Swan and Eagle Count
Article provided by Jim BodkinOn Sunday, January 10, 2010 the North Okanagan Naturalists’ Club held their annual Swan and Eagle count. The count area covers most of the North Okanagan with one group going as far north as Sicamous, another to the south end of Mabel Lake via Lavington and Lumby and a third group counting from Enderby through Kingfisher and out to Mabel Lake. In the Vernon area several groups scout the north end of Kalamalka Lake, Vernon Arm of Okanagan Lake and the Head of the Lake area.
This year, as in many years, we failed to spot any Golden Eagles or Tundra Swans; however, we did count 63 adult and 25 juvenile Bald Eagles along with 94 adult and 18 juvenile Trumpeter Swans. The group surveying up as far as Sicamous accounted for the lion’s share of our numbers with a total of 60 Bald Eagles and 81 Trumpeter Swans. These numbers were helped by the good visibility they experienced and the large amounts of open water attributable to our recent mild spell. Considerable ground fog, at times quite thick, was encountered from Lavington almost as far as the south end of Mabel Lake. Fortunately, it lifted about noon and let us get a nice close-up look at our ‘Bird-of-the-Day’, a Northern Hawk Owl spotted on a power line along Mabel Lake Road near what many locals call Pig City.
These count numbers are compiled with others from the BC Interior and elsewhere and form a data base used by university students and graduate ornithologists in various bird research programs. Just as with the proverbial ‘canary in the coal mine’ fluctuations and trends in the numbers of birds are an important early warning signal regarding the ecological health of our environment.
Area H - Vernon to Sicamous, had their highest numbers ever with 41 adult and 19 juvenile Bald Eagles and 67 adult and 14 juvenile Trumpeter Swans. The large numbers of swans are attributed to the large areas of open water found compared with colder years.
Area J - Coldstream to Lumby and the south end of Mabel Lake, had more swans than eagles for the first time. The eagle count was down due to poor visibility caused by thick ground fog in the Lavington-Lumby areas that extended almost as far as Mabel Lake. The swan count was enhanced by a Mabel Lake resident who keeps tabs on the swans and shares his results with us. This is a great help since we lack direct access to the lake and have to rely on what we can see from just a few lookouts along the road. This group saw 3 adult and 3 juvenile Bald Eagles and 8 adult Trumpeter Swans plus 4 juvenile Trumpeter's as reported by the resident.
Area K - Enderby to Kingfisher to Mabel Lake saw 7 adult Bald Eagles and 4 adult Trumpeter Swans, not a particularly good year for this route despite the good visibility.
Area N - Vernon and area, results are:
a) Head of Okanagan Lake, 5 adult and 2 juvenile Bald Eagles and 11 adult Trumpeter Swans
b) Commonage and Vernon Arm of Okanagan Lake from Carr's Landing around to Canadian Lakeshore estates, 3 adult and 1 juvenile Bald Eagles supplemented by the 4 reported, but not truly identified, probable adult Trumpeter Swans
c) Northern portion of Kalamalka Lake, 4 adult Bald Eagles. A juvenile is known to frequent the area but was not seen on count day.
As usual, everyone reported an enjoyable day and I expect we are looking forward to next years count. Phil Jones was on the Vernon to Sicamous circuit and I'm glad he got to enjoy record numbers this year...a true "Swan Song" for his passing the count co-ordination along to me.
The 'Bird-of-the-Day' was probably a Northern Hawk Owl seen on a power line along Mabel Lake Road not far from what everyone calls Pig City. If one of our photos turns out well I will forward it to our local paper, The Morning Star, for publication consideration along with a brief write-up of our North Okanagan Swan and Eagle Count.