2010 Nesting Season - Biodiversity Centre for Wildlife Studies

Transferring historical breeding records
for seabirds gave most of the outer and inner
coastal areas excellent representation in 2010.
The Lower Mainland, central Fraser River valley,
and Sunshine Coast also had nearly complete
coverage. Parts of the Okanagan valley, the
Cariboo-Chilcotin, West Kootenay, Thompson-
Nicola, Shuswap Highland, the Prince George
region, and the North Peace River region were
also well covered, especially where wetlands
were prevalent.
For some grids, the area is covered only
superficially with spot checks as people are
travelling through. For others, only specific
habitats (e.g., wetlands; Figure 57) were
searched, while grasslands, forests, and
other vegetative associations were essentially
ignored.
of the breeding records were for solitary-nesting
species which emphasizes the huge effort by
the following individuals: Carla Ahern, Marc-
André Beaucher, Gary Breault, Cyril Colonel,
Vic Cousineau, Colleen Erickson, Ralph
and Elsie Gerein, Terry Good, Ron Granger,
Sigrid Hert, Barb Houston, Pat Huet, Tim
Kendrick, Sharon Laughlin, Marcia Long,
Ed and Holly McMackin, Ernie Olfert, Lorne
Ostendorf, Cindy Poch, Gary Richards, Bob
Rogers, Clare Schadeli, Caryle Schroeder,
Lorraine Scott, Brent Wellander, and Linda
Van Damme. Highlights for the Creston valley
included confirmed breeding for Ruddy Duck,
Long-eared Owl, Northern Saw-whet Owl,
Blue Jay (Figure 58), Eastern Phoebe, Say’s
Phoebe (double-brooded), and House Wren.
Figure 57. Some smaller lakes in the southern
interior in 2010 retained enough water so
nesting islets could still be used by waterbirds.
Flat Lake, BC. 23 June 2010 (Photo by R. Wayne
Campbell).
Again, the Creston valley received the most
comprehensive and intensive coverage and is
becoming the most consistently searched region
in the province. In 2010, the Creston valley
group had a record nesting season! Twentyeight
individuals investigated many parts of the
valley including grids 82F/1 and 82F/2, tallying
1,011 breeding records for an astounding 102
species. The latter figure is almost 43% of the
239 species found for the entire province in
2010.
Valley landscapes explored included
lakes, marshes, sloughs, agricultural fields,
residential properties, black cottonwood forests,
mountain slopes, creeks, and river shores. Most
Figure 58. Blue Jay is a rare resident of the
Creston valley. Two breeding records were
confirmed in 2010, one within Creston town
limits and one in nearby Wynndel. Creston,
BC. 2 February 2008 (Photo by Linda M. Van
Damme).
The Kalamalka Lake, Coldstream,
Vernon, and Swan Lake regions of the north
Okanagan valley is another area that is covered
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