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Conservation & Research Programs
Since its early beginnings, in addition to the management of the Sanctuary, the British Columbia Waterfowl Society has helped finance research on local waterfowl, habitat enhancement projects and community-based farm and wildlife initiatives of our conservation partners. The following projects and programs have received grants in the past decade. Note: Donations and grants towards waterfowl research have been made in consultation with the Institute of Waterfowl & Wetlands Research in support of research conducted through the Pacific Wildlife Research Centre at Alaksen National Wildlife Area. References to publications regarding these studies can be found at these links.) Wrangel Island Lesser Snow goose population, migration and health studies.
The British Columbia Waterfowl Society has helped fund many different aspects of snow goose research. Each fall, thousands of people visit the Sanctuary to view these Lesser Snow Geese at the Sanctuary. These birds start arriving from October onwards after a long southwards migration from their arctic breeding grounds on Wrangel Island, Russia. Some Wrangel Island birds winter in the vicinity of the Fraser and Skagit Rivers, other migrate further south to the Central Valley of California. Since the late 1980's, the nesting colonies on Wrangel Island have been targets of international research by American, Canadian and Russian scientists. Over this past decade, thousands of birds have been marked using leg bands, or neck collars and radio-transmitters to determine survival rates and the details of their migration patterns. As avian cholera can be a significant mortality factor particularly in California, birds were also tested for exposure to this disease. In recent years, studies have ranged between nesting success to family feeding behavior on wintering grounds and assessments of the amount of feeding habitat the flocks require. More complete and regularyly updated information on the status of this population of birds can be viewed on the following website: http://www.ecoinfo.ec.gc.ca/env_ind/region/snowgeese/snowgeese_e.cfm The timing of arrival and moult migration chronology of Harlequin Ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus). Most of North America's Harlequin Ducks are found along the Pacific flyway. This is an elusive species during the breeding season, and the few BC nest records indicate it nests along fast-flowing mountain streams. During the non-breeding season, however, moulting and wintering flocks are common along marine shorelines of the Strait of Georgia. Researchers on Hornby Island, Point Roberts and White Rock have focused on winter dispersal, behavior, pairing, and feeding studies. In addition, the tracking of marked individuals has helped to link breeding sites and wintering areas used by individual birds. For example, radio-transmitters installed on specific birds have helped to determine that specific birds moulting near White Rock in late summer returned to the McLeod River and Kananaskis part of Alberta to breed. Migration patterns and philopatry of the Black Brant. The Black Brant is a small marine goose which overwinters in specific coastal sites with sandy beaches and eelgrass beds. Boundary Bay and parts of Roberts Bank are favourite brant feeding areas. Researchers investigated the degree of winter philopatry or how consistently individuals used specific sites, by tracking observations of marked birds and following the migration routes of birds fitted with radio-transmitters. The Fraser delta appears to be used by two separate populations. One arrives in the fall and remains all winter, and the second population consists of migrants which move through the area in early spring from more southerly wintering areas. More complete updated information on the status of this species can be viewed on the following website: http://www.ecoinfo.ec.gc.ca/env_ind/region/brantgeese/brantgeese_e.cfm Populations, diet, food availability and food requirements of dabbling ducks in Boundary Bay, BC. In the Fraser River delta, thousands of waterfowl are seen feeding in lowland farm fields as well as on the extensive more natural intertidal habitats seaward of the dykes. Dabbling duck species such as American Wigeon, Mallards and Northern Pintail are most noticeable feeding on farmland. The initial study focused on the significance of this dependence upon upland habitats in relation to food availability on adjacent intertidal areas. The objectives were to determine the winter diets of these three dabbling species, document the availability of intertidal foods such as eelgrass and algae, and to estimate population food requirements in order to determine how much additional foods from upland fields might be critical to ensure overwinter food requirements are met.. In addition, researchers mapped local wigeon night dispersal patterns by fitting 80 ducks (American Wigeon and Pintail) with radio-transmitters, and tracking their movements over the daily cycle. The study showed that many individual Wigeon spent the daytime hours in safe sites such as the Sanctuary and the National Wildlife Area, then dispersed to farmland of the island and parts of western Delta at night. This farm stewardship program has promoted the use of winter cover crops on agricultural fields after the fall harvest since its beginnings in 1990. It is currently administered by the Delta Farmland & Wildlife Trust, with financial support from Environment Canada, the Delta Agricultural Society, the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC, the McLean Foundation, Ducks Unlimited Canada and the British Columbia Waterfowl Society. Cover cropping has long been recognized as a valuable soil conservation practice on farmland. Local growers are able through this program to obtain some financial assistance to plant this grass-like cover each fall. The Society's funding contribution has been earmarked towards Westham Island farms and farms in West Ladner. Cover crops protect the soil from erosion, maintain healthy soil structure through the associated root and sod development, and provide additional organic materials to the soil in spring when ploughed under. The crop also serves as an attractive additional food supply for waterfowl during the winter months. Grazing species such as Lesser Snow Geese, Trumpeter Swans, and thousands of American Wigeon all feed extensively in fields planted in these crops. For more information contact the Delta Farmland & Wildlife Trust at 604-940-3392 or download the Colouring Book from this website.
Cover crops planted in the fall of 2002 through the Greenfields program. Westham Island Waterfowl Surveys As discussed above, along the Pacific coast, the most significant wintering waterfowl populations occur in sites such as the Fraser River estuary where flocks have both intertidal and agricultural field habitats in which to feed. Rural areas such as Westham Island appear to provide an optimum mix of these habitats. Surveys were initiated in 1995 by the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) to look at bird use of the island in greater detail and to verify the role played by safe areas such as the Alaksen National Wildlife Area (NWA) and the George C Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary (MBS). Weekly counts were done for three winter seasons (1995-1998), funded by the CWS, the BC Waterfowl Society and Ducks Unlimited Canada, and continued again several years later. Potatoes are some of the more consistently farmed traditional crops on Westham Island and nearby Delta. In an effort to reduce the use of pesticides to control wireworm ( the larval form of the Click Beetle) in potato fields, Agriculture Canada has encouraged several integrated pest management initiatives through Agri-Food Canada and the Pacific Agricultural Research Center at Agassiz. This study looked at ways to assess the following: crop susceptibility to the pest; whether certain plantings within fields would attract the beetles and act as a "trap crop" to reduce pest damage elsewhere; and whether native parasitic nematodes would be effective as a biological control of this beetle. Farm Improvements Near Boundary Bay Farmland in the Delta area is currently threatened by intensive land development pressures. Recognizing this, and the value of farmland to wildlife, conservation agencies have purchased specific land parcels as they have come up for sale, and have leased these holdings back to the farming community. Working together to pool financial resources and staff, these government and non-government agencies have worked collectively as the Pacific Estuary Conservation Program since 1987. In 2001, a parcel was purchased which required laser-levelling to make it able to more effectively sustain soil-based agricultural crops. The Society contributed part of the funding for this project through Ducks Unlimited Canada. Delkatla Slough, Queen Charlotte Islands Delkatla Slough is an intertidal backwater or "slough" located right n the Village of Masset, on the Queen Charlotte Islands in the mid-central coast of British Columbia. Back in 1964, a causeway had been built across the entrance of the slough to provide road access between the two parts of the village. This causeway essentially isolated the slough and by the early 1990's, this barrier had resulted in the gradual transition of approximately 127 hectares of natural intertidal marsh into a mix of grasslands, freshwater channels and large patches of alder trees. The former intertidal habitat had provided critical fish rearing habitats and ideal feeding areas for migrant waterfowl such as brant and shorebirds. In 1993, restoration plans for this slough were designed and implemented through a partnership of BC Highways, the local community, the partner organizations of the Pacific Estuary Conservation Program, and other contributors such as the British Columbia Waterfowl Society. The slough's intertidal connections to the adjacent Masset Sound were restored by removing a significant section of the causeway and constructing a bridge to span the resulting gap. The tidal waters now flow freely back and forth underneath. the bridge, and habitats within the slough are undergoing a gradual transition back to their natural state. Spatial and Temporal Use of Estuary and Upland Habitat by Waterfowl Wintering on the Fraser River Delta and North Puget Sound Together, British Columbia’s Fraser River Delta and Washington State’s North Puget Sound provide some of the most important waterbird wintering and migratory staging habitat on the Pacific Flyway. Unfortunately, as the human population increases in the Georgia Basin, both regions are threatened with major changes in land use practices. Habitat initiatives on the Fraser River Delta and along Puget Sound south of the Canada/USA border share a common goal of maintaining and/or increasing waterbird populations in the face of changing land use practices. Moreover, birds routinely use habitats on both sides of the border to meet their daily and seasonal resource requirements. This argues for a single conservation plan that includes the entire ecosystem. Since 2002 this research project has followed up with some of the findings of research project done in 1992 (see Section above) and tracked specific dabbling ducks using radio-telemetry, an assessment of feeding patterns, food availability and food requirements of local birds, and the development of a habitat conservation approach to meet the needs of the birds. Studies have also included feeding studies of Trumpeter Swans and Snow Geese. Maplewood Flats Conservation Area In 1995, a contribution was made towards the development of trails in this high profile conservation area located in North Vancouver between the Dollarton Highway and Burrard Inlet. The Wild Bird Trust manages this land, which has been established as a sanctuary through the Vancouver Port Corporation, the District of North Vancouver and Environment Canada. The Society has also provided small grants to other organizations for specific projects: the Northwest Wildlife Preservation Society for a special "Estuary Explorer" edition of their newsletter Critters; Ducks Unlimited Canada and the Vancouver City Parks Board on interpretive signs for Lost Lagoon; and the Sunshine Coast Natural History Society for shoreline rehabilitation work at Sechelt Marsh.
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