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Kimiwan Lake is a well known staging lake for waterfowl with regional and national importance. The following is research done in the area.
Fall
Staging Swan Survey
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Kimiwan Lake stages high numbers of swans in the fall with both tundra and trumpeter swans spending time at the lake. However the total fall staging numbers of swans had not been documented prior to 2001. Attached is a summary of the document. Below you will find the complete survey document available for download.
"This survey was the first comprehensive and systematic survey of staging swans at Kimiwan Lake and has turned out to be a very cost-effective method of quantifying the value of Kimiwan Lake to staging swans. Kimiwan Lake is highly utilized as a staging lake for swans, although the extent of use by both species of swan was not quantified. Fall staging counts at Kakut Lake, AB were carried out by Ducks Unlimited Canada staff in 2001 between August 21 and October 19. At Kakut Lake, trumpeter swans were first recorded on September 21 and were present until October 12. Single day counts of swans peaked on October 5 when 633 swans were recorded. In total, 878 swans were recorded throughout the survey period, with an average of 175.6 swans observed per survey day, for a total of 6451 swan-days. Kimiwan Lake averaged over three times the number of swans observed during each survey day and had 3.52 times the estimated number of swan-days. There appears to have been a substantial migration pulse of swans during the first week in October as evidenced by similar peaks in observed birds at Kimiwan and Kakut Lakes. Other less dramatic migration pulses were observed during the third and last weeks of October at Kimiwan Lake. Both the timing of scheduled surveys and the viewing location for the survey were tested. While it was the surveyors opinion that there was less bird movement and more accurate counts in the early afternoon, the original location for viewing within the Town of McLennan continued to be the best spot for a complete view of the lake." Files for Download The files available for download are .PDF files. If you are unsure how to handle these types of files, check the Download Instructions.
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Avian Inventory "In 1999 Kimiwan Lake was nominated and accepted as an Important Bird Area (IBA). The IBA program, funded through Bird Studies Canada, Bird Life International, Canadian Nature Federation, and the Canadian Millennium Partnership Program, recognizes locations across Canada which contain significant bird resources. There are four general categories of IBA sites. They include sites which hold significant numbers of endangered, threatened or vulnerable bird species, sites that hold endemic species or those with restricted ranges, sites that hold an assemblage of species restricted to a biome, and sites where birds concentrate in significant numbers when breeding, wintering or migrating. Kimiwan Lake was identified as an IBA based on surveys which showed significant numbers of migrating pectoral sandpipers (5%-28% of the world population) and long-billed dowitchers (12%-24% of the world population) used the lake as a migration stopover. Additionally regular counts of waterfowl have shown that more than 26,000 birds each day during migration periods and 5,000 to 20,000 birds per day during molting periods. The lake also supports larger numbers of Franklin’s gulls (over 5000 non-breeding gulls) annually. The Kimiwan Lake Naturalists [formerly the Kimiwan Lake Wildlife and Preservation Society (KLWPS)], a local non-profit group located in the town of McLennan identified that more current information on bird use was required in order to address habitat management issues and to provide updated information to visitors to the area. Subsequently, funding and support was received from the partners (see cover page) and the Kimiwan Lake Avian Inventory Project 2000 was initiated in May 2000. The project focused on the collection of songbird, waterfowl and shorebird data in May, June and August." Files for Download The files available for download are .PDF files. If you are unsure how to handle these types of files, check the Download Instructions.
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