Comox Valley Naturalists Society

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Guest Speaker

Sunday, September 19, 2004 - 7:00 p.m.
Tasha Smith
BC Coastal Waterbird Survey

The BC Coastal Waterbird Survey was the feature presentation by Tasha Smith at the meeting of the Comox Valley Naturalists Society on Sunday, September 19, 2004 at 7:00 p.m. at the Florence Filberg Seniors Lounge, 411 Anderton Avenue in Courtenay.

The B.C. Coastal Waterbird Survey aims to coordinate the efforts of people who care about waterbirds in British Columbia. Anyone who can identify waterbird species in their area can participate. The goal is the conservation of coastal waterbird populations in British Columbia.

The coastlines of British Columbia are of international importance for waterbirds, especially during winter when vast numbers of loons, grebes, cormorants, herons, swans, geese, ducks, shorebirds and gulls can be found feeding and roosting in bays, estuaries and long the rocky inter-tidal beaches of the British Columbia coast. Thousands of individual birds of many different species use the sheltered near-shore waters, the expansive wetlands and estuarine habitats to roost, to feed, to overwinter and to stop and restore their fuel supplies during long migratory journeys.

With the coastlines of British Columbia under increasing pressure from development and human population expansion, long-term data on the abundance and distribution of waterbird species will enable changes in populations and habitat use to be monitored.

A related program also discussed at the meeting is the Beached Bird Survey. The goals of this survey are to collect baseline information on the causes and rates of beached bird mortality, compare currents rates with estimates from 10 years ago, and expand the coverage to a larger area of the British Columbia coast. Of particular concern is the effect of oil pollution on bird mortality.

The B.C. Coastal Waterbird Survey is a program of Bird Studies Canada, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing the understanding, appreciation and conservation of wild birds and their habitats, in Canada and elsewhere. Tasha Smith, who has a Master of Science degree from Dalhousie University, is the B.C. Projects Coordinator for Bird Studies Canada. She has previously been involved with bird research on Triangle Island located off the north end of Vancouver Island, on Haida Gwaii and off the eastern shore of Nova Scotia.