A total of 19 bat roosts have been reported to date through our Building Resilience for Bats project, and at least 4 of these roosts are sufficiently large enough to qualify as high priority roosts that are important to monitor annually (i.e., detected species is little brown bat, colony size is over 100 individuals, and no exclusion is planned). Consistent monitoring at such roosts can help us detect changes in the population that may happen when white-nose syndrome inevitably arrives in Alberta.

Little brown bats appear to be the most common species detected in our guano sampling (in 2020, with 2021 results anticipated in late winter). This is consistent with findings province-wide in Alberta where 86% of building roosts are used by little brown bats. Big brown bats were identified at one location with multiple roost sites in the structure. Bat detectors have also indicated the presence of long-legged bats and the occasional hoary or silver-haired bat at various sites in Waterton Biosphere Reserve (WBR).

Our highest roost count saw 428 bats exiting the roost one early July evening in 2021. It was a spectacular evening for the roost counters, who had sore thumbs from all the clicking on the tally counters!

Additional guano sampling was conducted at select roosts in 2021 in conjunction with our partners at Alberta Community Bat Program (ACBP). They are starting to monitor early-season guano for the fungus that causes white-nosed syndrome to detect its arrival in Alberta.

Finally, an evening workshop on bats and bat ecology was held near Beaver Mines in early August 2021. Twenty individuals listened to the indoor presentations by Susan Holroyd from ACBP and Elizabeth Anderson from Waterton Biosphere Reserve Association and then moved outside to experience a roost count at a (very) active roost.

A big thank you to the ACBP, roost count volunteers, and the landowners who gave access to their properties and roosts – together we are all working to maintain bat populations in WBR!

Stewarding Trumpeter Swans Through the Seasons

2021 Season Update

Up, up, and away! Trumpeter swans have headed south to their over-wintering areas (although nobody would consider southern Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming particularly tropical in the winter). Our 2021 Stewarding Trumpeter Swans Through the Seasons project was well received in the Waterton Biosphere Reserve community with 333 swan sightings recorded between March 2021 and November 2021. This included 122 sightings contributed by a team of volunteers who observed waterbodies accessible by road. Together the volunteers spent 350 hrs and covered over 10,000 km to help identify which waterbodies were used by trumpeter swans migrating through the WBR area. The map below shows the distribution of all sightings across the region.

Local landowners also contributed information on swans breeding, attempting to breed, or younger loafing pairs on WBR waterbodies in the summer. Nests were established on 8 ponds or lakes, with only one pair failing to maintain their cygnets through to late August. On average, successful pairs generally raised 3 to 4 (average 3.7) cygnets with brood sizes ranging from 1 to 6 cygnets. Three of these families were on waterbodies lacking previous records of breeding and would not have been detected without the keen eyes and knowledge from nearby landowners.

We want to give a big shout out to the landowners and volunteers who connected with our project this year – your sightings provided eyes and ears on the ground and helped with widespread coverage in the WBR area. We will be starting spring migration monitoring again in mid-March 2022, so please consider supporting the project by reporting sightings or volunteering next year! The ultimate goal is to raise awareness of the importance of healthy wetlands to species of concern such as trumpeter swans and to provide assistance to landowners who wish to improve their stewardship of these valuable wetland areas for wildlife habitat and water retention alike.

Carnivores and Communities Program

Deadstock Program Paper Published

Carnivores and Communities Program had a paper published this month on the CACP’s deadstock program, including community perspectives, costs, and ecological and management considerations. Please check out our paper, Dealing With Deadstock: A Case Study of Carnivore Conflict Mitigation From Southwestern Alberta (Morehouse et al., 2021) in Frontiers in Conservation Science.

CACP Presentation for CBRA

Webpage Update

Youth Education

Wetland Field Day 2021

• pond dipping and a close-up look at aquatic invertebrates
• exploring wetland species at risk and the role that they play in wetland food webs
• learning about wetland animal and plant adaptations thru activities and exploration of biofacts, and
• experiencing the Waterton Biosphere Reserve Association’s Bear Discovery Trail.

 

WBR 2022-2026 Cooperation Plan