Lake Davis
- Lake name:
- Lake Davis
- Location:
- California
- HydroLAKE ID:
- 9200
- GRanD ID:
- 142
- Latitude:
- 39.885247
- Longitude:
- -120.477870
- Surface area (km2):
- 17.9
- Basin type:
- reservoir
- Dam completion date:
- 1966
- Motor restrictions:
- partial
- Motor restrictions notes:
- no water skiing nor jet skiing
- Primary emergent vegetation:
- Willow (Salix spp.) pondweed (Potamogeton spp.)
- Primary vegetation for nesting:
- Willow (Salix spp.) pondweed (Potamogeton spp.)
- Management agency:
- U.S. Forest Service; California Department of Fish and Wildlife
- Lake use:
- recreation
- Region associations:
- Plumas National Forest; Lake Davis Recreation Area; Upper River Feather Lakes
- Comments:
- Deepest part of lake is 108 feet. It has the largest biomass of any still water lake in California. Lake was treated with Rotenone in 2007 to rid it of invasive northern pike. It is vulnerable to wind storms.
Summary of Surveys (7)
Survey Citation:
Arsenault, D. 2015. Audubon's Aechmophorus grebe conservation project comprehensive monitoring report: 2010-2014. Final report. Plumas Audubon Society, Plumas and Lassen Counties, California, USA.
-
Type
shore; boat -
Time period
June 2012, October 2013 -
Source
Report -
Both Western and Clarks?
N
| Count Type | Range | Max | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max Adults | 101 to 500 | 158 | 2013 |
| Most Recent Adults | 101 to 500 | 158 | 2013 |
| Max Nests | 1 to 100 | 35 | 2013 |
| Most Recent Nests | 1 to 100 | 35 | 2013 |
| Max Chicks | 1 to 100 | 63 | 2012 |
| Most Recent Chicks | 1 to 100 | 53 | 2013 |
Comments:
Nest initiation (started June 1), nest monitoring, and disturbance surveys were weekly. Average of 65 surveys per year on the 6 lakes for adult grebes, nest attempts and young. One to two brood surveys per month starting mid-July to October. For adult count #, "All surveys include the grand total of adults counted on the lake" - not sure what that means.WEGR and CLGR were distinguished if possible but no breakdown in the data reported. Water is drawn down for irrigation and water levels are considered more consistent.
Survey Citation:
Loggins, D. 2015. Conservation of Aechmophorus grebe colonies at six northern California lakes. Semi-annual financial and programmatic report. Audubon California, Sacramento, California, USA.
-
Type
shore; boat -
Time period
June 2012, September 2014 -
Source
Report -
Both Western and Clarks?
N
| Count Type | Range | Max | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max Adults | 101 to 500 | 158 | 2013 |
| Most Recent Adults | 101 to 500 | 132 | 2014 |
| Max Nests | 1 to 100 | 35 | 2013 |
| Most Recent Nests | 1 to 100 | 14 | 2014 |
| Max Chicks | 1 to 100 | 63 | 2012 |
| Most Recent Chicks | 0 | 0 | 2014 |
Comments:
See Kyle et al. 2013 for survey methods. 2 population/brood surveys per year. Slow and steady rate (-0.03) of water drawdown. All 14 nests from 2014 failed due to wind. Entered Table 4 only but the adult #s might be counts in September or October (like Lake Almanor) and might have captured migration. Only Lake Almanor has a breakdown of adult count #s per date in the season but none for the other lakes and none in Kyle's report. Water level data at California Department of Water Resources (DWR) California Data Exchange Center (http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/mapper).
Survey Citation:
Loggins, D. 2015. Conservation of Aechmophorus grebe colonies at six northern California lakes. Semi-annual financial and programmatic report. Audubon California, Sacramento, California, USA.
-
Type
shore; boat -
Time period
N/A -
Source
Report -
Both Western and Clarks?
N/A
| Count Type | Range | Max | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max Adults | 1 to 100 | presence | 2015 |
| Most Recent Adults | 1 to 100 | presence | 2015 |
| Max Nests | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Most Recent Nests | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Max Chicks | 0 | 0 | 2015 |
| Most Recent Chicks | 0 | 0 | 2015 |
Comments:
Water levels lower in 2015 than in last 3 years but more nests than prior years. Most in open water due to inavailability of emergent vegetation. No successful nesting due to high winds. Modified Gericke et al. (2006) protocol similar to the last five breeding seasons and included nest initiation surveys (weekly), nest monitoring surveys, disturbance surveys (weekly), and population and brood surveys (1-2 times a month until October). No info on timing of surveys.
Survey Citation:
Ackerman, J. T., C. A. Hartman, C. A. Eagles-Smith, M. P. Herzog, J. Davis, G. Ichikawa, and A. Bonnema. 2015. Estimating mercury exposure of piscivorous birds and sport fish using prey fish monitoring. Environmental Science & Technology 49:13596–13604.
-
Type
boat -
Time period
April 2012, October 2013 -
Source
Peer-reviewed -
Both Western and Clarks?
N/A
| Count Type | Range | Max | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max Adults | 1 to 100 | presence? | 2012 |
| Most Recent Adults | 1 to 100 | presence? | 2012 |
| 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:
Not a survey but grebes were sampled at 25 lakes in CA from April to October of 2012 (13 lakes) and 2013 (12 lakes). An average of 14 grebes per lake (from 2 to 38 grebes) were captured at night with night-lights. No breakdown of actual numbers captured per lake was provided. Morphometry and molt data, along with blood was collected from each bird for mercury analysis, and sex determination via genetic analysis. From 7 out of the 25 lakes, an average of 14 grebe eggs (from 6 to 23 eggs) were collected. An egg from each randomly sampled nest was collected either from an active nest (random egg) or from an abandoned nest (abandoned egg). Prey fish and sport fish were also sampled an average of 11 days after grebe sampling. At Lake Davis, no grebe eggs were collected in 2012 (Figure SI). 354 grebes were captured total from the 25 lakes, 71% were Western grebes, 29% were Clark's, 48% were female, 52% were male. 101 grebe eggs were collected from 7 lakes, of which 62% were Western grebes, 15% were Clark's grebes, 23% were unidentified which. Grebe blood, eggs, and sport fish mercury concentrations were strongly correlated to mercury concentrations in prey fish at the lakes. Grebe mercury concentrations were also strongly correlated with sport fish mercury concentrations. This study showed that prey fish monitoring can estimate mercury exposure of grebes and other piscivorous birds if these birds can't be sampled directly.
Survey Citation:
Rickard, A. 2017. Conservation of Aechmophorus grebe colonies at six northern California lakes. Interim report for year three submitted to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation October 31st, 2017. Audubon California, San Francisco, California.
-
Time period
2017 -
Source
Report -
Both Western and Clarks?
N/A
| Count Type | Range | Max | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max Adults | 1 to 100 | presence | 2017 |
| Most Recent Adults | 1 to 100 | presence | 2017 |
| Max Nests | 1 to 100 | presence | 2017 |
| Most Recent Nests | 1 to 100 | presence | 2017 |
| Max Chicks | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Most Recent Chicks | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Comments:
Nesting confirmed but no full surveys conducted in 2017.
Survey Citation:
Plumas Audubon Society. 2016. Audubon’s Aechmophorus grebe conservation project comprehensive monitoring report: 2010-2016 Almanor, Antelope, Davis, and Eagle Lakes, Plumas and Lassen Counties, California.
-
Type
shore; boat -
Time period
2012, 2016 -
Source
Report -
Both Western and Clarks?
Y
| Count Type | Range | Max | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max Adults | 101 to 500 | 180 | 2016 |
| Most Recent Adults | 101 to 500 | 180 | 2016 |
| Max Nests | 1 to 100 | 88 | 2016 |
| Most Recent Nests | 1 to 100 | 88 | 2016 |
| Max Chicks | 101 to 500 | 115 | 2016 |
| Most Recent Chicks | 101 to 500 | 115 | 2016 |
Comments:
This entry is for the newest data of 2015 and 2016 because previous years' data is re-reported and already entered. Water drawdown was at a rate of -0.31 inches/day and relatively steady. This lake is particularly vulnerable to wind storms. Low water levels and wind storms in 2014 and 2015 caused all nests to fail. Wind effects on nests were captured on wildlife cameras. The maximum nest count of 88 in 2016 were estimated from the chick count because the nests were not in areas of previous nesting and they were never located. Observer for these two new years was Arsenault. Adult number counts reported in this report is the average of survey totals.
Survey Citation:
Loggins, D. 2016. Conservation of Aechmophorus grebe colonies at six northern California lakes: final financial and programmatic report for year one. Audubon California, Sacramento, California, USA.
-
Time period
2015 -
Source
Report -
Both Western and Clarks?
Y
| Count Type | Range | Max | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max Adults | 101 to 500 | high # | 2015 |
| Most Recent Adults | 101 to 500 | high # | 2015 |
| Max Nests | 101 to 500 | high # | 2015 |
| Most Recent Nests | 101 to 500 | high # | 2015 |
| Max Chicks | 0 | 0 | 2015 |
| Most Recent Chicks | 0 | 0 | 2015 |
Comments:
Nests were mostly in open water. There was lower water level in 2015 but a higher number of nests. However, no numbers were provided and chicks were described as being in "high numbers". Plumas Audubon report has more details. For the six lakes studied, 2015 was the fourth year of severe drought and nest success was not high.
Sources of Information
- Arsenault, D. 2015. Audubon's Aechmophorus Grebe Conservation Project Comprehensive Monitoring Report: 2010-2014. Final Report.; Plumas Audubon Society. 2016. Audubon’s Aechmophorus Grebe Conservation Project Comprehensive Monitoring Report: 2010-2016 Almanor, Antelope, Davis, and Eagle Lakes, Plumas and Lassen Counties, California.; Messager, M. L., B. Lehner, G. Grill, I. Nedeva, and O. Schmitt. 2016. Estimating the volume and age of water stored in global lakes using a geo-statistical approach. Nature Communications 7:13603. Data is available at www.hydrosheds.org.; Lehner, B., C. Reidy Liermann, C. Revenga, C. Vorosmarty, B. Fekete, P. Crouzet, P. Doll, M. Endejan, K. Frenken, J. Magome, C. Nilsson, J.C. Robertson, R. Rodel, N. Sindorf, and D. Wisser. 2011. Global Reservoir and Dam Database, Version 1 (GRanDv1): Dams, Revision 01. Palisades, New York: NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC).
- Plumas Audubon Society. 2016. Audubon’s Aechmophorus Grebe Conservation Project Comprehensive Monitoring Report: 2010-2016 Almanor, Antelope, Davis, and Eagle Lakes, Plumas and Lassen Counties, California.
- Messager, M. L., B. Lehner, G. Grill, I. Nedeva, and O. Schmitt. 2016. Estimating the volume and age of water stored in global lakes using a geo-statistical approach. Nature Communications 7:13603. Data is available at www.hydrosheds.org.
- Lehner, B., C. Reidy Liermann, C. Revenga, C. Vorosmarty, B. Fekete, P. Crouzet, P. Doll, M. Endejan, K. Frenken, J. Magome, C. Nilsson, J.C. Robertson, R. Rodel, N. Sindorf, and D. Wisser. 2011. Global Reservoir and Dam Database, Version 1 (GRanDv1): Dams, Revision 01. Palisades, New York: NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC).
- Lake Davis Information
- Introduced Fish in Lake Davis
- Northern Pike and Lake Davis
- Lake Davis Recreation Area