Aphad aly aces

Progress Report

L.I.P. - Mary Hiil Bird Inventory

Work on the Mary Hill bird inventory was started in the third week of February
1973 by Genevieve Arnold (naturalist) and Rick Jerema (naturalist, project
manager), The first few weeks were spent familiarizing ourselves with the area,
locating trails and roads, obtaining Permission to enter private Property and
habitat evaluation, .

Once the land was assessed the municipality vas sivided into seven general types
of habitat: ,

old residential

new residential

deciduous

nixed deciduous/coniferous

open field

shrubby field

coniferous .
A sample study area of each type of habitat was selected and bisected by & transect
Toute in the form of a marked trail. Transect coverage started the second week of
March with the addition of Brad Watts (naturalist) end Merlene Power (birdwatcher~
record keeper),
The uethod used to determine bird population. density is that done by John T. Emlen
(The Auk ; 88 8323-342, April 1971). Because of the svall -eize of each sample
habitat each route Was walked at least twice a week for six weeks in order to obtain.

. the required five miles of transect through each habitat,

By plugging the field data (bird sightings and distance from transect line) into the

formula by Emlen we can obtain density values in units of birds per acre for each
habitat type, then extrapolate or expand this figure to determine the number of birds
in Port Coquitlam. This method applies to most songbirds but not for flocking or
‘wide ranging species such as waterfowl, starlings or havks, These species are best
covered by special counts and direct observation, From these transect counts ve are
“able to determine the winter population of birds in this area, .

Each day consists mostly of field work aad one or two hours of recording the days
data. The last two or three weeks of May will be used to evaluate and write up a

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final report, With the arrival of spring, and new birds, field transect work has
finished and time will be used for special observations. As the project terminates
at the end of May the breeding bird survey end summer records will be incorplete.

Work to be done includes a breeding bird survey (nest location) botanical inventory
of each habitat and the Nature Aree, and observations in special areaa (Nature Aree,
Sewage Lagcon, Deboville Slough andthe south Mary Hill area).

The Great Blue Herons did not return to the heronry in the Nature Area this year,
probably due to construction in the area. There is a email colony of herona in the
Indian Reserve which may be birds from the old heronry,

A pair of Barn Owls located in the Nature Area have revealed by pellet analysis,

e liking for toles, barn rata and field mice, captured in nearby open fields.

Swallows are back in good numbers feeding on early hatches of flying insects
(moaquitoes). Provision of Swallow nesting boxes would encourage s netural seans
of insect control,

Several species of birds aze on the nest now including waterfowl, herons, robins and
staller aongbirds,

The most interesting sighting to date has been that of a White Wagtail Spotted near
the mouth of the Coquitlam River on Colony Farm. This accidental migrant who should
have wintered in Europe was Probably caught in an Artic storm and blown iato our
Pacific flyway, It 48 the firat record for British Columbia and the second record
for Canada. During the two weeks that it was observed here, it attracted birdwatchers
from all over the lower mainland and Weshington State.