On Saturday, May 5th we held a Grebe Watch event at the Sandy Bay Marshes IBA. The Sandy Bay Marshes are located along the western shoreline of Lake Manitoba, just east of Langruth and Sandy Bay First Nation (Map). This IBA is known for its large concentrations of Western Grebes in the spring, with 500-1000 breeding pairs recorded in 1986! The purpose of this event was to see if Western Grebes (and other Grebes) were present and document their numbers.

On Friday, May 4th Tim Poole (IBA Coordinator) noted that the bays along the shoreline of Lake Manitoba were still heavily covered in ice. In light of the bays being covered in ice, the Grebe Watch was cancelled for individuals who had signed up from afar, such as Winnipeg. The event went ahead for local residents. The cold start to spring this year has seemingly delayed spring migration for many species of waterbirds.

It was a successful turnout with 8 people from the community and 1 person from Winnipeg joining us at Hollywood Beach. We started off the morning by gathering on the main beach and scanning for waterbirds. Tim and Lynnea Parker (IBA Assistant) set up spotting scopes to show the public a variety of species, including Western Grebe, Tundra Swan, Redhead, Canvasback, Bonaparte’s Gull, Common Tern, and Marbled Godwit.

As anticipated, the Western Grebes were present in the IBA, but not in the high numbers we were initially hoping to see. We suspect the cold weather and ice along the shoreline was a contributing factor to the low numbers. In total, we recorded 70 species of birds including 112 Western Grebe. At the end of this blog post there is a  list of species which were detected.

We would like to thank everyone who did attend the Grebe Watch event, and we hope this opportunity has encouraged more people to take an interest in monitoring and reporting birds within the Sandy Bay Marshes.

Species Detected (70 Total)

24        Canada Goose

35        Tundra Swan

150      Blue-winged Teal

1          Northern Shoveler

26        Gadwall

12        American Wigeon

54        Mallard

6          Northern Pintail

280      Green-winged Teal

16        Redhead

8          Ring-necked Duck

34        Lesser Scaup

6          Bufflehead

4          Common Goldeneye

8          Common Merganser

1          Red-breasted Merganser

3          Ruddy Duck

6          Common Loon

3          Red-necked Grebe

112      Western Grebe

46        Double-crested Cormorant

18        American White Pelican

3          American Bittern

1          Turkey Vulture

4          Northern Harrier

2          Bald Eagle

2          Broad-winged Hawk

6          Red-tailed Hawk

2          Rough-legged Hawk

1          Virginia Rail

1          Sora

8          American Coot

12        Sandhill Crane

12        Killdeer

6          Marbled Godwit

3          Willet

9          Lesser Yellowlegs

6          Bonaparte’s Gull

4          Franklin’s Gull

16        Ring-billed Gull

2          Herring Gull

74        Common Tern

45        Rock Pigeon

2          Mourning Dove

4          Northern Flicker

2          American Kestrel

1          Merlin

3          Eastern Phoebe

1          Black-billed Magpie

1          American Crow

3          Common Raven

5          Tree Swallow

12        Barn Swallow

2          Black-capped Chickadee

1          Marsh Wren

1          Swainson’s Thrush

3          Hermit Thrush

2          American Robin

1          European Starling

25        Palm Warbler

6          Dark-eyed Junco

2          White-throated Sparrow

1          Savannah Sparrow

10        Song Sparrow

6          Swamp Sparrow

45        Yellow-headed Blackbird

4          Western Meadowlark

400      Red-winged Blackbird

18        Brewer’s Blackbird

6          Common Grackle

1          Yellow-rumped Warbler