If you have followed the Manitoba IBA program for a while, you may have noticed that we have held annual shorebird workshops in the spring for the past couple of years. With COVID-19 we have had to adapt, holding a shorebird identification webinar instead. This spring we were able to hold the practical portion of the eastern Manitoba shorebird workshop in person, but the situation worsened just before we were able to hold the western Manitoba practical portion of the workshop!
Luckily shorebirds migrate through the province twice a year – so we were able to catch them during fall migration to hold our in-person western Manitoba workshop. We usually use spring migration for these workshops as the shorebirds are in their fresh breeding plumages – about as easy as they get to identify. However, we had a great group of workshop attendees out to explore the identification of shorebirds in their fall plumages. Thank you to Gillian Richards, Glennis Lewis, Linda Boys, Carol Holmes, Brian Duff, Ken and Colleen Barclay and Tom and Renee Will for joining us!
The second challenge we faced this year was the low water levels due to the drought in Manitoba. My shorebird habitat motto this year has been “look for shorebirds where you would normally find ducks”. The usual shorebird habitat has dried up, but areas that usually hold deeper water are often at a good water depth for shorebirds now.
With that in mind, our group headed out to two different sites in southwestern Manitoba. First we went to Griswold Marsh. At our first stop on the eastern edge of the marsh there was a small group of shorebirds but unfortunately, they all took off as we pulled up – not helpful when trying to identify them! Luckily, we were able to head just a bit further west to get a different view of the same waterbody, as well as another couple of smaller ponds on the other side of the road.
Here we were able to see a good variety of shorebird species. The highlight of this stop for most of us were the Black-bellied Plovers. They are as eye-catching in their non-breeding plumage, but their stocky bodies and bills still make them stand out. We also had a very obliging individual who did a short flight to show the black “wing pit” that sets the Black-bellied Plover apart from the similar-looking American Golden Plover in any plumage.
Other shorebirds spotted were American Avocet, Killdeer, Pectoral Sandpipers, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs and Short-billed/ Long-billed Dowitchers. Dowitchers are always a tricky ID but they get especially tricky in the fall! Unfortunately, they were too far away, and not calling, so we cannot say for sure which species we were looking at.
In recent years Griswold Marsh is usually more of a duck habitat, and waterfowl were still there aplenty. We saw Green-wing Teals, Blue-wing Teals, Northern Shovelers, Northern Pintails, Mallards and Gadwall. We were also treated to four Tundra Swans coming in for a landing right in front of us!
Next we moved further west in the marsh, closer to the town of Griswold. We saw a few new species here including a Semipalmated Plover, Semipalmated Sandpiper, and some very well camouflaged Wilson’s Snipe. We were treated once again to views of American Avocet, Killdeer, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs and Short-billed/ Long-billed Dowitchers.
Our next stop was the boat launch and then Lakeshore Drive (the road out to the weir) at Oak Lake Beach. Once again, in recent years this would tend toward duck habitat, but with the lower water levels this year the water along Lakeshore Drive has been shallow enough for a variety of shorebirds. We had a few repeat species here (Killdeer, Dowitchers, and Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs) but also still more new shorebird species!
We saw 14 American Golden Plovers, whose more delicate features were a contrast to the stockier Black-bellied Plovers seen at Griswold Marsh. Another new for the day shorebird species was a single Marbled Godwit that was hanging out amongst the Dowitchers. The highlight at Oak Lake Beach was a White-faced Ibis – a lifer for one of our workshop participants and always a joy to see!
A few other highlights at Oak Lake were a good view of a young Cooper’s Hawk and some distant flocks of Sandhill Cranes, who provided an atmospheric fall soundtrack to our birding.
If you would like to brush up on your shorebird ID, Manitoba IBA has put the Shorebird Identification webinar that Christian Artuso gave for us this spring up on our Youtube channel. You can find it here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7X0Lxnb33g&t=857s
Our Griswold Marsh bird list:
| Species | Count |
| Canada Goose | 153 |
| Tundra Swan | 14 |
| Blue-winged Teal | 30 |
| American Wigeon | 15 |
| Northern Shoveler | 60 |
| Gadwall | 450 |
| Mallard | 165 |
| Northern Pintail | 35 |
| Green-winged Teal | 75 |
| Dabbling Duck sp. | 350 |
| American Avocet | 5 |
| Black-bellied Plover | 5 |
| Semipalmated Plover | 1 |
| Killdeer | 10 |
| Semipalmated Sandpiper | 1 |
| Pectoral Sandpiper | 14 |
| Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitcher | 4 |
| Wilson’s Snipe | 3 |
| Greater Yellowlegs | 31 |
| Lesser Yellowlegs | 39 |
| Ring-billed Gull | 6 |
| Turkey Vulture | 1 |
| Northern Harrier | 2 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 5 |
| Merlin | 1 |
| Common Raven | 4 |
| Marsh Wren | 3 |
| Savannah Sparrow | 10 |
| Total # of species | 27 |
Our Oak Lake Beach bird list:
| Species | Count |
| Tundra Swan | 3 |
| Blue-winged Teal | 65 |
| Northern Shoveler | 2 |
| dabbling duck sp. | 30 |
| Ring-necked Duck | 2 |
| Mourning Dove | 1 |
| Sandhill Crane | 350 |
| American Golden-Plover | 14 |
| Killdeer | 4 |
| Marbled Godwit | 1 |
| Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitcher | 50 |
| Greater Yellowlegs | 7 |
| Lesser Yellowlegs | 18 |
| Bonaparte’s Gull | 3 |
| Double-crested Cormorant | 1 |
| American White Pelican | 11 |
| White-faced Ibis | 1 |
| Northern Harrier | 1 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 1 |
| Barn Swallow | 3 |
| Marsh Wren | 2 |
| Total # of species | 28 |
- Amanda
Manitoba Important Bird Areas Program 