South Okanagan sees triple amount of birds at start of migration season

Bird banding season is off to a record start this year in the south Okanagan.

The Vaseux Lake Bird Observatory, about 20 kilometres south of Penticton, counted nearly three times the average amount of birds it usually gets in the first week of August. The 19-year-old observatory usually seesaround 208 birds in the first week.

This year, they counted 596.

"It's been a very interesting season so far this year.We've been seeing some really, really high numbers of birds which is really encouraging," said Matthias Bieber, in charge of bird banding atthe observatory.

Bird banding is a method researchers use to track birds usingspecialized nets to capture them. The birds are then measured in a lab and a small metal band is applied to their leg with an identifying number, so that researchers or banders can accurately count them in the future, explained Bieber.

The bird banding season usually runs from August through to the middle of October.

"We had really good numbers of birds starting off," said Bieber."It has slowed down a little bit now, but we're still on track to have by far the most numbers of birds we ever had in August."

Increasing trend

Bird populations can fluctuate over time depending on breeding success, but in the south Okanagan there has been an increasing trend over the past 10 years in the number of birds that have passed through the area, Bieber toldDaybreak Southhost Chris Walker.

Most birds the observatory bands are young birds starting their first migration.

"Last year, we actually had our second best year ever in terms of number of birds and this yearwe've surpassed that by far," he said.

Not only are they seeing a high number of birdsbut also a diverse range in species.

"We've had more diversity up to this point in the season than usual."

Usually, they band around 66 different types of birds per season, but this year they have already banded 52 different species in the first three weeks.

Employees at the observatory have counted a lot of warblers, cray catbirds and other species that are found locally.

And while the populations of some species of birds are declining rapidlyin Canada, this doesn't appear to be the case in the south Okanagan.

"A lot of the birds that we're catching in high numbers are species that breed locally, so we can say with pretty good confidence that they've had a really good breeding season in the south Okanagan or at least Vaseux Lake in general," said Bieber.

He can't say for certain why the bird populations are so high in the area this year, but he thinks it may be because of increased precipitation this summer and habitat restoration that has taken place over the last few years.

"We know that with the data that we collect that there is something going on with bird populations going up in our area, at least the ones that are passing through here," said Bieber.

"But that really is just a tiny sample of all the birds that are out there,even just in B.C."

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