It took the wide eyes of a visitor to recognize that Brackendale was a raptor resort-community. "A friend came back from the river and said he’d counted 80 eagles while standing in one place," recalls Brackendale Art Gallery curator, Thor Froslev. "I didn’t believe him. I thought he was exaggerating, so I went down to the river myself and counted more than 200 eagles as many as 20 in one tree. It’s amazing how shortsighted you can be when something happens under your own eyes."

"I called them up," said Froslev "and said, ‘Don’t you guys know enough to get out of the rain?’"

The following year the BC Wildlife eagle counters met at the Brackendale Art Gallery, marking the first Brackendale Winter Eagle Count, the focal point of what is now known as the month-long Brackendale Eagle Festival hosted by Froslev’s Brackendale Art Gallery. January 10, 1999 marks the 13th year that Brackendale has celebrated the winter migration of the magnificent white-crowned raptors. In 1994 a world record was set when 3,766 eagles were counted. Last year, on a drizzly, dense-fog day in Squamish, 1,800 raptors and 38 trumpeter swans were sighted. (It should be noted that more than 2,600 were accounted for just two weeks earlier during the Christmas all-bird count on December 22).

Bald Eagles from all over the Northwest gather along the gravel shores of the Squamish, Cheakamus and Mamquam rivers in early November to feast on spawned-out salmon until late March. The greatest concentration of eagles can be witnessed in December and January. The caloric feast of rotting chum, Chinook, spring, pink and Coho salmon is a bald eagle’s dream buffet and allows the eagles to conserve energy and fatten up to survive the winter months.

But what makes the Brackendale area so special? The truth as to why so many eagles have chosen the Brackendale and Squamish area is a combination of habitat preservation here and dwindling wintering habitats elsewhere. Our rivers provide wide gravel bars where spawned-out salmon beach, shorelines buttressed by cottonwood stands ideal for roosting, a relatively healthy riparian eco-system and dense old growth forest for night roost.

To conserve and preserve this unique natural phenomenon, the 550 ha. Brackendale Eagle Reserve was formed in 1996 as part of the Province of British Columbia’s Protected Area Strategy. Again, Thor Froslev and fellow eagle admirer Len ‘Lefty’ Goldsmith took the initiative to prevent logging, mining and other developments on the banks of the Squamish River between the confluence of the Cheakamus and Mamquam rivers.

Today thousands of visitors from around the world come to appreciate why the eagles long ago chose Brackendale as their winter home.

To best witness eagles go to the Eagle Run viewing area on Government Road on the Squamish River dyke. Informational kiosks and Eagle Watch volunteers are there to answer questions about the area and the eagles. For more information about the 13th annual Eagle Festival and count check out the Brackendale Art Gallery webpage at