Okanagan Cat Count | August 2022
Field notes from Olivia Wilson
It has been so nice spending my first whole summer in the Okanagan! Even though the summer is slowly coming to an end, my research in the South Okanagan continues to collect valuable data on local cats and birds.
Okanagan landscape, photographed by Olivia Wilson during fieldwork.
Trail cameras
The cameras were deployed at the same 60 sites as the first deployment in June and moved to the second set of 60 sites in July with the amazing help of Bryna from the Stewardship Centre’s Cats and Birds team. With this many cameras and locations, I have a backlog of about 4 million pictures to review, but I have been able to slowly get through them bit by bit.
Olivia Wilson and Bryna Turk in the field. Behind the scenes of camera installation for monitoring of roaming cats in the South Okanagan. Photos were taken by Anna Skurikhina in June 2022.
So far, trail cameras took photos of many domestic cats, mainly in urban and peri-urban settings, with very few in agricultural and protected areas.
One of many outdoor cats photographed by trail cameras in the South Okanagan in 2022.
Along with cats, I have seen various wildlife like deer, raccoons, skunks, mice, rats, coyotes, marmots and even wild horses. I have yet to see any bears on the cameras, though I did encounter one in Oliver while setting up a trail camera at dusk. The black bear ran up on the trail in front of me about 20 meters away. After staring at each other for what felt like forever, he ran off. This was my first ever bear encounter, and I think it helped ease the fear that comes with it.
Among many animals detected during the research, Olivia captured a photo of a Great Horned Owl scooting in front of the trail camera at night.
Bird surveys
I have continued the bird point counts throughout each deployment. The surveys were very busy in the spring, but as summer progressed, the birds started to get quiet, as many of them had already fledged their young and were no longer looking for mates. During July, the Cedar Waxwings dominated point counts, observed at nearly every site! Now they have settled, and the Western Wood-Peewees have taken over. In addition, I have picked up some more “lifers” and interesting species such as Sora, Black-chinned Hummingbird, and a Clark’s Nutcracker.
Bat roosts monitoring
Between June and July, I conducted another part of my research, which is looking at free-roaming domestic cat behaviour outside of bat roosts. I set up 15 cameras and faced them toward bat boxes or areas known to have bats. Over the next few months, I will be reviewing collected images and video footage to find out if outdoor cats impact roosting bats.
Bat boxes monitored for outdoor cat activity in the South Okanagan. June 2022.
Fieldwork is conducted in the South Okanagan valley, the traditional, unceded and ancestral territory of the Syilx Okanagan Nation. The work is completed with permits from the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, the Nature Trust of BC, and BC Parks.
Visit the Okanagan Cat Count page to learn more about this research project. Find out how to keep pets and wildlife safe on our Cats and Birds pages.
