On August 15^th we had our second IBA Blitz of the year. Volunteers travelled out to the Oak Lake/ Plum Lakes IBA in search of Red-headed Wooodpeckers.

The day started off early for several volunteers making the trip from Winnipeg to Virden area! We also had a couple of volunteers from the Brandon area join us in surveying a large section of the IBA. The weather started out wonderful for birding – we avoided the early morning rain as well as the strong afternoon winds! Our volunteers split into 3 groups for the day so that we could cover the largest area possible.

Group 1 comprised of the IBA staff (Amanda, Nate and Alyssa). We had a blackbird-happy day and our species with the highest counts were Red-winged Blackbirds, Common Grackles, Brown-headed Cowbirds, and Yellow-headed Blackbirds. We also saw 9 Eastern Wood-Pewees throughout the day.

Group 2 included Gillian, Roger and Heather. Group 2 became our most successful “shorebirders” of the day and saw many Lesser Yellowlegs, Red-necked Grebes, Marbled Godwits, and Stilt Sandpipers. They were also lucky enough to see several White-faced Ibises. They saw our most abundant species of the day -­ Franklin’s Gulls – with a count of around 2000 individuals!

Group 3 included Glennis, Cam, Paul and Lynn. Group 3 saw a large flock of nearly 30 Cedar Waxwings. Other exciting finds were a Broad-winged Hawk, Purple Martins, and a pair of Lark Sparrows.

And now on to the the Red-headed Woodpeckers! Group 2 saw the largest number of Red-headed Woodpeckers by far, with a total of nine seen, all in or around sites that were identified by blitz volunteers last year. Group 1 saw two Red-header Woodpeckers (an adult and a juvenile) together, also hanging out in an area where they had been previously seen. Despite driving through what we would expect to be good Red-headed Woodpecker habitat, Group 3 did not see any of the species. The area Group 3 was surveying was new to our Red-headed Woodpecker Blitz this year, and we now have valuable ground truthing of the possible habitat north of the Trans-Canada Highway in the Oak Lake IBA. All together we found Red-headed Woodpeckers at 6 points within the IBA and possible breeding pairs were detected at 4 points. We had a total count of 10 adults and 1 juvenile for the day.

To everyone who came out thanks for the great day and all your hard work! Collectively we saw 73 species and 3182 individual birds! Our full species list is below.

On August 8^th we had our first IBA Blitz of the year (much later than normal of course, but better late than never!). Volunteers went out in the North, East and West Shoal Lakes IBA in search of Red-headed Woodpeckers.

The day started off with perfect weather for our 15-member blitz crew to survey for birds! We surveyed a large area of the IBA, as well as outside the IBA northeast of Inwood.

The IBA appeared much drier than in previous years and many marsh areas looked a lot more like dried ground with no water in sight! However, the low water level was a boon for groups that surveyed the edges of the Shoal Lakes, as a variety of shorebirds were using the shallow water and mud flats left over. No individual shorebird had a huge number of individuals (although there were 107 Greater Yellowlegs and 191 Lesser Yellowlegs) but we had a good number of different shorebird species at 13.

A large number of Great Egrets were also spotted (55 individuals). Some folks were lucky enough to even see a Black-crowned Night-heron, which has overwise proven illusive this summer. Amanda and Alyssa surveyed an area outside the IBA (prior years with good Red-headed Woodpecker habitat) and ended up with a fairly large gathering of Franklin’s Gulls (744 individuals).

Now to our focal species – Red-headed Woodpeckers. The species was abundant in this IBA, although surveying success seemed different than surveys in past years that occurred earlier in the year. Some groups found that without playback detection of Red-headed Woodpeckers was unlikely. Birds did, however, seem to respond to playback and call back or appear out from behind trees. Other groups did not experience the same thing and either saw birds without playback or found that the birds did not react to playback at all! The variation in experiences between groups was interesting.

 We found Red-headed Woodpeckers at points all across the IBA, as well as an area to the northeast of the IBA surveyed due to high numbers seen there last year. Each group was lucky enough to detect at least one Red-headed Woodpecker, and we had a day total count of 20 individuals.

Despite the delayed time of year, we had a successful day in the Shoal Lakes IBA. Thank you again to all the volunteers that came out: Jo, Bonnie, Peter, Doreen, Katherine and John, Matt, Garry, Rudolf, John, Randy and Odette who joined Amanda, Alyssa and Nate on this blitz. Your dedication to birding and conservation is always appreciated and helps our feathered friends within Manitoba!

Our full bird count is below.