Join Peter Sherrington to watch for Golden Eagles and other migrant raptors during the fall migration
Date: Saturday, October 18, 2025
Time: Observers will be on-site from 1 pm until dusk. Peak viewing time tends to be mid-afternoon.
Location: Adjacent to the Shell/Cavvy Waterton 61 wellsite: 49.462074°, -114.257223°
Directions:
- Drive 1.1 km north on Hwy 507 from the HWY 507/Hwy 774 intersection at Beaver Mines. Turn left (west) onto the Seven Gates Road.
- Drive west 3.8 km to where the road forks. Go straight ahead over the cattleguard.
- Drive west 0.6 km from the cattleguard, then turn right onto the Waterton 61 well-access road.
- Drive 300 m to the viewing site.
Additional Information
There are no facilities at the viewing site. Be sure to wear suitable clothing. Bring food and drink. The nearest toilet facilities are at the Beaver Mines store, and in Pincher Creek.
Bring binoculars, and your spotting scope if you have one.
There are no guarantees! Everything is dependent on the birds and the weather. If conditions are favourable, we could see dozens or even hundreds of birds. If conditions are unfavourable, we could end up standing around in the rain or snow chatting with one another…
Bring your questions for Peter. He has a wealth of knowledge about raptors and their migration.
There is no charge for this event. For more information, email: office@ccwc.ab.ca
Peter Sherrington
Peter has spent a lifetime studying and appreciating the natural world. His interests span from geology to lepidopterology (study of butterflies); but his primary focus and contributions have come in the study of birds and, most notably, the study of raptor migration.
In 1992, Peter and Desmond Allen became first to discover and recognize the magnitude and importance of the mass movement of Golden Eagles and other migrants along the eastern flanks of the Rocky Mountains. Prior to this, North American Golden Eagles were thought to be largely sedentary, like most other populations of this bird around the world.
Peter quietly began a research project that has now produced a continuous data set spanning over thirty years.
From 1992 to 2007, Peter was the primary driver of the Rocky Mountain Eagle Research Foundation’s (RMERF) spring and fall raptor counts at his ‘office’ in Hay Meadows at the Mount Lorette observation site in Kananaskis. The counts were conducted from September to November and from February to April, usually from sun-up to sun-down. Although in many of those early days he observed alone, slowly he was joined by a stalwart cast of other dedicated observers. Always looking to add to the understanding of the migration patterns, he moved his observation site to Plateau Mountain for a short and windy time. In 2007, Peter and his late wife Barbara relocated to Beaver Mines in southern Alberta where he set up an observation site on the south end of the Livingston Range at a spot he dubbed Piitaistakis or “Place of Eagles”.
Around 2011 Peter began observing from Vicki Ridge and, more recently, he has come to realize that his home in Beaver Mines is well-placed to observe the migration.
Over the years, Peter has meticulously compiled, analyzed, and shared the massive data set that has poured in from his own observations, from the team at Mount Lorette, and from other observation sites such as Steeples in the Rocky Mountain trench. He writes migration reports, and has given countless presentations to technical societies, academic groups, school classes, and raptor enthusiasts.
