Pend Oreille Wildlife

Wildlife
Migrating and wintering waterfowl are supported on the WMA in large numbers. Commonly seen are tundra swans, Canada geese, American widgeon, redheads, mallards, common mergansers, common goldeneye, bufflehead and ring-necked ducks.

The greatest waterfowl use of the WMA occurs in the fall. In November and December waterfowl counts have been as high as 60,000 ducks, 15,000 Canada Geese and 2,000 tundra swans. A large part of the Pacific Flyway’s redhead duck population winters on Lake Pend Oreille and redhead counts have reached 20,000.

White-tailed deer occur on most WMA sites and are the most abundant big game species utilizing the WMA. Moose, elk and black bear are found sporadically, but most often in the Pack River and Clark Fork River deltas. Mountain lions occur infrequently. Other game species most common are Snowshoe hare and ruffed grouse, which are abundant year-round residents of the WMA. Mourning doves and common snipe migrate through and nest on the WMA. American coots breed and nest on the WMA in small numbers, however, thousands of coots use the WMA during migration.

Lake Pend Oreille is an important wintering area for bald eagles migrating south from Canada. Arriving in late October to take advantage of spawned out kokanee as a food source, foraging and perching eagles on the WMA can exceed 300 birds by early December. Lake Pend Oreille is also an important nesting area for ospreys. Ospreys nest on nearly all WMA parcels, the greatest densities occurring in the Clark Fork River delta and near Morton Slough on the Pend Oreille River.

Great blue herons, western grebes, pied-billed grebes, eared and horned grebes and loons are abundant throughout the WMA, particularly in Denton Slough. Shorebirds, other resident and migrating birds, small mammals, reptiles and amphibians in large numbers reflect the diverse array of habitat to be found on Pend Oreille WMA.