Member clubs of the Federation of British Columbia Naturalists (now called BC Nature) began an annual survey of swans wintering in the Thomson and Okanagan drainages in 1974. This half century dataset has documented shifts from exclusively tundra swans (Cygnuscolumbianus) in the mid 1970s to a mix of both tundra and trumpeter swans (Cygnus buccinator) in the early 1980s, and finally with a predominance of wintering trumpeter swans since the mid 1990s.Bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and golden eagles (Aquilachrysaetos) were added to these mid-winter counts in 1995. This project is named after the late Rick Howie (1946-2023), a passionate biologist and naturalist, who coordinated this project from its inception up to 2022.