Shuswap Lake
- Lake name:
- Shuswap Lake
- Location:
- British Columbia
- HydroLAKE ID:
- 653
- Latitude:
- 50.881935
- Longitude:
- -119.560272
- Surface area (km2):
- 310
- Basin type:
- non-reservoir
- Primary emergent vegetation:
- willows
- Primary vegetation for nesting:
- pond weed sticks emergent logs cattail reed canary grass bulrush
- Management agency:
- Province of British Columbia; Fraser Basin Council; SABNES (Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canadian Wildlife Service, Ducks Unlimited)
- Lake use:
- flood control infrastructure and management
- Region associations:
- Columbia Mountains
- Comments:
- Shuswap Lake is shaped like an H with four arms. Salmon Arm is the southwest arm, is the most reported on for grebes, and considered the most productive due to agricultural runoff.. The two south arms are for recreational use and the other two arms are undeveloped. This lake is considered a salmon nursery for sockeye salmon.
Summary of Surveys (6)
Survey Citation:
Blood, D. A., and F. Backhouse. 1999. Western grebe, low breeding numbers and threats to their nesting colonies put these birds at risk. Wildlife at risk in British Columbia. Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks. Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
-
Time period
N/A -
Source
Brochure -
Both Western and Clarks?
N
| Count Type | Range | Max | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max Adults | 101 to 500 | <=180 | 1990s |
| Most Recent Adults | 101 to 500 | <=180 | 1990s |
| Max Nests | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Most Recent Nests | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Max Chicks | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Most Recent Chicks | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Comments:
One of 3 existing colonies as of publication year. At Shuswap Lake, up to 90 pairs breeding there in "recent years" (assuming the 1990s based on publication year).
Survey Citation:
Forbes, L. S. 1988. Western grebe nesting in British Columbia. The Murrelet. 28-33.
-
Time period
1963, 1973 -
Source
Notes -
Both Western and Clarks?
N
| Count Type | Range | Max | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max Adults | 101 to 500 | presumably >100 | 1964 |
| Most Recent Adults | 1 to 100 | ? | 1973 |
| Max Nests | 1 to 100 | 63 | 1964 |
| Most Recent Nests | N/A | ? | 1973 |
| Max Chicks | 1 to 100 | 18 | 1963 |
| Most Recent Chicks | 1 to 100 | 18 | 1963 |
Comments:
Forbes sourced historical data from British Columbia Nest Records Scheme, Stirling 1964, Buffam 1964, and Munro 1935 for Table 1. No nest number for 1973 though there is a line for it in the table.
Survey Citation:
First one cites the second one. British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands, and Parks. 1998. Inventory methods for colonial-nesting freshwater birds : eared grebe, red-necked grebe, western grebe, American white pelican, and great blue heron. Version 2.0, no. 8. Terrestrial Ecosystems Task Force, Resources Inventory Committee. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.; Campbell, R.W., N.K. Dawe, I. McTaggart-Cowan, J.M. Cooper, G.W. Kaiser, and M.C.E. McNall. 1990. The birds of British Columbia - Loons through waterfowl. Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria and Canadian Wildlife Service, Delta. 514 pp.
-
Time period
1962, 1976 -
Source
Book -
Both Western and Clarks?
N
| Count Type | Range | Max | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max Adults | 1 to 100 | 17 | 1950 |
| Most Recent Adults | 1 to 100 | 1 | 1966 |
| Max Nests | 1 to 100 | 65 | 1976 |
| Most Recent Nests | 1 to 100 | 65 | 1976 |
| Max Chicks | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Most Recent Chicks | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Comments:
Campbell et al. (1990) is the source data for Table 1 (location and maximum counts of nesting colonies in British Columbia, Canada) of the B.C. Ministry of Environment manual . Campbell et al. (1990) sources are from British Columbia Nest Records Scheme. There was confirmation of nesting in 1987 but no count. I didn't include that year in this entry because no numbers were associated with that year.
Survey Citation:
Campbell, W.R., F.J.E. Hillary, and L.M. Van Damme. 2009. Clark's Grebe. Wildlife Data Centre -featured species. Wildlife Afield. Vol. 6 (1). 105 pp.
-
Type
shore -
Time period
1935, 2009 -
Source
Species account -
Both Western and Clarks?
Y
| Count Type | Range | Max | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max Adults | 101 to 500 | ~308 | 2008 |
| Most Recent Adults | 1 to 100 | 12 | 2009 |
| Max Nests | 1 to 100 | >25 | 2008 |
| Most Recent Nests | N/A | ? | 2009 |
| Max Chicks | 1 to 100 | ~50 | 2007 |
| Most Recent Chicks | 1 to 100 | 3 (C), 6-8 (H) | 2009 |
Comments:
Species profile on Clark's grebes at their two known breeding locations in B.C. There are very few Clark's grebes counted over the breeding season and possibly only one to three pairs breed within the Western grebe colony and include some mixed pairs (paired with Western grebes). Average over 22 year span is 1.8 Clark's grebes which may be an underestimate. The year by year anecdotes are confusing and numbers culled from each year are marked as (C) for Clark's, (H) for hybrid, and (W) for Western, if included. This document is about Clark's grebes but Western grebe counts were included if mentioned though they might not always been accounted for or were generalized as present or as a colony. Many mentions of hybrid pairs. Clark's/Western/hybrid ratios were based on 2008 description of numbers.
Survey Citation:
Stirling, D. 1962. Another western grebe colony
in British Columbia. Murrelet 43:3.
-
Type
shore -
Time period
June 1962 -
Source
Notes -
Both Western and Clarks?
N
| Count Type | Range | Max | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max Adults | 1 to 100 | 34 | 1962 |
| Most Recent Adults | 1 to 100 | 34 | 1962 |
| Max Nests | 1 to 100 | 9 | 1962 |
| Most Recent Nests | 1 to 100 | 9 | 1962 |
| Max Chicks | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Most Recent Chicks | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Comments:
Observations in 1962.
Survey Citation:
Stirling, D. 1964. Western grebe colony on Shuswap
Lake re-visited. Murrelet 45:8-9.
-
Type
shore -
Time period
9 June 1963, 20 June 1963 -
Source
Notes -
Both Western and Clarks?
N
| Count Type | Range | Max | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max Adults | 1 to 100 | 57 | 1963 |
| Most Recent Adults | 1 to 100 | 57 | 1963 |
| Max Nests | 1 to 100 | 6 | 1963 |
| Most Recent Nests | 1 to 100 | 6 | 1963 |
| Max Chicks | 0 | 0 | 1963 |
| Most Recent Chicks | 0 | 0 | 1963 |
Comments:
Stirling revisited new colony of Shuswap Lake he reported on in 1963 in Murrelet 43(3):51. On the second visit in June 1963 (Frank Buffam and Doug and Anne Dow), only 6 nests remained out of 26, the other 20 had disappeared. He notes the colony's location about a mile from a marina and the potential for disturbance but also notes that it is out of the way for boaters.
Sources of Information
- Messager, M.L., Lehner, B., Grill, G., Nedeva, I., Schmitt, O. (2016): Estimating the volume and age of water stored in global lakes using a geo-statistical approach. Nature Communications: 13603. doi: 10.1038/ncomms13603. Data is available at www.hydrosheds.org.; Buffam, F. W. 1964. Visit to a Western Grebe colony at Salmon Arm, British Columbia. Murrelet 45:48., Burger, A. E. 1997. Status of the Western Grebe in British Columbia. Wildlife Working Report WR-87, Wildlife Branch, Ministry of the Environment, Lands and Parks, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.; Forbes, L. S.. 1988. Western grebe nesting in British Columbia. The Murrelet. 28-33; British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands, and Parks. 1998. Resources Inventory Branch, & Resources Inventory Committee (Canada). Terrestrial Ecosystems Task Force. Inventory methods for colonial-nesting freshwater birds : eared grebe, red-necked grebe, western grebe, american white pelican, and great blue heron (Version 2.0, Ser. Standards for components of British Columbia's biodiversity, no. 8). Ministry of Environment, Lands, and Parks, Resources Inventory Branch for the Terrestrial Ecosystems Task Force, Resources Inventory Committee.; Campbell, R. W., Dawe, N. K., McTaggart-Cowan, I., Cooper, J., Kaiser, G. W., McNall, M., & Campbell, R. W. C. W. S. 1992. Nonpasserines : Introduction, loons through waterfowl. UBC Press.; Campbell, W.R., F.J.E. Hillary and L.M. Van Damme. 2009. Clark's Grebe. Wildlife Data Centre -featured species. Wildlife Afield. Vol. 6 (1). 105 pp.
- Buffam, F. W. 1964. Visit to a Western Grebe colony at Salmon Arm, British Columbia. Murrelet 45:48., Burger, A. E. 1997. Status of the Western Grebe in British Columbia. Wildlife Working Report WR-87, Wildlife Branch, Ministry of the Environment, Lands and Parks, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
- Forbes, L. S.. 1988. Western grebe nesting in British Columbia. The Murrelet. 28-33
- British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands, and Parks. 1998. Resources Inventory Branch, &
- Resources Inventory Committee (Canada). Terrestrial Ecosystems Task Force. Inventory methods for colonial-nesting freshwater birds : eared grebe, red-necked grebe, western grebe, american white pelican, and great blue heron (Version 2.0, Ser. Standards for components of British Columbia's biodiversity, no. 8). Ministry of Environment, Lands, and Parks, Resources Inventory Branch for the Terrestrial Ecosystems Task Force, Resources Inventory Committee.
- Campbell, R. W., Dawe, N. K., McTaggart-Cowan, I., Cooper, J., Kaiser, G. W., McNall, M., & Campbell, R. W. C. W. S. 1992. Nonpasserines : Introduction, loons through waterfowl. UBC Press.
- Campbell, W.R., F.J.E. Hillary and L.M. Van Damme. 2009. Clark's Grebe. Wildlife Data Centre -featured species. Wildlife Afield. Vol. 6 (1). 105 pp.
- Shuswap Lake Water Levels
- Shuswap Lake Integrated Planning Process (SLIPP)
- World Lake Database
- Canadian Geographical Names Database (CGNDB)