Gull colony showcases Frank Lake’s success

Calgary, Alberta, May 26, 2006 — The miracle of migration and the wonder of a thriving wetland habitat will meet on the waters of Frank Lake this spring, where 55,000 breeding pairs of Franklin’s gulls are expected to build their floating nests as these gulls and a host of other plant an animal species continue the natural transformation of a Prairie lake that was virtually dry through most of the 1980s.

Based on previous population estimates, which vary widely, the Frank Lake colony could account for nearly 10 per cent of this species’ global population, says Gerry Beyersbergen, a wildlife biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS).

Little is known about Franklin’s gulls, but scientists believe at least 75 per cent of the North American breeding range is located on the Canadian prairies, says Beyersbergen.

Scientists do know the birds, nicknamed “farmer’s friend” because of their voracious appetite for crop-damaging insects, depend on wetlands with secure water supplies. They also know the colony at Frank Lake, about 50 km south of Calgary, has grown in recent years and they suspect it “may be one of the world’s largest breeding populations of Franklin’s gulls,” notes Beyersbergen. Last year, he and other CWS colleagues conducted a population count that included Frank Lake and seven other Franklin’s colonies in Alberta.

While the size of this colony of black-headed gulls is surprising, the fact it’s thriving at Frank Lake makes sense to naturalist Tom Sadler. A former field biologist with Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC), he says Frank Lake is widely recognized as “the most important staging wetland for waterbirds in the whole south-west corner of Alberta.”

While with DUC, Sadler was part of a multi-agency effort to secure a water supply for Frank Lake. That project called for the diversion of wastewater, treated to provincial standards, from the nearby Town of High River and Cargill Limited, one of Alberta’s largest beef processing plants.

Wastewater was first directed to Frank Lake in the early 1990s. Since then, wetland vegetation has prospered, with those plants now transforming the wastewater’s high nutrient loads into plant material.

Besides nurturing a thriving wetland for migrating and resident birds, “these natural processes allow Frank Lake to accept the nutrient-rich water instead of it entering important trout fisheries in the Bow River,” notes Jerry Brunen, DUC’s Alberta education specialist.

Two hundred species of birds have been recorded at Frank Lake, including several “that are rare or uncommon to Alberta,” says Brunen.

“This lake makes a huge contribution to species management,” adds Sadler.

CWS plans to repeat its Franklin’s gull survey in Alberta in 2006, eventually expanding it to Saskatchewan and Manitoba to learn more about the breeding and non-breeding habitats of a species that provides a valuable service to agri-food producers.

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