according to Glenne Campbell, an eagle-count organizer. Read more in The Globe and Mail.