Thanks again to everyone who attended the recent blitz at Whitewater Lake, a stirring effort by all volunteers. In total 26 people made the journey to the southwest for this blitz, a record for the program. There are a couple of excellent articles published about the blitz and rather than write our own report, take a look at the links below:

CBC report on Whitewater Lake IBA blitz by Bryce Hoye

Nature Manitoba newsletter piece by Lynsay Perkins

So for the results. A special guest appearance by Nature Manitoba’s very own Deanna Dodgson produced a list of some of the butterflies and dragonflies of Whitewater. Being August rather than June or July, the total number of species was fewer than one might expect. However, it is great to highlight the fact that Whitewater Lake is a great place for other wildlife not just birds. Here is the list:

 

In addition a few mammals were spotted out and about around the lake

And to the birds. Here is a quick summary of the totals:

Group of Birds	Totals
Blackbirds	6943
Cormorants and Pelicans	1971
Grebes	3690
Gulls and terns	4082
Long-legged Wader	495
Rails	6076
Raptor	118
Shorebird	11898
Swallows	24618
Waterfowl	19409
All other birds	1391
TOTAL	80691

The prize for the most unusual sighting of the day goes to Garry, John and Deanna and this Common Nighthawk found sitting on the railway line.

As to be expected, there were plenty of shorebirds, something we will return to shortly. Also seen were a number of songbirds including this Le Conte’s Sparrow:

Here are the main highlights of the blitz

Swallows

Overall, almost 25,000 swallows were counted, a phenomenal number. Concentrations along some the powerlines were so high that volunteers had to estimate the number per metre then calculate the length of resting birds. A novel approach to bird monitoring! The large concentrations are indicative of gathering prior to migration.

Blackbirds

Another group of birds gathering in large concentrations ahead of migrating were the blackbirds. Up to 1000 Yellow-headed Blackbirds were counted in a single flock, an incredibly high number.

Raptors

The high concentrations of songbirds probably attracted a large number of raptors to Whitewater Lake. In total there were 118 individuals representing 9 species. The highlights were the Prairie Falcon and Peregrine Falcon in the eastern section of the lake.

Waterfowl

18 species were counted including a single American Black Duck and 3 Snow Goose. Surprisingly Mallards and Blue-winged Teals were the most numerous.

Long-legged Waders

Given the recent colonisation of Whitewater Lake and southern Manitoba by White-faced Ibis, the total number of 323 was quite staggering. Whitewater Lake has always been known as a great place for this group of birds. Check out the CBC article for a cracking photo of an American Bittern with a salamander taken by Bryce Hoye.

Pelicans and Cormorants

Manitoba is one of the most important areas for American White Pelicans. We counted 1691 individuals. This does not represent a breeding population but a large concentration of migratory pelicans. The total is just under 1% of the global total for this species, a really impressive number.

Grebes

Clark’s Grebe, a species more likely to be encountered south and west of Manitoba, was recorded. However this was dwarfed by the incredible number of Western Grebes, 2080. This concentration of Western Grebes is greater than the 1% global population for this species and is thus a trigger species for this IBA.

Shorebirds

In total we counted 29 species of shorebird. Of these species, we only encountered one each of Dunlin, Ruddy Turnstone and Whimbrel. The most abundant shorebird was the American Avocet with 3279 individuals counted, mostly along the eastern shore. The 7 Buff-breasted Sandpipers were a wee bit disappointing considering more were reported the previous week. In fact it was likely that there had been some migration of shorebirds during the course of the previous week.

The Black-necked Stilt were a Manitoba bonus for 2016, a rare breeder in this province. These birds were to be found at a location in the west of Whitewater.

The big news refers to the dowitchers and Pectoral Sandpipers. For both Short-billed Dowitcher and Pectoral Sandpiper it seems that we counted globally significant concentrations, i.e. more than 1% of the global numbers. Due to difficulty distinguishing between Short-billed and Long-billed Dowitcher, it is likely that there were also globally important concentrations of the latter species.

Here is the total numbers:

SPECIES	TOTAL
Snow Goose	3
Canada Goose	1061
Cackling/Canada Goose	11
Gadwall	1016
American Wigeon	107
American Black Duck	1
Mallard	5842
Blue-winged Teal	3972
Northern Shoveler	1528
Northern Pintail	1888
Green-winged Teal	240
dabbling duck sp.	400
Canvasback	294
Redhead	59
Ring-necked Duck	39
Lesser Scaup	8
Bufflehead	9
Common Goldeneye	2
Hooded Merganser	5
Ruddy Duck	1114
duck sp.	1810
Gray Partridge	6
Pied-billed Grebe	86
Red-necked Grebe	1
Eared Grebe	1520
Western Grebe	2080
Clark’s Grebe	3
Double-crested Cormorant	280
American White Pelican	1691
American Bittern	11
Great Blue Heron	31
Great Egret	87
Cattle Egret	18
Black-crowned Night-Heron	25
White-faced Ibis	323
Turkey Vulture	1
Northern Harrier	21
Bald Eagle	10
Swainson’s Hawk	26
Red-tailed Hawk	36
Virginia Rail	6
Sora	31
American Coot (Red-shielded)	6039
Black-necked Stilt	4
American Avocet	3279
Black-bellied Plover	28
American Golden-Plover	2
Semipalmated Plover	254
Killdeer	325
Upland Sandpiper	9
Whimbrel	1
Hudsonian Godwit	6
Marbled Godwit	117
Ruddy Turnstone	1
Stilt Sandpiper	233
Sanderling	2
Dunlin	1
Baird’s Sandpiper	34
Least Sandpiper	96
White-rumped Sandpiper	8
Buff-breasted Sandpiper	7
Pectoral Sandpiper	629
Semipalmated Sandpiper	185
peep sp.	22
Short-billed Dowitcher	1594
Long-billed Dowitcher	1012
Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitcher	2774
Wilson’s Snipe	57
Wilson’s Phalarope	146
Red-necked Phalarope	81
Spotted Sandpiper	41
Solitary Sandpiper	5
Greater Yellowlegs	557
Willet	169
Lesser Yellowlegs	214
Greater/Lesser Yellowlegs	5
Bonaparte’s Gull	2
Franklin’s Gull	710
Ring-billed Gull	1280
California Gull	5
Herring Gull (American)	2
Caspian Tern	1
Black Tern	1886
Common Tern	14
Forster’s Tern	182
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)	127
Mourning Dove	201
Common Nighthawk	1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)	15
American Kestrel	14
Merlin	8
Peregrine Falcon	1
Prairie Falcon	1
Least Flycatcher	1
Empidonax sp.	1
Eastern Phoebe	3
Western Kingbird	70
Eastern Kingbird	192
Warbling Vireo	25
Black-billed Magpie	8
American Crow	28
Common Raven	21
Horned Lark	33
Purple Martin	26
Tree Swallow	3965
Bank Swallow	18827
Barn Swallow	771
Cliff Swallow	443
swallow sp.	586
Black-capped Chickadee	1
House Wren	4
Sedge Wren	24
Marsh Wren	45
American Robin	23
Gray Catbird	3
European Starling	45
Sprague’s Pipit	1
Cedar Waxwing	10
Common Yellowthroat	9
Yellow Warbler	20
Le Conte’s Sparrow	5
Chipping Sparrow	2
Clay-colored Sparrow	10
Vesper Sparrow	13
Savannah Sparrow	82
Song Sparrow	89
Swamp Sparrow	2
sparrow sp.	100
Bobolink	15
Red-winged Blackbird	1751
Western Meadowlark	32
Yellow-headed Blackbird	3802
Brewer’s Blackbird	226
Common Grackle	543
Brown-headed Cowbird	44
Orchard Oriole	4
Baltimore Oriole	6
blackbird sp.	520
American Goldfinch	86
House Sparrow	80
TOTAL	80691

Finally, thank to all our volunteers, in my particular order:

Colin Blyth and Gillian Richards (Caretakers), Cal Cuthbert, Gord Ogilvie, Erica Alex, Jancice Madill, Bryce Hoye (CBC), Dave Warrenchuk (Nature Manitoba video), Lynsay Perkins (Nature Manitoba Communications), Emily McIntosh, Jo Swartz, Betsy Thorsteinson, Garry Budyk, John Weier, Deanna Dodgson, Katharine Schulz, Donna Martin, Linda Curtis, Luc Blanchette, Bill Rideout, Glennis Lewis, Linda Boys, Louanne Reid and Bonnie Chartier.