Here is our early June update on the Manitoba IBA Program

Summer Blitz Program

We are aiming to organise three bird blitzes of Manitoba’s IBAs by the end of the first week in August. All of these will be in southwestern IBAs. Unfortunately poor weather prevented us from delivering the Delta Marsh blitz in late May but we believe the three planned will provide good variety of places and species to keep everyone on their toes. The current plan is:

1. Sunday June 19 – Oak Lake and Plum Lakes IBA near Virden
2. July 16 or 17 – Southwestern Manitoba Mixed-Grass Prairie IBA
3. Sunday August 7 – Whitewater Lake IBA, Deloraine

For more information see https://importantbirdareasmb.ca/2016/06/10/volunteers-needed-for-summer-iba-blitzes/

Summer Student

Thanks to a grant from the Province of Manitoba Green Team, we welcomed Marshall Birch back as Program Assistant for a few months over this summer. Marshall has been a great help on a number of tasks, including helping with making resources for the program, research and assisting with the blitz program.

IBA in the news

Following an appearance on CBC, Donna Martin was joined by a journalist from the Express Weekly. You can see a link to the article (or a scan) , including quotes from Donna and me at https://importantbirdareasmb.ca/2016/05/20/news-feature-in-the-weekly-express/.

More Monitoring Needs

We are keen to partner with other organisations and programs as we are all contributing ultimately to the same outcomes – conservation of birds. We are therefore asking people to support a couple of things if possible:

1. Oak Hammock Marsh Summer Breeding Census, https://importantbirdareasmb.ca/2016/05/27/oak-hammock-marsh-summer-bird-census/
2. Piping Plover International Census, https://importantbirdareasmb.ca/2016/05/25/international-piping-plover-census/
   

Some of our volunteers are already involved in supporting other programs such as the Breeding Bird Survey, a critical long-term monitoring scheme for birds across North America.

Trip blogs

One of the delights of the summer is the opportunity to get out and see IBAs, preferably with our volunteers. Here is a summary of recent blogs:

Proven Lake trip blog by Marshall – https://importantbirdareasmb.ca/2016/06/03/proven-lake-trip-report/

Proven Lake trip ‘videos’ – https://importantbirdareasmb.ca/2016/06/08/proven-lake-videos/

Oak Lake and Plum Lakes IBA trip – https://importantbirdareasmb.ca/2016/06/08/oak-lake-and-plum-lakes-iba-trip/

Douglas Marsh IBA – https://importantbirdareasmb.ca/2016/06/08/douglas-marsh-iba/

Big Grass Marsh IBA Trip report – https://importantbirdareasmb.ca/2016/06/07/big-grass-marsh-trip-report/

IBA Protocol

Finally, I have been contacting folk about the IBA Protocol on eBird. It is important to use it on every trip to an IBA as your data would not maximise its potential without it. Here is a quick note – https://importantbirdareasmb.ca/2016/05/20/iba-protocol-on-ebird/

Thanks and have a great weekend

Tim