03 | August | 2017 | Manitoba Important Bird Areas Program

Joanne Smith has sent the following message relating to a follow-up weed pull at Riverton Sandy Bar IBA on August 17th. We had a very successful morning out there in 2016 and are committed to keeping this habitat work going. See here for the 2016 story.

Here is the email:

Hi Everyone,

We hope you can come join us on Thursday August 17th for another morning of pulling weeds at IBA Riverton Sandy Bar.

Our September 30th, 2016 weed pull was a success with fourteen people helping pull sweet clover from an area of the main sand bar. We hope that having a weed free area will help to attract possible future piping plover to the Sandy Bar area. It has been well over twenty years since piping plover last nested in this area but with your help we hope to change this.

We’ll meet at 9:00 am at the parking area and then take the 15 minute walk out to the sandbar area together. We hope to pull weeds (which will most likely involve some birding) for three or four hours, depending on the weather. If you can even help for an hour or two, it would be greatly appreciated.

Please bring gloves, hat, sunscreen, water and a bag lunch. The walk out to the sandbar also involves a short distance through thick willows so it’s best to bring long pants and a jacket for that part.

Of course we’ll also probably be keeping our eyes open for early fall migrants.A few birds from an August 12th, 2016 visit gave us numerous species including:

– semipalmated plover
– stilt sandpiper
– sanderling
– red-necked phalarope
– semipalmated sandpiper
– Baird’s sandpiper

And chances are, there’ll be homemade muffins and a few other goodies to boost our energy.

Directions: take HWY 8 to Riverton, and then turn east on PR329 which goes through Riverton. This will take you directly to Sandy Bar.

Hope to see you there.

Joanne Smith

If you are interested in attending please email us at iba@naturemanitoba.ca

by Patricia Rosa

On a stormy Tuesday morning, Tim and I ventured out to the North, West & East Shoal Lakes IBA (MB038). Since our plans in another IBA fell through, we decided to direct our efforts towards the Interlake region in hopes of spotting Red-headed Woodpecker and Least Bittern. Despite the less than ideal weather, we saw a “good number of pelicans”, “okay number of herons”, and were surprised at the “lack of ducks” (Tim Poole, pers. comm.).

We were off to a great start as the rain (thankfully) subsided once we arrived to the IBA and were greeted by a Great Egret near the side of the road.

Great Egret ©Patricia Rosa

East Shoal Lake was buzzing! We encountered an agitated male Bobolink and were soon able to see the source of all the excitement. A nearby female seemed to be the target audience of this one-man show. Unfortunately, another male showed up (left) and although our performer (right) was definitely more motivated than his rival, she remained close to the cool and collected male, and sure enough, they ended up flying off together!

Agitated male Bobolink attempting to impress the female ©Patricia Rosa

Two male and one female Bobolink ©Patricia Rosa

In the field beyond where the BOBO-show was taking place, we got a peek at Sandhill Crane and Great Blue Heron. On the water, we saw lots of Western Grebe, including this brave one carrying young on its back in rough waters. Although getting this grainy shot induced quite a bit of nausea, I was rather proud to have out-photoed Tim on this one (Patricia 1, Tim 0)!

Great Blue Heron ©Patricia Rosa

Grainy images of Western Grebe carrying young on back. ©Patricia Rosa

The strong winds allowed us to witness and admire the prowess of the Black Tern.

Black Tern in action. ©Patricia Rosa

When we came around to suitable Red-headed Woodpecker habitat (e.g. open understorey, standing deadwood, often with cattle grazing), we almost immediately saw two individuals. After several minutes, a bold one flew directly towards us! We had our cameras ready but were too frazzled/excited to get a good picture of it in-flight and both ended up with blurry background pictures (Patricia 0, Tim 0). However, he did stick around and proceeded to pose for us around his habitat!

My biggest disappointment of the day was failing to get an identifiable shot of a Red-necked Grebe. While I struggled, Tim effortlessly took a great picture (Patricia 0, Tim 1).

©Tim Poole

©Patricia Rosa

Last but not least, we saw a Least Bittern flush while scanning appropriate habitat. Although we were ready and hoping to see one, both Tim and I missed our shot despite getting a good long look (Patricia 0, Tim 0).

Towards the end of our survey, the wind started picking up and the skies started rumbling once again, and so, we headed back to Winnipeg (Final tally: Patricia 1, Tim 1).

Check out the highlights of our brief survey in this IBA and our total count!