2018 has seen the launch of the International Shorebird Survey (ISS) in Manitoba. Each month from July to September, volunteers from the Manitoba IBA Program, Bird Studies Canada, and NCC, have traveled to Whitewater Lake and Oak Lake and Plum Lakes Important Bird Areas to carry out these surveys. Our third and (in theory), final trips were completed earlier this week, and here is a summary of the results.

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On September 17th, Gillian Richards, Christian Artuso, Josiah Van Egmond, and Ed Jenkins, completed the two monitoring transects at Whitewater Lake IBA. The results were, to say the least, quite spectacular.

The total of 38,861 birds, and 99 species was highly impressive, although a mere 20,764 were noted on the ISS surveys themselves, the remaining birds seen while driving from point to point. The most abundant bird was the Red-winged Blackbird, a colossal total of 8,960 being recorded.

 

Ducks were also abundant, 4,046 Northern Pintail being the highest individual count, but with sizable counts of Green-winged Teal and Mallard as well. A single Greater White-fronted Goose was another standout, along with the usual totals of Snow and Canada Geese exceeding a thousand individuals.

 

Two Prairie Falcons and two Peregrines were also encountered, which segues nicely to the shorebirds (falcons are notoriously good at flushing shorebirds). The highlight was the Long-billed Dowitcher total of 3,217 individuals. An IBA trigger. This is fascinating. In ISS 1, we had a near trigger for this species, among several thousand dowitchers, but in ISS 2, dowitchers were almost absent. Therefore, large numbers of Long-billed Dowitchers migrated to Whitewater in July, moved on, and were replaced by large numbers in September. Dynamic populations or what! Of the other 21 species of shorebird, they counted a single Red Knot, 407 American Golden Plover, 562 Pectoral Sandpiper (a near trigger), and 542 Greater Yellowlegs.

Here is the total birds for the day, with a column for those recorded on the ISS transect, and a column for the total Whitewater Lake birds.

	ISS Transects	Total for Day
Snow Goose	1,170	1,795
Greater White-fronted Goose	0	1
Cackling Goose	0	19
Canada Goose	654	2,679
Wood Duck	2	2
Blue-winged Teal	801	923
Northern Shoveler	365	450
Gadwall	265	572
American Wigeon	276	284
Mallard	1,591	2,456
Northern Pintail	4,043	4,046
Green-winged Teal	2,310	2,422
Canvasback	6	258
Redhead	12	222
Lesser Scaup	4	22
Bufflehead	4	13
Common Goldeneye	0	3
Hooded Merganser	2	2
Ruddy Duck	21	105
Pied-billed Grebe	3	7
Eared Grebe	9	11
Western Grebe	124	167
Rock Pigeon	9	9
Mourning Dove	12	42
American Coot	602	631
Sandhill Crane	338	629
American Avocet	16	16
Black-bellied Plover	10	10
American Golden-Plover	36	407
Semipalmated Plover	38	107
Killdeer	22	53
Marbled Godwit	2	2
Red Knot	1	1
Stilt Sandpiper	360	413
Sanderling	6	6
Baird’s Sandpiper	48	48
Least Sandpiper	191	256
Buff-breasted Sandpiper	1	1
Pectoral Sandpiper	62	562
Semipalmated Sandpiper	205	225
peep sp.	740	940
Long-billed Dowitcher	2,460	3,217
Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitcher	34	1,134
Wilson’s Snipe	4	15
Red-necked Phalarope	1	1
Solitary Sandpiper	1	1
Greater Yellowlegs	499	542
Lesser Yellowlegs	46	46
Bonaparte’s Gull	0	5
Franklin’s Gull	917	1,046
Ring-billed Gull	424	623
Forster’s Tern	0	8
Double-crested Cormorant	6	106
American White Pelican	72	90
Great Blue Heron	2	9
Great Egret	10	18
Black-crowned Night-Heron	8	8
White-faced Ibis	60	102
Turkey Vulture	1	1
Northern Harrier	12	22
Cooper’s Hawk	1	2
Bald Eagle	9	29
Swainson’s Hawk	0	2
Red-tailed Hawk	6	14
Hairy Woodpecker	0	1
Northern Flicker	1	4
American Kestrel	0	1
Merlin	1	2
Peregrine Falcon	2	2
Prairie Falcon	0	2
Blue Jay	0	1
Black-billed Magpie	4	1
American Crow	0	8
Common Raven	2	6
Horned Lark	1	2
Bank Swallow	59	59
Barn Swallow	23	79
Sedge Wren	3	4
Marsh Wren	6	9
American Robin	2	10
American Pipit	7	21
American Goldfinch	2	4
Lapland Longspur	0	10
Clay-colored Sparrow	0	1
Vesper Sparrow	1	2
LeConte’s Sparrow	0	2
Savannah Sparrow	23	114
Song Sparrow	6	11
Swamp Sparrow	7	7
Yellow-headed Blackbird	128	200
Western Meadowlark	4	10
Red-winged Blackbird	1,400	8,960
Rusty Blackbird	0	4
Brewer’s Blackbird	101	126
Common Grackle	43	333
blackbird sp.	0	1,000
Common Yellowthroat	1	1
Palm Warbler	0	2
Yellow-rumped Warbler	3	4

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On September 18th, Ward Christianson and Linda Boys headed to Oak Lake and Plum Lakes IBA. The totals here were nothing like Whitewater Lake, with only 7 species of shorebird being encountered. Numbers of American Coot, Green-winged Teal, and other dabbling ducks were beginning to build up impressively as well. There were also good numbers of Franklin’s Gulls, and Sandhill Cranes and Tundra Swans were noticeably beginning to appear in the area. Long-billed Dowitcher were the most abundant shorebird, followed by Pectoral Sandpiper, and Lesser Yellowlegs.

As the totals of non-shorebirds have not been added to eBird yet, we only include the shorebird totals below.

American Avocet	7
Killdeer	12
Stilt Sandpiper	11
Pectoral Sandpiper	32
Long-billed Dowitcher	39
Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitcher	1
Greater Yellowlegs	30
Lesser Yellowlegs	23

Photos above – another type of wading bird, the wonderful Great Egret. Copyright Linda Boys

Thanks Ward, Linda, Gillian, Josiah, Ed and Christian for all your excellent efforts this week!

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For more information on ISS, and previous reports, please see:

Maps, basic instructions and Oak Lake and Whitewater Lake first trip reports
Shorebird Workshop Report – Day 1
Shorebird Workshop Report – Day 2
Whitewater Lake Second Trip Report
Story on NCC website
Story on Manomet website