the spring raptor migration<\/a>\u00a0approaches, which brings a variety of\u00a0species\u00a0to the region.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\nLast year, she said the first bald eagle was spotted in mid-February, so it\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0be long before more opportunities to see the bird arise.<\/p>\n
Related stories:<\/p>\n
Hiebert, for one, enjoys those moments.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey’re\u00a0just so majestic. You\u00a0can’t\u00a0help but be in awe of that bird,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u201cI have no explanation for it.”<\/p>\n
An \u2018air show\u2019 from a distinctly North American bird\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hiebert, who said she is “always” looking for eagles and other birds, said that one viewing experience of the raptor in particular still\u00a0gives her chills when she thinks about it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cA\u00a0bunch of us\u00a0[were]\u00a0in the\u00a0Pembina\u00a0Valley watching the eagles\u00a0\u2014 it\u00a0was one of those days,\u00a0clear\u00a0blue sky,\u00a0just perfect\u00a0birding weather \u2014 and these eagles came\u00a0by, and they\u00a0literally performed\u00a0an air show,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey would circle, and then they’d pass each other right in front of us, and they were not very high. The cameras were busy clicking.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"a](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/RUTH)
Ruth Hiebert.\u00a0
\nThe year of the bird\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hiebert, who actively posts photos on her Facebook page, said that 2026 is her \u201cyear of the bird.”<\/p>\n
For her, that means posting a daily picture of not only bald eagles, but all the other avian\u00a0neighbours she has managed to capture.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve\u00a0been taking pictures for so long, and\u00a0I’ve\u00a0got thousands of pictures on my computer, and\u00a0they’re\u00a0just sitting there, so\u00a0I thought,\u00a0\u2018Man, how can I share them to make it meaningful?\u2019\u201d\u00a0she\u00a0said. \u201cSo\u00a0this is one way, plus it feeds my creative juices.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some of her\u00a0favourite\u00a0pictures from 2025 include a great grey owl and the rare-to-spot black-crowned night\u00a0heron, which she spotted at Lizard Lake just north of\u00a0Darlingford.<\/p>\n
![\"a](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/birds)
A great grey owl captured by Ruth Hiebert. Submitted photo.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI went there,\u00a0and\u00a0there’s\u00a0a small pond. And I\u00a0[thought], \u2018There’s\u00a0a\u00a0great black-crowned\u00a0night heron, and then I look,\u00a0\u2018Oh,\u00a0there’s\u00a0another one.\u2019\u00a0Well, they were so far apart, I could just barely get them both into my camera frame at once, but they were right at the edge of the picture on either side,\u00a0so\u00a0I talked to birds,\u201d she explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI said,\u00a0\u2018Okay, you can move a little closer together now.’ Would you believe that this bird starts walking towards the other one? And\u00a0I’m\u00a0shooting, taking picture after picture, and at one point I said,\u00a0\u2018Okay, you can stop now.\u2019\u00a0The last picture I have\u00a0is\u00a0one body and four legs.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pair of black-crowned night herons that Hiebert requested move closer together for a picture. Submitted photo.
\nA\u00a0\u2018North American conservation success story\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
As for the rising numbers of bald eagles in the province, Gregoire\u00a0called it a \u201cNorth\u00a0American conservation success story.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u00a0have made some choices decades ago that first negatively affected the bald eagle,\u00a0and then we sort of tried to reverse those effects, and now we’re sort of reaping the\u00a0rewards\u00a0of having more bald eagles around,\u201d\u00a0he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
One of the rewards, of course, is the opportunity to see more of the majestic wildlife gracing the skies above the Pembina Valley.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With files from Ty Hildebrand, Jayme Giesbrecht, and\u00a0Cory Knutt\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Those who feel\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0seeing more bald eagles in the Pembina Valley\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0mistaken.\u00a0 The effects of banning a harmful substance\u00a0 According…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403659,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":["post-403658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}