data sources Marine Birds – Great Blue Heron Nests and ...
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www.bcmca.ca Marine Atlas of Pacific Canada description e Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) is the largest heron in Canada and adults stand over one metre high with their necks extended. Adult Great Blue Herons have white heads with a black stripe on each side and slender black plumes at the back of the head. ey have greyish blue backs and white breasts streaked with black. Great Blue Herons forage in coastal marine and freshwater habitats and nest on islands or in wooded swamps, oſten in colonies. ese birds are listed as special concern by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). is atlas page illustrates Great Blue Heron nest sites and associated foraging habitats. Data processing followed the methodology developed for the Canadian Wildlife Service’s Marine Bird Areas of Interest dataset. Data representing nests were received as points and were buffered by three kilometres. Only nest sites that fell within an estuary or were within 100 metres of the coastline are illustrated here because these areas represent marine habitat use. Colonies with more than 10 nests are symbolized differently on the map, as these sites meet the abundance threshold to be considered in the Marine Bird Areas of Interest, and therefore represent nest sites prioritized for conservation. Marine Birds – Great Blue Heron Nests and Foraging Areas PHOTO: B.G. SMITH PHOTO:CHARLIE SHORT data sources • Environment Canada (Canadian Wildlife Service) – Marine Birds Areas of Interest • Parks Canada – Great Blue Heron nest sites data resolution • None provided. data collected • 1920-2005 date compiled • 2009 reviewers • Rob Butler, Bird Studies Canada • Gary Kaiser, Consultant • James Kenyon, Ducks Unlimited Canada • Representatives from Environment Canada, Canadian Wildlife Service reviewer comments • e coastal subspecies is Ardea herodias fannini. It breeds as single pairs or in colonies of up to 400 pairs. e foraging and colony map is confusing to me. It would be more helpful to show the historical distribution of colonies as separate dots perhaps 1-10, 10- 50, 51-100 and >100 pairs. en the foraging distribution would make more sense. caveats of use • Gaps in distribution should not be inferred to be an absence of the species, but more likely a lack of survey effort/coverage. Some locations may still be important to herons but currently lack associated data to confirm their value. • e source datasets of colony locations should be used for any modelling work designed to predict the location and size of colonies in areas that have not been surveyed. • Recommended date of expiry for use of these data in a marine planning context: 2012 map, feature data and metadata access • Visit www.bcmca.ca/data for more information. references Species description contains material from: • B.C. Conservation Data Centre. Species Summary: Ardea herodias. BC Ministry of Environment (MoE) 2010. 21 Sep. 2010 http://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ • Environment Canada (Canadian Wildlife Service). Hinterland Who’s Who. Revised 2005. www.hww.ca
Transcript of data sources Marine Birds – Great Blue Heron Nests and ...
www.bcmca.ca Marine Atlas of Pacific Canada
description
The Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) is the largest heron in Canada and adults stand over one metre high with their necks extended. Adult
Great Blue Herons have white heads with a black stripe on each side and slender black plumes at the back of the head. They have greyish blue
backs and white breasts streaked with black. Great Blue Herons forage in coastal marine and freshwater habitats and nest on islands or in
wooded swamps, often in colonies. These birds are listed as special concern by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada
(COSEWIC).
This atlas page illustrates Great Blue Heron nest sites and associated foraging habitats. Data processing followed the methodology developed for
the Canadian Wildlife Service’s Marine Bird Areas of Interest dataset. Data representing nests were received as points and were buffered by three
kilometres. Only nest sites that fell within an estuary or were within 100 metres of the coastline are illustrated here because these areas represent
marine habitat use. Colonies with more than 10 nests are symbolized differently on the map, as these sites meet the abundance threshold to be
considered in the Marine Bird Areas of Interest, and therefore represent nest sites prioritized for conservation.
Marine Birds – Great Blue Heron Nests and Foraging Areas
PHO
TO
: B.G. SM
ITH
PHO
TO
:CH
AR
LIE SHO
RT
data sources• Environment Canada (Canadian Wildlife Service) – Marine Birds Areas of Interest• Parks Canada – Great Blue Heron nest sites
data resolution • None provided.
data collected• 1920-2005
date compiled• 2009
reviewers• Rob Butler, Bird Studies Canada• Gary Kaiser, Consultant• James Kenyon, Ducks Unlimited Canada• Representatives from Environment Canada, Canadian Wildlife Service
reviewer comments• The coastal subspecies is Ardea herodias fannini. It breeds as single pairs or in colonies of up to 400 pairs. The foraging and colony
map is confusing to me. It would be more helpful to show the historical distribution of colonies as separate dots perhaps 1-10, 10-50, 51-100 and >100 pairs. Then the foraging distribution would make more sense.
caveats of use
• Gaps in distribution should not be inferred to be an absence of the species, but more likely a lack of survey effort/coverage. Some locations may still be important to herons but currently lack associated data to confirm their value.
• The source datasets of colony locations should be used for any modelling work designed to predict the location and size of colonies in areas that have not been surveyed.
• Recommended date of expiry for use of these data in a marine planning context: 2012
map, feature data and metadata access• Visit www.bcmca.ca/data for more information.
referencesSpecies description contains material from:
• B.C. Conservation Data Centre. Species Summary: Ardea herodias. BC Ministry of Environment (MoE) 2010. 21 Sep. 2010 http://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/
• Environment Canada (Canadian Wildlife Service). Hinterland Who’s Who. Revised 2005. www.hww.ca
A l a s k a
W a s h i n g t o n
V a n c o u v e rI s l a n d
H a i d a
G w a i i
B r i t i s h
C o l u m b i a
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Ri v
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Sk e ena R
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F ras er Ri v e r
P A C I F I C
O C E A N
122°W
122°W
124°W
124°W
126°W
126°W
128°W
128°W
130°W
130°W
132°W
132°W
134°W
134°W
136°W
136°W
138°W
138°W140°W142°W
54°N
54°N
52°N
52°N
50°N
50°N
48°N
48°N
46°N
0 25 50 75 100 125 150
Kilometres
August 19, 2010
Projection: BC Albers NAD83
Prepared for:
Marine Birds
Great Blue Heron Nestsand Foraging Areas
0 25 50 75
Nautical Miles
Inset Map
BCMCA Atlas
Map template by Caslys Consulting Ltd.
1:4,250,000* Written scales are approximate and are based on a 11 x 17 inch paper size.
*
Note: The inset has been provided to illustrate the level of detail available in the data. The inset is for illustrative purposes only and does not imply any significanceto this region.
1:500,000*
Data Sources:Environment Canada
(Canadian Wildlife Service),Parks Canada
Base Data:ESRI Base Data, GeoBase, GeoBC, NOAA, Natural Resources Canada,
USGS, Washington State Government
Thematic Data: For more information on data sources
and methods please refer to the facing page to this map
LegendColony sites (>10 nests) and associated foraging areasColony sites (<=10 nests) andassociated foraging areas
