Following a day where groups of volunteers counting from vehicles and on foot and a second day of boat monitoring, we had recorded an impressive 32,070 birds across the IBA. If you were to visit parts of Delta in the coming weeks there is likely to be even more birds as waterfowl gather in larger numbers. The total species count was an equally impressive 145 species. Of these 59 species of songbird, 24 species of shorebird and an impressive 13 species of bird of prey. Impressively, shorebirds were the most numerous of all groups of birds counted, a total of 8199 across the 2 days with around half counted in one spot by Colin Blyth, Louanne Reid and Erica Alex.

	Total species	Total individuals
Blackbirds	8	1210
Cormorants and Pelicans	2	2444
Grebe	4	479
Gulls and terns	8	7712
Long-legged Wader	4	270
Other – non-songbird	11	267
Other – songbird	46	946
Rails	3	2956
Raptor	13	264
Shorebirds	24	8199
Swallows	5	2446
Waterfowl	17	4883
TOTAL	145	32076

Now to individual species. The most numerous species over 2 days was the Ring-billed Gull at 5367 individuals, over half counted by Christian and Matt at Ambroise Beach before they headed in different directions. The next most numerous species was the Semipalmated Sandpiper. On the Semipalmated theme, the Semipalmated Plover came in at 1936 individuals. This is a key figure as we are pretty sure this is greater than 1% of the global population of this species, thus this would have been a globally significant concentration of this species.

Finally, before posting the complete species lists, I thought it would be worth reflecting for a moment on what all this means. The large concentrations of shorebirds seen by Cam and the other Manitoba Sustainable Development staff, although apparently historically not unusual, has become a rare sight in recent years. There are some excellent resources available out there if you are interested in learning more about the history and management of the marsh, not least a new book published in 2015 called Delta: A Prairie Marsh and Its People by Glen Suggett, Gordon Goldsborough & the Delta History Group. For a quick reference, there is a synopsis on the web of a presentation given by Dr Jennifer Shay to Nature Manitoba in 1998 on the subject of Resource Management which includes some excellent information on Delta Marsh. Cal Cuthbert, someone raised in the shadow of Delta Marsh and with a background in wetland management was of the opinion that these larger concentrations present at Delta was a temporary phenomenon driven by declining water levels which have exposed suitable habitat. It will be interesting to see what happens in the coming years.

Anyway, posted below are the results from the Delta Marsh IBA Blitz.

Species	Day 1	Day 2	Blitz Total
Canada Goose	930	23	953
Wood Duck	15	0	15
Gadwall	59	55	114
American Wigeon	194	27	221
Mallard	874	759	1633
Blue-winged Teal	875	385	1260
Northern Shoveler	13	13	26
Northern Pintail	128	1	129
Green-winged Teal	224	13	237
dabbling duck sp.	4	0	4
Canvasback	10	2	12
Redhead	6	14	20
Ring-necked Duck	7	4	11
Bufflehead	1	1	2
Common Goldeneye	6	0	6
Harlequin Duck	1	0	1
Hooded Merganser	5	3	8
Ruddy Duck	4	7	11
duck sp.	0	220	220
Pied-billed Grebe	58	10	68
Red-necked Grebe	2	0	2
Eared Grebe	2	2	4
Western Grebe	315	90	405
Double-crested Cormorant	1525	108	1633
American White Pelican	321	490	811
American Bittern	5	2	7
Great Blue Heron	60	91	151
Great Egret	24	14	38
Black-crowned Night-Heron	4	70	74
Turkey Vulture	13	0	13
Northern Harrier	45	9	54
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1	0	1
Cooper’s Hawk	2	0	2
Northern Goshawk	2	0	2
Bald Eagle	40	17	57
Broad-winged Hawk	1	0	1
Swainson’s Hawk	3	0	3
Red-tailed Hawk	83	3	86
hawk sp.	4	0	4
Virginia Rail	2	1	3
Sora	2	0	2
American Coot	249	2702	2951
Sandhill Crane	132	0	132
American Avocet	9	5	14
Black-bellied Plover	54	8	62
Semipalmated Plover	1905	31	1936
Killdeer	71	38	109
Marbled Godwit	18	6	24
Ruddy Turnstone	3	3	6
Red Knot	1	0	1
Stilt Sandpiper	10	1	11
Sanderling	190	1	191
Baird’s Sandpiper	15	4	19
Least Sandpiper	1168	253	1421
White-rumped Sandpiper	26	0	26
Pectoral Sandpiper	107	0	107
Semipalmated Sandpiper	3598	56	3654
peep sp.	28	41	69
Short-billed Dowitcher	27	0	27
Long-billed Dowitcher	0	1	1
Wilson’s Snipe	10	8	18
Wilson’s Phalarope	12	4	16
Red-necked Phalarope	1	0	1
Spotted Sandpiper	29	11	40
Solitary Sandpiper	2	0	2
Greater Yellowlegs	151	84	235
Willet	4	7	11
Lesser Yellowlegs	163	35	198
Bonaparte’s Gull	436	5	441
Franklin’s Gull	1230	47	1277
Ring-billed Gull	5153	214	5367
Herring Gull	129	0	129
Caspian Tern	47	54	101
Black Tern	6	3	9
Common Tern	128	0	128
Forster’s Tern	144	72	216
Sterna sp.	44	0	44
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)	33	0	33
Mourning Dove	53	1	54
Great Horned Owl	1	0	1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird	15	2	17
Belted Kingfisher	6	0	6
Red-headed Woodpecker	3	0	3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	1	0	1
Downy Woodpecker	4	0	4
Hairy Woodpecker	2	0	2
Northern Flicker	14	0	14
American Kestrel	14	0	14
Merlin	20	3	23
Peregrine Falcon	3	0	3
Prairie Falcon	1	0	1
Eastern Wood-Pewee	1	0	1
Alder Flycatcher	1	0	1
Least Flycatcher	2	0	2
Eastern Phoebe	14	0	14
Eastern Kingbird	43	0	43
Blue-headed Vireo	1	0	1
Warbling Vireo	13	0	13
Red-eyed Vireo	1	0	1
Blue Jay	1	0	1
Black-billed Magpie	19	0	19
American Crow	15	4	19
Common Raven	18	2	20
Purple Martin	26	0	26
Tree Swallow	851	0	851
Bank Swallow	349	1	350
Barn Swallow	993	24	1017
Cliff Swallow	0	2	2
Swallow sp.	200	0	200
Black-capped Chickadee	1	0	1
Red-breasted Nuthatch	2	0	2
House Wren	11	0	11
Marsh Wren	14	1	15
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1	0	1
Eastern Bluebird	13	0	13
American Robin	8	0	8
Gray Catbird	11	1	12
European Starling	213	0	213
Cedar Waxwing	87	0	87
Tennessee Warbler	19	0	19
Orange-crowned Warbler	2	0	2
Nashville Warbler	4	0	4
Mourning Warbler	1	0	1
Common Yellowthroat	33	0	33
American Redstart	31	0	31
Cape May Warbler	1	0	1
Magnolia Warbler	2	0	2
Blackburnian Warbler	1	0	1
Yellow Warbler	28	1	29
Chestnut-sided Warbler	2	0	2
Blackpoll Warbler	9	0	9
Palm Warbler	10	0	10
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	10	0	10
Black-throated Green Warbler	0	2	2
Chipping Sparrow	5	0	5
Clay-colored Sparrow	61	0	61
Vesper Sparrow	5	0	5
Savannah Sparrow	58	0	58
Song Sparrow	41	1	42
Swamp Sparrow	6	0	6
Rose-breasted Grosbeak	13	0	13
Bobolink	2	0	2
Red-winged Blackbird	136	27	163
Western Meadowlark	9	0	9
Yellow-headed Blackbird	363	8	371
Brewer’s Blackbird	33	0	33
Common Grackle	3	2	5
Brown-headed Cowbird	1	0	1
Baltimore Oriole	11	0	11
Blackbird sp	615	0	615
American Goldfinch	99	2	101
House Sparrow	1	0	1
	25863	6207	32070

Thanks again to all volunteers over the two days, as ever very much appreciated!