Here are the results of the 2024 Brackendale Winter Eagle Count

The Squamish Environment Society Brackendale Winter Eagle Count flew into Squamish to start the 2024 new year.

The 38th annual event saw over 60 volunteers suit up at the Brackendale Art Gallery on Sunday, Jan. 7, before heading out into Squamish, Brackendale, Paradise Valley and Squamish Valley to tally up as many eagles as they could find.

Christopher Di Corrado, the co-ordinator for the count, said the number of volunteers was higher this year compared with the last several years, which were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The weather treated the volunteers reasonably well, with the sun in the sky and a cool temperature hovering around 1 to 3 C throughout the morning and afternoon.

By the end of the day, Di Corrado told The Squamish Chief that the volunteers had counted 996 eagles total. This included 541 adults, 447 juveniles and eight unclassified eagles.

Di Corrado said volunteers in the Upper Squamish areas reported hearing more than they could see. He called the total “a wonderful number.”

This year’s count was slightly more than last year, as the 2023 count resulted in 916 eagles overall. In fact, the 2024 count resulted in the most eagles counted since 2019.

Going backward from 2022 to 2018, the count has resulted in 799, 848, 747, 1,157, and 961 eagles. It should be noted that the 2022 eagle count with 799 birds was partially impacted by a heavy snowstorm that prevented volunteers from accessing certain parts of the typical areas for the count in the Squamish Valley.

By far, the largest count was the 1994 count, which found 3,769 eagles. The 1994 count was part of a run of 16 years between 1992 and 2007 that saw at least 1,300 eagles each year, with several years seeing over 2,000.

Di Corrado said he was grateful for “all the volunteers who return each year and the new ones who helped for the first time” and the folks at the Brackendale Art Gallery and Instream Fisheries Research for the help throughout the day.

If interested in learning more, the count’s data goes back as far as 1986 and can be found on the Squamish Environment Society’s website at squamishenvironment.ca.

@squamishchief Some views from the 2024 Brackendale Winter Eagle Count #squamishchief #brackendale #brackendaleeaglepark #eaglecountry #eaglecount ♬ Natural Beauty - Spiritual Gardens