On May 20th, 15 volunteers descended on Oak Lake for a blitz of the Oak Lake and Plum Lakes IBA. The following blog comes in three parts. In the first Patricia Rosa gives her account of the day monitoring with Lynnea Parker and Tim Poole.
Our crew’s Oak Lake/Plum Lakes IBA Blitzing adventures started in the early hours of the morning with a nice pre-sunrise drive from Winnipeg. On our way, we got to see a surprisingly large Wild Turkey standing just a few feet from the highway (Lynnea’s first lifer of the day)!
Less than 1 km into our survey of the eastern boundary of this IBA, Tim heard a Yellow-throated Vireo. Although they are usually rather difficult to see, we had a great view of this one individual signing atop a tree, showing off his brilliant yellow markings. Our cameras were of course either out of reach, dead, or broken! Later on, we heard Black-and-white Warblers and Cape May Warblers, and saw the bright Eastern Bluebird in flight.
Throughout the morning, the Wilson’s Snipes were very prominent! We spotted a group of 5 nearby the road, and their howls seemed to follow us along our survey transect. We also caught a glimpse of a Sora, and some distant White-faced Ibises (that were not Glossy Ibises to Lynnea’s dismay!).
© Patricia Rosa
In the prairie sites, Eastern and Western Kingbirds were seen hanging together on fences. The LBS (i.e. Little Brown Sparrows) were out and about, including many Clay-coloured, Savannah, Song, and Vesper Sparrows. Lynnea and I were lucky enough to hear a Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrow. We also encountered a photogenic Bobolink and got a good look at a Lark Sparrow perched near an agricultural field.
Four other groups were also busy across the IBA. Each group had been designated its own area:
Group number 1 took on the area between Highway 2 and the south of Plum Lakes. Glennis, Linda and Louanne found 62 species including 5 Ruddy Turnstone just south of Jiggin’s Bluff (see below). They also observed some late moving Tundra Swans. Other shorebirds were thinner on the ground but Willet could be located in and around the area.
Willet over Oak Lake. ©Katharine Schulz Group 1 took on the area between Highway 2 and the south of Plum Lakes. Glennis, Linda, and Louanne found 62 species including 5 Ruddy Turnstone just south of Jiggin’s Bluff (see below). They also observed some late moving Tundra Swans. Other shorebirds were thinner on the ground but could be located in and around the area.
The western grassland areas were covered by the Wally’s, Pat and Dave, and Katharine. Grassland birds still seemed on the low side but they did find a group of 18 Black-bellied Plovers and good numbers of Franklin’s Gulls. The White-faced Ibis, previously only seemingly a specialty of Whitewater Lake also put in an appearance.
Bonnie, Liz and Clay were responsible for a sizable area north of the TransCanada and covering the Assiniboine River Valley. Their highlights were Northern Rough-winged Swallow and Mountain Bluebird.
The Black-bellied Plovers at Oak Lake. ©Katharine Schulz
Male Wilson’s Phalarope. ©Katharine Schulz
Finally Ward and Marlene birded a large area around Oak Lake Resort, including the beach and the dam. Wilson’s Phalarope, at least 200 were abundant just to the north of the resort. There were 5 species of grebe in the area (Red-necked, Horned, Eared, Western and Pied-billed). Another notable feature were the large numbers of Franklin’s Gull, at least 1,665. The total species count was 86.
After discussing with the other crews about their notable findings of the day, we all decided to head towards the south of Plum Lake to find Ruddy Turnstones and Black-bellied Plovers. They were not there when we arrived, but we were greeted by a great deal of Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Eared Grebes, Common Terns, and American Coots (just to name a few!).
© Patricia Rosa
Eventually, a lone Black-bellied Plover showed up and stood still among a group of bird preening and bathing. Soon after, two Ruddy Turnstones and one Black-bellied Plover flew over the site at which point our lone plover opted to join them, and they were off!
Thank you to all of the BioBlitz volunteers!
Tim Poole now gives an account of a bird walk at the Jiggin’s Bluff NCC property during the course of the morning
First the good news, 17 people turned out for a bird walk with Rebekah Neufeld of NCC and myself on a beautiful sunny day. The bad news is that high lake water levels around Plum Lakes meant that we didn’t quite get the expected bonanza of shorebirds. However we did get some great views of some great birds. There was also a piece in the Virden Empire and the Brandon Sun (see below).
Among the highlights were some very showy Bobolink, Baltimore Oriole and numerous ducks including those handsome blue-beaked Ruddy Ducks showing up well in the scope for the children to be able to see. We also had a cacophony of sound to contend with in the ‘bluff’ part of Jiggin’s Bluff, Least Flycatcher, Ovenbird and Rose-breasted Grosbeak among them. Here is the main photo from the Virden Empire:
Thanks to everyone for coming along and for Carleigh and Wayne for providing some local advertising. And of course thanks to NCC and Rebekah for being such great hosts. The final bird totals were added to our daily total which you can see below.
Here’s a summary of what we found:
Species Name Species Count
Snow Goose 7
Canada Goose 238
Tundra Swan 18
Wood Duck 3
Gadwall 66
American Wigeon 6
Mallard 292
Blue-winged Teal 280
Northern Shoveler 102
Northern Pintail 5
Green-winged Teal 15
Canvasback 212
Redhead 232
Ring-necked Duck 38
Lesser Scaup 87
Bufflehead 18
Hooded Merganser 2
Ruddy Duck 185
Ruffed Grouse 1
Wild Turkey 1
Pied-billed Grebe 8
Horned Grebe 4
Red-necked Grebe 1
Eared Grebe 154
Western Grebe 35
Double-crested Cormorant 1
American White Pelican 24
American Bittern 4
Great Blue Heron 8
Black-crowned Night-Heron 3
White-faced Ibis 55
Turkey Vulture 7
Northern Harrier 8
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Bald Eagle 1
Swainson’s Hawk 4
Red-tailed Hawk 14
Virginia Rail 2
Sora 71
American Coot 231
American Avocet 10
Black-bellied Plover 19
Killdeer 53
Upland Sandpiper 1
Marbled Godwit 9
Ruddy Turnstone 5
Wilson’s Snipe 49
Wilson’s Phalarope 253
Spotted Sandpiper 5
Willet 7
Franklin’s Gull 2,070
Ring-billed Gull 1
Black Tern 221
Common Tern 13
Forster’s Tern 9
Rock Pigeon 18
Mourning Dove 84
Black-billed Cuckoo 2
Great Horned Owl 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 11
Downy Woodpecker 1
Hairy Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker 15
American Kestrel 2
Least Flycatcher 166
Eastern Phoebe 9
Great Crested Flycatcher 5
Western Kingbird 22
Eastern Kingbird 37
Yellow-throated Vireo 2
Philadelphia Vireo 1
Warbling Vireo 41
Blue Jay 8
Black-billed Magpie 24
American Crow 27
Common Raven 16
Horned Lark 5
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 2
Purple Martin 4
Tree Swallow 72
Bank Swallow 71
Barn Swallow 144
Cliff Swallow 380
Black-capped Chickadee 4
White-breasted Nuthatch 3
House Wren 33
Sedge Wren 21
Marsh Wren 105
Eastern Bluebird 1
Mountain Bluebird 8
Swainson’s Thrush 2
American Robin 140
Gray Catbird 25
Brown Thrasher 2
European Starling 19
Cedar Waxwing 3
Ovenbird 4
Black-and-white Warbler 3
Tennessee Warbler 9
Common Yellowthroat 8
American Redstart 2
Cape May Warbler 3
Yellow Warbler 340
Yellow-rumped Warbler 8
Wilson’s Warbler 1
Le Conte’s Sparrow 13
Nelson’s Sparrow 1
Chipping Sparrow 19
Clay-colored Sparrow 118
Lark Sparrow 7
Harris’s Sparrow 1
Vesper Sparrow 26
Savannah Sparrow 88
Song Sparrow 76
Swamp Sparrow 15
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 10
Bobolink 49
Red-winged Blackbird 2,110
Western Meadowlark 85
Yellow-headed Blackbird 847
Rusty Blackbird 6
Brewer’s Blackbird 83
Common Grackle 70
Brown-headed Cowbird 133
Orchard Oriole 1
Baltimore Oriole 63
Purple Finch 3
Pine Siskin 2
American Goldfinch 50
House Sparrow 9
Manitoba Important Bird Areas Program 