FILE PHOTO - An eagle sits in a tree on the shores of Okanagan Lake near Vernon.

(BEN BULMER / iNFOnews.ca)

A recent bird count conducted by North Okanagan Naturalists Club shows a steady number of swans and eagles living in the region.

The citizen science project, which originally started in the early 1970s, took place Jan. 16 and counted the birds in an area stretching from Oyama north to Mara Lake and from Otter Lake/Head east to Mabel Lake.

Teams of volunteers from the North Okanagan Naturalists Club focussed on bald and golden eagles, along with trumpeter and tundra swans.

The volunteers counted 128 bald eagles (19 immatures), three golden eagles, 113 trumpeter swans (14 immatures) and no tundra swans.

Swans on the Shuswap River.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/John Woods

Last year, 120 bald eagles, including immatures, were counted, and four golden eagles including one immature.

In 2020, the citizen scientists spotted 148 bald eagles but no golden eagles.

The number of trumpeter swans counted this year was up dramatically from 2021, when only 57 were spotted. However, 2021 was an anomaly as from between 2017 and 2020 between 117 and 159 trumpeter swans were counted.

North Okanagan Naturalists Club secretary Rod Drennan said there are lots of variables as to whether the birds get spotted or not.

"(It) very much depends on things like the weather and the birds could be out there but on the particular day we go out we just don't... see them," he said. "Swans in particular live in open water, they have to escape to open water to get rid of predators... they could be there but we may not be actually seeing them."

Fog and snow on the ground can also affect the number of birds counted.

So while the numbers may not paint a completely accurate picture they do indicate steady populations of both eagles and swans in the region.

The numbers are forwarded to a biologist in Kamloops with the numbers used by Canadian Wildlife Service.

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