Garry Budyk, John Weier and John Hays have been committed volunteers, not just for the IBA Program, but also for many of Manitoba’s avian monitoring programs, including the Breeding Bird Atlas, Chimney Swift Initiative and Breeding Bird Surveys. A recent trip by all three to Delta Marsh has given us an excellent opportunity to highlight their amazing contributions to the Manitoba IBA Program, through good old fashioned bird monitoring, and the confirmation of an IBA trigger at one of Manitoba’s most well-known IBAs.
On Saturday September 8th, the three amigos made their way to Delta Marsh to count hawks, part of the annual Nature Manitoba Fall Hawk Watch. During the day of birding, they managed to encounter some high numbers of birds. Most impressively was a total of Franklin’s Gulls of 10,500. An IBA trigger, being more than 1% of the global breeding population of this species! This was almost half the total birds encountered, with there also being 7,120 Ring-billed Gulls. The vast majority of these birds were on open flats at Lynch’s Point in the northwest corner of the IBA. They also found two Red Knot, an excellent species to find in southern Manitoba at this time of year.
Thousands of birds gathering at Lynch’s Point, dominated by Franklin’s Gulls. Copyright Garry Budyk
More gulls! Copyright Garry Budyk
Even more gulls! Copyright Garry Budyk
Pelicans and other waterbirds were also counted at Delta during the annual Hawk Watch. Copyright Garry Budyk
Here are the total birds for the day, within the IBA of course (the guys also have other lists outside the IBA).
| Snow Goose | 26 |
| Canada Goose | 2,570 |
| Blue-winged Teal | 160 |
| Northern Shoveler | 6 |
| Gadwall | 6 |
| American Wigeon | 3 |
| Mallard | 202 |
| Northern Pintail | 2 |
| Green-winged Teal | 17 |
| Bufflehead | 1 |
| Hooded Merganser | 2 |
| Ruddy Duck | 1 |
| Sharp-tailed Grouse | 8 |
| Pied-billed Grebe | 7 |
| Horned Grebe | 1 |
| Western Grebe | 4 |
| Rock Pigeon | 6 |
| Mourning Dove | 19 |
| Sandhill Crane | 145 |
| Black-bellied Plover | 1 |
| Semipalmated Plover | 4 |
| Marbled Godwit | 6 |
| Red Knot | 2 |
| Sanderling | 20 |
| Baird’s Sandpiper | 3 |
| Least Sandpiper | 5 |
| Pectoral Sandpiper | 5 |
| Semipalmated Sandpiper | 22 |
| Spotted Sandpiper | 3 |
| Greater Yellowlegs | 2 |
| Lesser Yellowlegs | 17 |
| Bonaparte’s Gull | 42 |
| Franklin’s Gull | 10,500 |
| Ring-billed Gull | 7,120 |
| California Gull | 1 |
| Herring Gull | 2 |
| Common Tern | 3 |
| Forster’s Tern | 44 |
| Double-crested Cormorant | 13 |
| American White Pelican | 80 |
| Great Blue Heron | 4 |
| Great Egret | 2 |
| Osprey | 1 |
| Northern Harrier | 5 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 1 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 1 |
| Bald Eagle | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 8 |
| Belted Kingfisher | 2 |
| Downy Woodpecker | 1 |
| Northern Flicker | 8 |
| Merlin | 3 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 1 |
| Eastern Phoebe | 1 |
| Blue Jay | 2 |
| Common Raven | 3 |
| Horned Lark | 2 |
| Barn Swallow | 36 |
| Black-capped Chickadee | 4 |
| Red-breasted Nuthatch | 1 |
| Marsh Wren | 3 |
| American Robin | 2 |
| European Starling | 61 |
| American Goldfinch | 12 |
| Clay-colored Sparrow | 1 |
| Vesper Sparrow | 1 |
| Savannah Sparrow | 1 |
| Swamp Sparrow | 2 |
| Yellow-headed Blackbird | 5 |
| Red-winged Blackbird | 324 |
| Rusty Blackbird | 12 |
| Brewer’s Blackbird | 100 |
| Common Grackle | 6 |
| blackbird sp. | 100 |
| American Redstart | 1 |
| Magnolia Warbler | 1 |
| Blackpoll Warbler | 1 |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler | 1 |
Manitoba Important Bird Areas Program 