Beaverhill Lake, Alberta (Regional) - Western Hemisphere Shorebird Rerserve Network (WHSRN) Site

Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola) Photo: G.W. Beyersbergen, Environment Canada, Canadian Wildlife Service

On May 28, 1996,Alberta's first Regional Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve was dedicated at Beaverhill Lake.

With the announcement, Beaverhill Lake joins the WHSRN, a voluntary collaboration of private and government organizations which gives international recognition to critical shorebird habitats and promotes co-operative management and protection.

Beaverhill Lake was nominated jointly by Environment Canada, Alberta Environmental Protection and Ducks Unlimited Canada.

The ideal conditions of the Beaverhill Lake shoreline, adjacent wetland habitats and limited access to the lake makes the area attractive for shorebirds to rest and feed before continuing on their annual migrations. The 11,980 hectare lake is a major staging site in the spring for migratory geese and swans and a moulting and staging area for ducks in the summer and fall. Beaverhill is the largest lake in the region used extensively by shorebirds.

The most recent shorebird surveys, conducted in the spring of 1995, show the highest one-day count (May 24) of shorebirds at Beaverhill Lake to be 52,300. Several species of shorebirds, such as the Black-bellied Plover, Pectoral Sandpiper, Red-necked Phalarope, Semipalmated Sandpiper and dowitchers, have been observed using the lake in large numbers. Eight species of shorebirds have nested at Beaverhill Lake, including the endangered Piping Plover. There were 13 Piping Plovers observed in the 1996 International Piping Plover Survey but no birds were seen during the 2001 Internation Piping Plover Survey. The alternating drought and flood cycles of the prairie landscape will influence shorebird use at Beaverhill Lake so the number and species of shorebirds observed will be quite variable depending on current condition of the lakeshore habitat and water levels.

Further information on the Piping Plover is available at http://www.pnr-rpn.ec.gc.ca/nature/endspecies/pipingplover/db03s00.en.html.

Beaverhill Lake, located approximately 70 km southeast of Edmonton, is internationally recognized as a Ramsar site. The Ramsar Convention, signed in 1971, is an international program which promotes the protection of important wetlands throughout the world.

Links

• WHSRN Web Site - Beaverhill Lake