Friends of Lac des Roches and Birch Lake

We look forward to receiving your observations regarding wildlife sightings and other interesting activities that take place around our lakes. We will attempt to update this page on a regular basis with data collected from our Lakekeepers group and information collected from our members

Lac des Roches & Area Birding Update
by Wendy Marshall
November, 2005

Another breeding season has come and gone. Our migratory birds have nearly all left for warmer winter spots. The hardy year-round residents are keeping us busy filling feeders and supplying their much-needed suet. Chickadees, nuthatches, creepers, gray jays, crows, ravens and all the five regular species of woodpeckers are readily visible to anyone watching. Not so easy to spot are eagles, owls, and a few lingering trumpeter swans, making their way south. Any day, we should be seeing pine grosbeaks, redpolls and crossbills. The redpolls are already at 108 Mile Ranch so it won’t be long before we see them here. If you are interested in keeping track of the winter bird population in your backyard, Project Feederwatch is in action again for the 29th season. I have been submitting data for 10 years here – the population fluctuations are most interesting from year to year. For further information go to Bird Studies Canada website: http://www.bsc-eco.org

The Canadian Lakes Loon Survey has come to a close for the season. The results for Lac des Roches were rather disappointing for 2005. None of the established 10 pair of loons on the big lake were successful in rearing young. The high water in June played its toll on nesting attempts. The one or two large eggs are easily washed out of the low-lying nest from the wake of boats venturing too close to shorelines. In some instances the water level simply rose to drown the eggs. The resident pair occupying the little lake did successfully raise two young loons, as always. Their first nest failed however, they managed a second attempt in a different location and succeeded! This pair are especially good parents…over a 10 year period that I have been monitoring, only once did they not raise at least one chick – usually two. If any of you are interested in getting involved with this monitoring process, please give me a call. The observations begin in May and end in late August. I don’t think we have anyone monitoring on Birch Lake presently. The CLLS is also a Bird Studies Canada project.

The annual Christmas Bird Count is scheduled for December 26, 2005. Meet at Marshall’s at 9:00 am and travel from here around Bridge Lake, making numerous stops, counting the numbers of each species we see. Then finish up at our place for hot drinks and goodies by the fire, around 3:30 pm (Bring a lunch and thermos, binoculars if you have them, and dress appropriately). It’s a fun day and you certainly don’t need to be a good birder – beginners are always welcome! Call me ahead if possible – 250 593 2327.

Here are some actual wildlife sightings, the kind of stories we would like to receive from our members.

Majestic Moose

It was a hot and sunny August day (August 10th 2004 to be exact). At about 11:00 am, the boss called me up to the third floor window to see a spectacular site. For about 2 minutes, we watched a bull moose, in full velvet, swim across Lac des Roches. Since it was a Tuesday, there was little lake traffic to bother him.
He started out from the vicinity of McCarthy Road (we heard he was watched from there as well), glided through the water like a champion swimmer and hit the shore at a run on the south side of the lake, just east of the channel mouth. One of my most memorable wildlife sightings on the lake yet!

Submitted by S.W.

Wandering Wolves

On January 10th, 2005, about 7 am, I got an early wake-up call from the boss to see a rare sight out on the ice on Lac des Roches. A lone wolf, near Rock Island, was making its way down the ice. It would lie down on the ice for up to 5 minutes, then it would rise, walk 100 yards and lay down again. Its stop and start pattern continued for about 30 minutes. This peculiar activities was soon explained when a second wolf ran out from the shore, toward the center of the lake, apparently being pushed away from the shore by a very large and irate group of crows. These two wolves were obviously hunting as a team along the north shore of the lake, below Boultbee Road. Once pushed offshore by the crows, we watched them run across the ice to the south shore, where we watched them take up the same hunting technique, in peace.

Submitted by S.W.

A lynx I think

Now that the snow and ice are gone, my little dog Cali and I have begun hiking along the cattle and game trails on the crown land above Highway 24. On April 10, just west of the Wavey Lake forestry road, we came into a grassy field just in time to see a large cat lope into the trees along the edge. As a child, I would have told my family I saw a “snitter”. My more technical interpretation – for an adult audience - is that it was likely a lynx. I have previously seen a cougar and a bobcat in the wild, so I am pretty certain it was a lynx. It was slightly bigger than Cali in length and girth (Cali is currently 73 pounds – but working on her diet like her “mom”) and its colour was greyish brown.

Submitted by S.W.