Detroit River ducks survey event

 

Volunteers associated with Birds Canada and the Essex County Field Naturalists Club will be counting ducks as part of their annual winter survey in part of the lower Detroit River designated as an important bird and biodiversity area.

“It’s important to survey the duck population to know what is happening with bird species. This is a report that Birds Canada and other organizations put out in 2019 that outlines the declines in many types of bird populations,” says Amanda Bichel from Birds Canada and Essex County Field Naturalists. 

According to Bichel, spotters annually survey the duck population between the north end of Fighting Island to the mouth of the Detroit River twice in January and in February. This will be the first time Birds Canada will survey all of the important bird and biodiversity area.

The surveys are calculated by having Volunteers take their scopes and binoculars along the river and they look and count how many ducks are seen by splitting up areas for volunteers.

“Amherstburg is well known for its tourism industry, we get around 300,000 tourists a year. Any event in Amherstburg is an opportunity for people inside or outside of Amherstburg to come to our region to have a positive experience,” said Amherstburg Jennifer Ibrahim, tourism coordinator.

“We are very excited about this. Anything to do with nature is called eco-tourism, we have a beautiful waterfront and great conservation areas under the tourism portfolio that are under recognized. When an eco-tourism event happens, it is always well recognized,” said Ibrahim.

A number of species, including shore birds, have been in a serious decline in recent years although Bichel reports  waterflow are actually on an upswing thanks to the efforts of conservationists and citizens scientist, said Bichel in The Windsor Star.

The hunt for ducks will be this Saturday in Amherstburg but only binoculars and telescopes will be allowed.