In 2023, Plumas Audubon Society secured funding from the Kure-Stuyvesant Trustee Council to bring new life to the Grebe Project. With this funding, PAS has been able to jumpstart an innovative pilot study to address the complex issue of how fluctuating reservoir elevation levels affect the reproductive success of nesting Western and Clark's grebes.
In 2023 and 2024, PAS deployed 50 artificial nesting platforms on Lake Almanor, built to the specifications outlined in David Riensche's 2009 publication Western and Clark’s Grebe Nest Platforms Designed for Fluctuating Water Levels. These floating platforms, if utilized, will allow for continued nesting amidst reservoir elevation drawdowns.
Social attraction through decoys and audio recordings has been used to attract birds to an alternative nesting site out of harm's way. Colonial birds are unlikely to pioneer new colonies by themselves, but it is more likely to occur if social attraction methods are used. PAS constructed a social attraction sound system with a timer to play audio recordings of Aechmophorus grebe calls at set intervals. PAS is in the process of beta-testing these social attraction methods in an attempt to attract these nesting birds to deeper waters.
No Aechmophorus grebe usage of the nesting platforms was observed in 2023 or 2024. This is likely a result of the atypically high water years we have been experiencing. High reservoir elevation levels 2023-2024 allowed for the grebes to nest in emergent vegetation that is typically on dry land during low water years. While the abundance of emergent vegetation at the beginning of the 2023-2024 breeding seasons offered ample suitable nesting habitat, subsequent reservoir elevation drawdowns later in the seasons led to significant nest abandonment events.
In 2025 and 2026, PAS will continue making improvements to the pilot study with the goal of encouraging the Aechmophorus grebes of Lake Almanor to utilize the artificial nesting platforms. This study also aims to set a precedent for the effective implementation of these platforms on other lakes and reservoirs.
In 2023 and 2024, PAS deployed 50 artificial nesting platforms on Lake Almanor, built to the specifications outlined in David Riensche's 2009 publication Western and Clark’s Grebe Nest Platforms Designed for Fluctuating Water Levels. These floating platforms, if utilized, will allow for continued nesting amidst reservoir elevation drawdowns.
Social attraction through decoys and audio recordings has been used to attract birds to an alternative nesting site out of harm's way. Colonial birds are unlikely to pioneer new colonies by themselves, but it is more likely to occur if social attraction methods are used. PAS constructed a social attraction sound system with a timer to play audio recordings of Aechmophorus grebe calls at set intervals. PAS is in the process of beta-testing these social attraction methods in an attempt to attract these nesting birds to deeper waters.
No Aechmophorus grebe usage of the nesting platforms was observed in 2023 or 2024. This is likely a result of the atypically high water years we have been experiencing. High reservoir elevation levels 2023-2024 allowed for the grebes to nest in emergent vegetation that is typically on dry land during low water years. While the abundance of emergent vegetation at the beginning of the 2023-2024 breeding seasons offered ample suitable nesting habitat, subsequent reservoir elevation drawdowns later in the seasons led to significant nest abandonment events.
In 2025 and 2026, PAS will continue making improvements to the pilot study with the goal of encouraging the Aechmophorus grebes of Lake Almanor to utilize the artificial nesting platforms. This study also aims to set a precedent for the effective implementation of these platforms on other lakes and reservoirs.
