by Lisa Bate
Glacier National Park (GNP) will host its annual Mount Brown Hawk Watch Program on October 14 from 11am to 3pm near Lake McDonald Lodge. Meet at the Golden Eagle interpretive sign near Jammer Joe’s Restaurant parking lot in the Lake McDonald Lodge area. Snacks and hot beverages will be provided. Park biologists and volunteers will teach participants how to identify and count migrating raptors and answer questions about the integral role of raptors in our ecosystems, the risks they face and why GNP has started the Mount Brown Hawk Watch Program. Educators from the Montana Wild Wings Recovery Center will also be on-site with live raptors from 12 to 2pm to provide close-up looks at some of the raptor species that migrate past Mount Brown. For the last hour of the event, counting migrating raptors will resume from 2 to 3pm. Participants should bring their own binoculars and be prepared to count Golden Eagles on their annual migration south past Mount Brown.
GNP also hopes to have trained volunteers or staff at the Lake McDonald Golden Eagle interpretive site from September 25 through the end of October from 12-4pm. The individual staffing the site will be responsible for counting migrating raptors and educating the public about why raptors and Hawk Watches are important.