On August 14th, Manitoba IBA held the third bird blitz of the season at the Delta Marsh IBA. Our objective for this event was to record all birds we saw, however, special attention was to be given to any Species at Risk that might have been sighted. Waterbirds and shorebirds were also a special area of focus for the day due to their ideal habitat found in the IBA.

It was an early morning for the IBA staff and volunteers, starting our survey at 7:00 am or earlier in an effort to beat the heat that was coming. Luckily the day prior had been cool, so the morning was actually a great temperature. We were lucky to have a larger group of volunteers for this event and were able to cover more areas of the IBA. There were 15 of us in total including the IBA staff. We were separated into 6 different groups to cover 6 areas of the IBA.

The groups were broken down as follows:

Group A: Katharine and John Schulz, Barbara Emberley

Group B: Rudolf Koes and Garry Budyk

Group C: Jo Swartz and Rob Parsons

Group D: Pat Wally, Nathan Entz and Doreen Draffin

Group E: Vicky Tang, Amanda Shave and Ariel Desrochers

Clandeboye Group: Alyssa Stulberg and Theresa Mackey

We had no set routes for the day. The goal for each group was to simply explore the area assigned and record all birds and observe the habitat. Various species were recorded and some in very large numbers.

Group A (Katharine, John and Barbara) observed 59 species during their survey. Many shorebirds were observed during their survey including the Stilt Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Solitary Sandpiper, Wilsons Phalarope and Greater/Lesser Yellowlegs. Gulls and swallows were observed in large numbers.  Otherwise, highlights of Group A consisted of three Virginia Rails, a large flock of approximately 24 Gray Partridge, a flock of Bank Swallows observed on the 44W just south of 80N, two Caspian Terns along the diversion and plentiful Red-tailed Hawks throughout!

Rudolf and Garry were the members of Group B. They covered the area surrounding Delta Beach, observing various species along their survey. They walked along the beach itself as well as birding from their car as needed. Large numbers of shorebirds were spotted, including 126 Least Sandpiper, 100 peeps (unknown small shorebirds), 17 Semipalmated Plover and 52 Killdeer. They also observed large numbers of swallows, including 325 Bank Swallows, 161 Tree Swallows and 85 Purple Martins. They also took a swing over to the landfill on PR 227 after our lunch-time meet up to see what birds were around in addition to what Group C observed there.

As Group C Jo and Rob covered most of the area between PR 430 on east, to just west of Portage Creek and the PR 227 landfill. They also saw large numbers of birds including 1200 Franklin’s Gulls and 1088 Ring-billed Gulls, most of which were at the landfill. They also spotted 4 Red-headed Woodpeckers, a coveted bird of the year! (At least for us IBA staff who have been doing Red-head Woodpecker monitoring this year). In total, Group C observed 59 species.

Alyssa and Theresa were our intrepid Clandeboye Group, who walked from St Ambroise Provincial Park west to Clandeboye Bay. They observed 28 species in total, with a mix of shorebirds, waterbirds and other species such as a Belted Kingfisher, a Great Blue Heron and a Black and White Warbler. The shorebirds they observed included Baird’s Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper, Solitary Sandpiper and Lesser Yellowlegs.

Group D consisting of Pat, Doreen and Nate identified 45 species in total in the west portion of the marsh. They observed a variety of species including some shorebirds, various species of sparrow, hawks and waterbirds. An interesting sighting for them was the Eastern Wood-Peewee, a federal Species at Risk (special concern).

The IBA staff comprised Group E. We primarily birded while walking from where HWY 430 ends by the lake towards Twin Lakes beach. We noticed on our walk that the water level had been pushed back considerably due to drought conditions, leaving long stretches of empty shoreline. We observed 41 species including large numbers of Least Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Franklin’s Gulls, Double-crested Cormorants and 900 Brewer’s Blackbirds. We also saw what we thought may have been two separate families of Bald Eagles in their juvenile stage. The majority of shorebirds were seen closer to the end of HWY 430, with fewer seen near to Twin Lakes Beach.

We all met up at the end of the blitz at the former boardwalk trail in the Delta Beach community for a well deserved snack in the shade. We got pretty lucky with the weather, as the morning was a lovely temperature. It was considerably hotter after our group get-together! In total we were able to identify 115 different species during the blitz. Again, a big thank you to everyone who came out! The full list of species identified and their counts can be found below.

Species	Sum of Count
American Bittern	4
American Crow	41
American Goldfinch	44
American Kestrel	7
American Redstart	2
American Robin	14
American White Pelican	412
Baird’s Sandpiper	12
Bald Eagle	22
Baltimore Oriole	9
Bank Swallow	461
Barn Swallow	194
Belted Kingfisher	3
Black Tern	177
Black-and-white Warbler	2
Black-billed Magpie	11
Black-capped Chickadee	5
Blue Jay	7
Blue-winged Teal	91
Bobolink	7
Bonaparte’s Gull	137
Brewer’s Blackbird	1062
Buff-breasted Sandpiper	1
Buteo sp.	1
Canada Goose	32
Caspian Tern	5
Cedar Waxwing	15
Chipping Sparrow	1
Clay-colored Sparrow	19
Cliff Swallow	12
Common Goldeneye	1
Common Grackle	37
Common Raven	23
Common Tern	16
Common Yellowthroat	14
Cooper’s Hawk	3
Double-crested Cormorant	773
Downy Woodpecker	5
Duck sp.	14
Eastern Bluebird	1
Eastern Kingbird	131
Eastern Phoebe	4
Eastern Wood-Pewee	3
European Starling	3
Forster’s Tern	29
Franklin’s Gull	3697
Gadwall	1
Gray Catbird	19
Gray Partridge	24
Great Blue Heron	7
Great Egret	16
Great Horned Owl	1
Greater Yellowlegs	164
Greater/Lesser Scaup	2
Gull sp.	1768
Hairy Woodpecker	3
Herring Gull	66
Hooded Merganser	3
House Sparrow	67
House Wren	2
Killdeer	94
Least Flycatcher	16
Least Sandpiper	708
Lesser Black-backed Gull	1
Lesser Scaup	6
Lesser Yellowlegs	382
Lincoln’s Sparrow	1
Mallard	80
Marsh Wren	3
Merlin	12
Mourning Dove	78
Northern Flicker	4
Northern Harrier	13
Northern Pintail	1
Northern Shoveler	2
Northern Waterthrush	6
Olive-sided Flycatcher	1
Orchard Oriole	2
Pectoral Sandpiper	62
Peep sp.	200
Phalarope sp.	60
Purple Finch	1
Purple Martin	143
Red-eyed Vireo	3
Red-headed Woodpecker	4
Red-necked Phalarope	31
Red-tailed Hawk	43
Red-winged Blackbird	360
Ring-billed Gull	2146
Rock Pigeon	25
Rose-breasted Grosbeak	4
Ruby-throated Hummingbird	3
Sanderling	13
Sandhill Crane	5
Savannah Sparrow	28
Sedge Wren	4
Semipalmated Plover	30
Semipalmated Sandpiper	144
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1
Sharp-tailed Grouse	2
Solitary Sandpiper	3
Song Sparrow	6
Sparrow sp.	1
Spotted Sandpiper	6
Stilt Sandpiper	9
Tennessee Warbler	3
Tree Swallow	314
Turkey Vulture	12
Virginia Rail	3
Warbling Vireo	8
Western Grebe	5
Western Kingbird	22
Western Meadowlark	92
White-breasted Nuthatch	3
White-rumped Sandpiper	1
Willet	3
Wilson’s Phalarope	131
Wood Duck	6
Yellow Warbler	96
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	5
Yellow-headed Blackbird	36
Yellow-rumped Warbler	2
Grand Total Individuals	15196
Grand Total Species	115 (+7 “sp”)

-Ariel