While golden eagles are in flight high above the Bow Valley, intent on their southward migration, on the valley floor residents will celebrate their arrival with the Festival of Eagles this weekend, Oct. 18-19.
Events suitable for all ages are scheduled for Elevation Place, Canmore Collegiate High School, the Civic Centre and Recreation Centre.
And, speaking of suitable, who better than Julie and Colin Angus, no strangers to long, long, long migrations of their own, to deliver the keynote presentation Great Migrations?
Angus is known as the first man to circumnavigate Earth by human-powered means, while Julie is the first woman (teamed with Colin) to row across the mighty Atlantic Ocean – during the worst hurricane season in history.
Julie is a molecular biologist, adventurer, writer and filmmaker who, after a decade of studying and developing treatments for heart disease and genetic ailments, now focuses on examining the natural world. She has explored over 30 countries, mostly by bicycle, rowboat and foot.
Colin’s 43,000-kilometre circumnavigation has been hailed as one of the last great challenges remaining. He completed the first descent of world’s mightiest river, the Amazon, by raft, followed by the first descent of Mongolia’s Yenisey River. A national best-selling author, he has penned four books and co-produced four films which have won numerous awards.
The Great Migrations presentation (roughly an hour and a half), said former Canmorite Colin Angus from his home in Victoria last week, will focus on their own world expeditions, but will also follow the migration of animals they’ve encountered during their travels.
“The Arctic tern, for example, has the longest migration of any animal. They travel from Antarctica to the Artic, a 50,000 km round-trip, seeking endless summer,” he said. “The loggerhead turtle has the longest, time-wise, because it spends four years in the Atlantic Ocean.
“We’ve seen quite a few of these unique creatures and our journeys and theirs have a lot of parallels. We haven’t used motorized machines and these animals use only their legs and wings to travel, through storms, avoiding predators.
“For these animals, kind of like us, their home is wherever the course of their migration happens to be. They’re vulnerable en route and if there’s no food or water, it can be devastating.
“In the Atlantic (Rowboat in a Hurricane) we saw a lot of garbage and a lot of it was plastic bags. Turtles keep to the open ocean because they’re less vulnerable to predators, but plastic bags in the water look like jellyfish turtles eat and when they do, it causes problems. People driving down the highway never think a bag they throw out could hurt a turtle, but they can wash down streams or rivers to the ocean...
“So many things humans do end up harming animals that are vulnerable when migrating.”
The family’s migrating was cut back somewhat with the arrival of new explorer Leif, three years ago. “Wherever my two feet are is home, but he’s our latest adventure,” said Angus. “He looks like a little surfer Viking and we’ve actually built him a little boat powered by a bilge pump. He loves boats.
“And we’re busy with different projects like speaking at schools, to corporations and government people. It’s a fun way to get out and meet people. These days, with Leif, our expeditions are more cultural for now.”
Not all travel has stopped for the Angus family, of course. Currently, they’re in the process of putting the wraps on a book they worked on in the Mediterranean over four months – Olive Odyssey.
The new book will look at the importance of the olive to Greeks, Romans, Phoenicians and others as a major commodity and as a health and medicinal entity. “It was used as a lubricating oil, in lanterns and in medicine, it has a real mystique and is scientifically proven to improve cardiovascular health. It was a fun project,” said Angus.
“Julie’s a real foodie, so she loved working on it and we were exposed to a lot of excellent food while we were in the Mediterranean. It’s fascinating how nuanced the olive is, by region, soil, the amount of irrigation, even the soil.”
Angus has also designed some performance rowing boats based on their expeditions and is selling kits online.
Great Migrations takes place in the Canmore Collegiate High School theatre, Friday (Oct. 18) at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 in advance from Café Books or $18 at the door.
On Saturday (Oct. 19), Elevation Place will be a hub of kids’ activities, with arts and crafts from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Robin Wood: Prince of Trees, theatre by Alberta Parks at 1:30 p.m. and bird walks with Cliff Hansen (11 a.m. adults, 2:30 p.m. for kids).
At the Civic Centre, an Eco Fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., while spotting scopes for viewing eagles will be available at the same time, there will be an APEGA rock and fossil clinic from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., David Eberth will speak on Alberta dinosaur environments and the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre will have live birds on hand.
At the Rec Centre, Ben Gadd will host nature walks at 10 a.m and 1 p.m. and there will be a Kamenka Quarry Tour at 1 p.m. (transportation included).
For more information, visit www.canmore.ca.
