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The premise of this project was to obtain the first survey of the diversity and composition of the virus assemblages found in the migratory bird ponds using high throughput sequencing and metagenomic analysis. The research team examined the diversity of viruses in freshwater ponds and the environment in order to determine sources of avian viruses that could impact public health and provide information that will help mitigate viral disease outbreaks caused by migratory birds. The natural environment houses an enormous diversity of largely unknown ribonucleic acid (RNA) viruses, including viruses that are related to the causative agents of diseases such as poliomyelitus and influenza. The methods developed in this project have been adopted as part of a larger project focused on monitoring of watersheds in British Columbia.