The Columbia Wetlands Waterbird Survey recently wrapped up its spring surveys when we had 95 volunteers count 25,496 birds were counted over the three survey dates! To see the summary checklist for the spring 2019 surveys, please click here. CWWS Spring
In late April, the CWWS project installed 10 waterfowl nesting boxes on private land for eight different landowners in the Columbia Valley. These were mounted according to best management practices, on free standing poles with predator guards in place. On April 8th, 2019, we conducted our fourth annual Aerial Swan Survey in order to count trumpeter/tundra swans in the Columbia Wetlands. We counted 669 swans from Canal Flats to Golden.
In order to help us achieve Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) status, we have been paying more attention to the ospreys nesting in the valley this year. So far, we have detected more than 40 osprey nests. If you know of any osprey nest located anywhere that is not located on a hydro pole on Highway 95, please email racheldarvill@gmail.com . On May 11th, we conducted a waterbird survey on Columbia Lake and counted a number of birds including at-risk Western Grebes (26), Horned Grebes (38), 1 Eared Grebe and 1 Eared/Horned Grebe. To see the complete checklist, please click here: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S56237262.