Watch eagles soar at Bow Valley Provincial Park in Canadian Rockies

If you’ve ever seen a golden eagle in flight, you’ll understand why people will travel thousands of miles to see one.

One of the great places to see them is in the Canadian Rockies: the Bow Valley Provincial Park.

The park is one of the highlights of Kananaskis County and shares a border with Banff National Park. It was established at the arch of the Bow River where it meets the Kananaskis River.

Bow Valley Provincial Park features many of the highlights you can find throughout the Canadian Rockies. Trout fishing in the river is excellent. You can go canoeing, kayaking or rafting on the water. There are a lot of trails to hike, and some of those you can ride on horseback; and thus, naturally, there are a lot of campsites for you to choose. You can even ride a mountain bike on some of those trails.

All of that is wonderful, and no matter how often you do them, they never get old. Just as, of course, you can come anywhere in the Canadian Rockies to see wildlife.

Yet many people come to Bow Valley Provincial Park specifically for wildlife, and it’s easy to see why. There’s so much on offer, after all: elk, bighorn sheep, deer, beaver and muskrat all call the park home.

But perhaps the greatest treasure the park has to offer can be found in the sky, where the great golden eagle roams.

These magnificent birds vary a a bit in size, but they average more than 7 feet in wingspan and 3 feet in body length,a nd the sight of one soaring overhead is awe-inspiring (in a human, anyway; to any number of rabbits and hares, ground squirrels, and even other birds, it’s a different story entirely!).

Indeed, golden eagles may prefer rabbits and hares and small ground mammals, but they have an astonishingly wide range of adaptability to survive the long, cold winter. They will scavenge, for example, and they have been known to attack young deer and even wolves. There was one reported incident of a golden eagle carrying off a bear cub.

Because of the eagle’s propensity for making meals of other birds, those birds who normally would compete for food and territory have been known to band together to drive off a golden eagle.

There are a lot of fine places for birdwatching in the Canadian Rockies, and there are a lot of birds on display in Bow Valley Provincial Park.

But this one in particular is worth making a trip to see. Find one in your binoculars one day, be awed at its beauty and majesty, and we think you’ll be coming back to see it time and time again.

Also, for more on nearby Jasper National Park, click here!