The A Rocha Pembina Valley Raptor Migration Project, spearheaded and coordinated by Paul Goossen, recently marked its 10th consecutive year counting migrating birds of prey in spring. Volunteers put in over 525 hours of observation time in 2014 and documented a total of 16 species of raptors. Over 11,000 raptors were counted, most (~70%) being Red-tailed Hawks. Over 1,500 eagles were tallied as well as just over 70 Peregrine Falcons.

In addition to the watching and counting, A Rocha again partnered with the community of La Riviere to help put on a very successful raptor festival. About 450 came out in early April to learn more about raptors and enjoy the scenic Pembina Valley. This is the last year of the raptor count project and A Rocha is very grateful to the many people and donors who helped make this project a success. Reporting on 10 years of data will be the next challenge!

In the meantime, we’d like to share some highlights of this year’s count from Al Shritt, a very faithful and passionate citizen scientist, who has sat through sun, wind, rain, and snow these past ten years counting thousands upon thousands of birds as part of A Rocha’s project.

1. The two leucistic (white) Red-tailed Hawks appearing one week apart.

2. Regular visitors who stopped to help count, bring hot drinks or just give a word of encouragement.

3. The Sunday evening when after everyone had gone, we counted 54 Bald Eagles in one hour.  (Several times they came over 4 or 6 at a time, so low that they barely cleared the trees.)

4. The rare Black Vulture spotted on March 30 – only the third ever recorded sighting in Manitoba!

5. The cheerful Say’s Phoebe on a nearby fence post.

6. The plaintive call of the Tundra Swans.

7. Peregrine Falcons flying over us so close that we could clearly see their hoods without binoculars.