Our Story
The “Pittwaterfowlers” group was formed after a conversation, during a slow day in the duck blind, between Chris Bradford and Dan Otway. Chris mentioned he was looking to do some conservation work in the Pitt Marsh to help teach his young son about giving back being part of the over all hunting experience. Dan had done wood duck nest box work as a young teen back in the early ’70’s as part of his father’s project with the Pitt Waterfowl Association.
The Pitt Waterfowl Association (PWA) was formed by Richard Trethewey and Bill Otway and operated between 1970 and 1996. They installed hundreds of nest boxes throughout the Fraser Valley as well as introducing a resident Canada Goose flock to the area. Pittwaterfowlers was selected as a name as it incorporates their original name and now has a large number of volunteers that follow the ideals of the original group!
The Pitt Waterfowl Association (PWA) was formed by Richard Trethewey and Bill Otway and operated between 1970 and 1996. They installed hundreds of nest boxes throughout the Fraser Valley as well as introducing a resident Canada Goose flock to the area. Pittwaterfowlers was selected as a name as it incorporates their original name and now has a large number of volunteers that follow the ideals of the original group!
Our goal is to take up where PWA left off and continued to enhance the Pitt Meadows area’s Wood Duck population by getting local hunters, youth, and the local Pitt Meadows community involved.
Each year the Ducks Unlimited summer interns come out to the marsh for a nest box check with us as well as members of the BC Nature Trust (BCNT).
We donated some nest boxes to the BCNT for their areas and are pleased to see they have also been successful.
Pitt Meadows Gun Club has many members involved in the project and our affiliation with the club helps fulfill a portion of the conservation mandate of the club. The club stores materials and boxes as well as hosting work parties for box building and our “intro to duck hunting” course.
Each year the Ducks Unlimited summer interns come out to the marsh for a nest box check with us as well as members of the BC Nature Trust (BCNT).
We donated some nest boxes to the BCNT for their areas and are pleased to see they have also been successful.
Pitt Meadows Gun Club has many members involved in the project and our affiliation with the club helps fulfill a portion of the conservation mandate of the club. The club stores materials and boxes as well as hosting work parties for box building and our “intro to duck hunting” course.
Founded in 2012 by Chris Bradford and Dan Otway, PittWaterfowlers erected 7 Wood Duck nest boxes in Pitt Marsh in 2013. Results weren’t as high as expected but we did have one box nested in by a Hooded Merganser and some tree swallows nesting in a couple other boxes.
This project was funded by Chris and Dan for the most part. Chris was able to scrounge up plywood scraps and the local Pitt Meadows High School wood shop put together some boxes for the group. As years went by, volunteer numbers increased and some of them also built boxes for the group.
Numbers of boxes went up to 16, 31, 47 over the next few years and eventually the total reached over 100! We are surprised to have about a 40% duck occupancy average and also many other’s used by swallows and even wasps (unfortunately, as they attack our data collectors!).
In 2018, PittWaterfowlers was thrilled to get a donation of pine from Ducks Unlimited. This lumber was delivered to Pitt Meadows Secondary wood shop and our volunteers were able to cut it into bundles for the students to erect nest boxes as well as our volunteers spending an evening in the shop getting boxes built for the project. These boxes replaced many of the early plywood boxes that had seen better days. We had over 25 volunteers that year and replaced 47 of over 80 boxes in Pitt Marsh!
We’ve also installed about 20 boxes along Katzie Slough in Pitt Meadows. It’s an area that has a healthy population of Wood Ducks and some Hooded Mergansers as well. We have had almost 100% occupancy along this area and because it’s private access, we have been able to deploy a number of motion activated Trail Cameras to assist us in monitoring the boxes. The pictures are fantastic and add great insight into just how often these boxes are visited before they actually get used. Check our photo gallery! We also use our cell phones to take photos of the inside of the boxes during our data collection. We seldom have birds fly out but it does happen and our volunteers have to hold their phones tight when it does!
We’ve come a long way since 2013, future plans are to expand up into the Alouette watershed and hopefully see results like the Pitt Waterfowl Association had there in the 1970’s!
This project was funded by Chris and Dan for the most part. Chris was able to scrounge up plywood scraps and the local Pitt Meadows High School wood shop put together some boxes for the group. As years went by, volunteer numbers increased and some of them also built boxes for the group.
Numbers of boxes went up to 16, 31, 47 over the next few years and eventually the total reached over 100! We are surprised to have about a 40% duck occupancy average and also many other’s used by swallows and even wasps (unfortunately, as they attack our data collectors!).
In 2018, PittWaterfowlers was thrilled to get a donation of pine from Ducks Unlimited. This lumber was delivered to Pitt Meadows Secondary wood shop and our volunteers were able to cut it into bundles for the students to erect nest boxes as well as our volunteers spending an evening in the shop getting boxes built for the project. These boxes replaced many of the early plywood boxes that had seen better days. We had over 25 volunteers that year and replaced 47 of over 80 boxes in Pitt Marsh!
We’ve also installed about 20 boxes along Katzie Slough in Pitt Meadows. It’s an area that has a healthy population of Wood Ducks and some Hooded Mergansers as well. We have had almost 100% occupancy along this area and because it’s private access, we have been able to deploy a number of motion activated Trail Cameras to assist us in monitoring the boxes. The pictures are fantastic and add great insight into just how often these boxes are visited before they actually get used. Check our photo gallery! We also use our cell phones to take photos of the inside of the boxes during our data collection. We seldom have birds fly out but it does happen and our volunteers have to hold their phones tight when it does!
We’ve come a long way since 2013, future plans are to expand up into the Alouette watershed and hopefully see results like the Pitt Waterfowl Association had there in the 1970’s!