11 May Osprey Monitoring Workshop at Kokanee Creek Nature Centre 2019
Photo Credit: Shirley Smith
Our Osprey Monitoring Workshop was a complete success!
We had 20 participants from around the lake join us and learn about Osprey from the knowledgable Wildlife Biologist Joanne Siderius. Joanne is the Senior Naturalist at the Nature Centre and has been helping us host our Osprey Workshop for three years now. We learned about the biology and behavior of Osprey, with a strong focus on Osprey breeding cycle. This is an important focus because our study involves us going out and observing Osprey nests, which are only used by Osprey when they are breeding. It’s great to have someone like Joanne sharing her knowledge with us and our volunteer citizen scientists. Now, when our team of volunteers goes out on monitoring trips they can effectively gather data on Osprey nests on the North and South end of Kootenay Lake, looking for signs of successful breeding such as eggs, chicks, and fledgling birds. This data will help enrich our existing long term data set and allow us to get a better understanding of the health, and the subsequent reproductive success, of our Osprey population.
Our group had a spirited question period and everyone got a chance to share their knowledge of birds of prey that live around the lake. It’s exciting to hear how passionate people around Kootenay Lake are about monitoring the wildlife that we share space with. Those who attended the workshop will get the chance to sign-up for Osprey Monitoring boat trips throughout the summer. We are so looking forward to connecting with this group again and putting what we learned into action.
Stay tuned for more Osprey news as our boat trips get underway starting this month!
A big thank you to Joanne Siderius and the Kokanee Creek Nature Centre for hosting us, to Oso Negro for donating coffee, and to our funders Columbia Basin Trust and Fortis BC.
If you would like to support the work we do, click here to donate.
Your donations go a long way in helping us continue to put on free community workshops like this one.
Any questions? email info@friendsofkootenaylake.ca