Rocky Mountain Eagle Research Foundation

Volunteer Opportunities

There is a wide and exciting range of ways in which volunteers can be involved in the work of the Rocky Mountain Eagle Research Foundation. Of course there is the fieldwork where a volunteer is right in the front line and where he or she learns more about the nature of our environment every hour. However there are many essential functions such as fund-raising, telephoning, public relations, newsletter and data entry which are carried out in the comfort of the home. We encourage volunteers to get involved in both types of work at least to some extent.

The image shows a volunteer making notes at the

Hay Meadow site with Mt.Lorette in the background

Fieldwork

Most new fieldworkers do not realise the very great amount of knowledge they will acquire over the next few years as they work up to the higher levels.They will hardly notice it happening but they will learn to recognise the difference between Golden and Bald Eagles flying at great heights and distance. The same will happen regarding all the other raptors and indeed all bird species. The study is run by local bird experts and a knowledgeable, friendly person is present at all times during the migration. In addition the study attracts experts from all across N.America and from around the world. This attention is because Mt. Lorette is one of only a few accessible places in the world where an observer may expect to see several hundred Golden Eagles in a day's watching.

Levels of Fieldworker

Spotter Level
Probably all you need to get started is a reasonably good pair of eyes and binoculars. One of the first things to learn is where to watch in an enormous sky. You quickly realise that every extra pair of eyes is a godsend in this study. Next you learn the names of all peaks and minor features along the ridges so that if you see a bird you can call the recording volunteer's attention to it. He or she will then find that bird in a telescope and record its age and flight details in the field notes for later entry in computer data banks. As confidence is gained you will start to recognise the different species of raptor and will become familiar enough with them to call out a species name. You will also start to notice weather patterns and relate weather to flight behaviour
Observer Level
At this level the volunteer can reliably identify and age Bald and Golden Eagles. He or she can also identify most of the other migrating raptors and is learning the difference in plumages seen in young and adult birds and in various morphs of a species. This level of volunteer can also identify many of the other bird species which are visiting or residing in the valley. He or she can recognise many of the smaller birds by call or song. Duties include the taking of a separate set of notes so that the notation involved can be mastered. Eventually he or she will assume the duties of Principal Observer for short periods.
Principal Observer
Thoroughly familiar with all aspects of identification and notation. Coordinates the work of other volunteers present at the site and is responsible for making comprehensive field notes regarding species, flight route, flight method (soar, glide, kite etc.)and weather.

Exploring

At time of writing we have a fairly good idea of much of the route taken by the Golden Eagles counted at the Lorette site but there are large gaps in our knowledge. We have a large mass of data for the Lorette site, considerable data for Plateau Mountain, Little Elbow, Barrier Lake and Windy Point,sporadic data for the Livingstone Range, the Crowsnest Pass and Castle Mountain and practically none for the David Thompson and points between there and Alaska, with the exception of the Prince George and Pine Pass areas of northeastern British Columbia.

In addition we have had tantalizing reports from observers in the Rocky Mountain Trench i.e. that wide valley stretching from the US border northwards through Cranbrook, Invermere, Radium, Golden, and Donald. Along this stretch it is occupied by the Columbia River and is easily assessible by road. To the south in the US and northwards from Donald the geographical feature continues. We believe that the continuous mountain ridges on the western flank of the Rocky Mountains afford an excellent flyway for eagles and other raptors. One of our principal observers spent his 2002 fall vacation trying to tie down this migration and find suitable observation sites. Unfortunately he hit a lull in the migration (which we also noted at Lorette) and he had only limited success. A few years ago another of our observers saw over a hundred Golden Eagles pass by along this route in a few hours!

Its a big country and we have lots of work to do but before you rush off into the wild to explore we would like you to make sure of a few things even if you are already an experienced bird watcher.

Be sure you can recognise Golden Eagles and other migrating raptors at great distances
Take a notebook and make good notes- time of each bird, where first seen (peak names if possible), age of bird if possible, route followed by the bird and flight notes (important in determining if the bird was actually migrating) and weather conditions
Report your observations and location to Peter Sherrington by E mail or Phone (see Contact Us)

For less experienced people it would be best to spend considerable time with the observers at Mount Lorette to learn the ropes and then to explore in the company of the principal observers.

Office Oriented Volunteering

At this time (December 2002) Peter Sherrington still does most of these functions. We have started along the road to changing this unfair division of labour by setting up various groups to look after some of the following broad areas: publicity, fund raising, membership, education of observers, education of the public, presentations, updating of data banks, maintenance of this website and standardisation of field methods.

We are, however, mainly field people and definitely lack the knowhow in many of these areas.

For the publicity function we have Leslie Johnson heading up a small group. She is a writer and very familiar with the facets of publicity but she will need other people of similar interests to bounce ideas back and forth with and to do some of the work. This could develop into a significant area as the foundation starts to cover it's many aims.

Fund raising is probably our most pressing need at this time and is apparently the area about which we have the least knowledge. We have a group looking at this but we need people with real knowledge, ideas and drive. Once we know the ropes we can carry on under mimimal guidance. Someone with great ability in this area is badly needed.

At this stage membership administration is no problem but as the membership grows Des Allen will need help.

Peter Sherrington is handling education and presentation functions almost entirely on his own and for the more technical sides he will continue to do so. We need to set up some formal training of observers in the field. Of course we have done this in the past on a rather casual basis i.e. Peter or one of the other principal observers has talked casually to the junior observers and/or the passers-by. Unfortunately the principal observer also has to find the birds in the telescope, watch them until light conditions on the plummage enables identification and age determination and make field notes. We need to set up definite training schedules when at least two experienced observers are present. At the same time and separately we should have another good observer present to talk to the passers-by. We often get large school groups or numerous hikers collecting at the site and these could interfere with the training sessions. Peter will continue to give all the more formal and technical presentations around the country. At some of these he needs support with respect to displays and giving out information regarding the foundation.

Peter Sherrington keeps the computer based data banks up to date - a huge job which will get much bigger as other observation sites are established. It is possible that an expert in the area of data bank design and data entry methods could streamline and lessen the work. For instance most of the other principal observers submit their data to Peter as Excel or Word attachments to e mail messages. Can these be standardised and made compatible with Peters file for direct readin. Meanwhile there's all that data entry waiting for a volunteer with nimble fingers

We have a small group interested in design, redesign and maintenance of this website but we are by no means experts. At this stage it is written in very basic HTML so as to reach as wide a public as possible.

The area of field standardisation is wide open for someone with field knowledge and organisational skills. If you wish to obtain further information please do not hesitate to contact the relevant coordinator or Peter Sherrington (see Contact Us)

Disclaimer

The Rocky Mountain Eagle Research Foundation (RMERF) will not accept any responsibility for injury or loss sustained by participants (for any perceived reason including negligence) in any field activities or other functions organised by or for RMERF.

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