The Manitoba IBA Program is involved in organising two upcoming blitzes, one at Oak Lake and Plum Lakes IBA and the other, a morning bird survey blitz with NCC at East Shoal Lake. Posters are attached, but here are some details

Oak Lake and Plum Lakes, June 3rd

Oak Lake is one of Manitoba’s premier places for grassland and wetland birds. Huge numbers of waterbirds breed in the area. We recently recommended to the IBA Canada Program a change in the boundary to take in the Maple Lakes and Pipestone areas. There is a huge colony of Franklin’s Gulls in the Maple Lakes, at least 50,000 noted by provinical biologist Ken De Smet in 2017, and we would love to get an estimate of numbers in 2018. There are also grassland birds around Pipestone and along the west of the lake, shorebirds around the Plum Lakes, and Red-headed Woodpeckers in various places. Basically, this place is a gem!

East Shoal Lake, June 9th

We will be surveying areas in and around the NCC’s East Shoal Lake property on June 9th. We will focus on Species At Risk. This will take the form of a smaller, more localised blitz, with the focus on locating threatened species. There might be some early, early morning surveys looking for such glories as Yellow Rail and Least Bittern, but this will be confirmed later on once we have scoped the status of the habitats. Unlike other IBA blitzes, this will involve more footwork, walking on tracks.

If you are interested in any of this, please email  and we will get you signed up!