Bird migration watches on Crown Lease 17, Alberta, fall 1984

• Main Authors: McLaren, P.L., McLaren, M.A.
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: 1985
• Subjects: Migration; Oil Sands; Birds; Tar Sands; Syncrude; Environmental Research Monograph 1985-2; Alberta; Athabasca River; Canada; Fort McMurray; Tundra
• Online Access: https://era.library.ualberta.ca/items/d15c3e94-3de8-4da2-9808-63b8f197a9ff; https://doi.org/10.7939/R3862BC83

Migration watches were conducted from 21 August to 15 October 1984 near the site of Syncrude Canada Ltd.' s bitumen mining, extraction and upgrading development north of Fort McMurray, Alberta. These watches were undertaken to complement studies of birds using the waterbodies in the area of the development. Watches were conducted each morning and evening from a blind overlooking the Athabasca River valley. Morning watches began at first light and ended two hours after sunrise. Evening watches began two hours before sunset and lasted until it was too dark to see birds. In all, there were 49 morning watches and 51 evening watches. During each watch, migrating or potentially migrating birds were recorded. Birds making obviously local flights were not recorded. For each observation the following information was recorded: the time of the observation, number and species (or species group) of the birds seen, direction of flight, altitude, and distance from the blind at the point of closest approach. Non-systematic observations of swans, geese and cranes were also recorded during off-watch hours. Comparison of data from migration watches in 1984 with data from 1975 shows that patterns of migration over the study area have not changed appreciably. Both timing of migration and the diel pattern of passage were comparable in the two years for all species and species groups observed. Although large numbers of geese and lesser numbers of tundra swans and sandhill cranes passed over in both 1975 and 1980, few landed in the study area. Waterfowl, cranes, gulls and ravens were the groups most commonly observed during migration watches. Small numbers of several hawk and eagle species were also seen but few of them appeared to be migrating. Including observations both during watches and during off-watch hours, a total of 46 tundra swans were seen. All were flying in a generally southerly direction and most were between 75 m and 500 m above the Athabasca River. Swans appeared to pass over the area in two waves, one in the second ...