It’s hard to believe it’s already the last week of July! Time is flying by. Before we jump into the blitz recap, here’s a quick event announcement: Join us for a morning bird walk at Assiniboine Park (in Winnipeg) on Wednesday, July 31 from 8:30am-10am. We will meet at the entrance to the English Gardens at 8:30am. All skill levels welcome! For more info or to RSVP, please send us an email at iba@naturemanitoba.ca
Alright, let’s get into the blitz. On July 6th, 2024, the Manitoba IBA program conducted a blitz to search for Red-headed Woodpeckers (RHWO) in the Oak Lake/Plum Lakes IBA. This blitz marked our 4th year in a row doing a RHWO count in this area. It was a great success! We had 15 participants and counted a total of 45 Red-headed Woodpeckers, which is a new record for us! A big thank you goes out to Tom, Renee, Glennis, Kathryn, Gillian, Gwyn, Liam, Herb, Leah, Philippe, Carson, Katharine and Lee Ann for being a part of this event!
If you’ve ever seen a Red-headed Woodpecker, you’ve surely noticed how striking this species is. If you’re curious to learn more about this Threatened bird species, you’re in luck because the Red-headed Woodpecker happens to be Nature Manitoba’s Bird of the Month in July 2024. You can read the write-up we put together at the following link: https://www.naturemanitoba.ca/red-headed-woodpecker
Because we had so many incredible volunteers involved in the blitz this year, we were able to split up into 7 groups and cover a lot of ground and explore some areas that had not been covered in-depth in previous years. Each group was assigned an area to cover. which they searched by driving along the roads and stopping in areas of suitable habitat, following a playback protocol (with the necessary permits from the provincial government), and meticulously recording any RHWO sightings. It was a beautiful morning with almost no wind. We got started between 8:00-8:30am and birded in our areas until we met up for lunch in Oak Lake Beach.
Below is a map of the areas covered:
Group 1 was made up of Tom and Renee, who covered the area north of Highway 1. They saw 2 Red-headed Woodpeckers, about 1/2km apart from each other. Other highlights include an Indigo Bunting and a Pileated Woodpecker.
Group 2 was made up of Glennis and Kathryn, who covered the northwestern portion of the IBA (north of Oak Lake Beach and west of the 254). They saw a total of 7 Red-headed Woodpeckers, including 2 juveniles. They also saw 2 Brown Thrashers.Group 3 was made up of Gillian and Gwyn, who covered a northeastern portion of the IBA. They saw 12 Red-headed Woodpeckers! Other highlights include 6 Bobolink, 1 Black-billed Cuckoo, and 1 Bufflehead female with 9 adorable ducklings (photo below).
Group 4 was comprised of Marissa, Liam, and Herb, who covered an area in the eastern portion of the IBA, including PR 541 and the Deleau areas. They saw a total of 15 Red-headed Woodpeckers! Other highlights include a group of 3 badgers, and 3 Eastern Bluebirds. Katharine drove along PR 541 on her way home after the blitz and managed to snap a great photo of an Eastern Bluebird carrying some insect prey.
Group 5 was made up of Leah and Aynsley, who covered the southeastern portion of the IBA. They saw 6 Red-headed Woodpeckers.
Group 6 was made up of Carson and Philippe, who covered a southcentral portion of the IBA. They saw 3 Red-headed Woodpeckers. They also saw a Sprague’s Pipit.
Group 7 was made up of Katharine and Lee Ann, and they covered the southwest portion of the IBA. They did not find much suitable habitat in their area and did not see any Red-headed Woodpeckers. They did however find a lot of grassland habitat complete with some exciting grassland bird species, including 3 Sprague’s Pipits!
As we mentioned at the beginning, our final count came out to 45 RHWO. This is a new blitz record. In 2023, we counted 25 RHWO. In 2022, we counted 13 RHWO, and in 2021 we counted 16 RHWO. A summary of all the birds identified can be found below. We saw a total of 90 species and a total of 1,756 individuals. Once again, we express our deep gratitude to our amazing volunteers for their dedication and commitment to helping us survey species at risk.
This event was made possible by funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Habitat Stewardship Fund.
If you are interested in volunteering for future blitz events, please email iba@naturemanitoba.ca for more information.
-Aynsley & Marissa
| Species | Count |
| American Coot | 3 |
| American Crow | 29 |
| American Goldfinch | 23 |
| American Kestrel | 7 |
| American Redstart | 3 |
| American Robin | 30 |
| Bald Eagle | 1 |
| Baltimore Oriole | 7 |
| Barn Swallow | 27 |
| Black Tern | 18 |
| Black and White Warbler | 1 |
| Black-billed Cuckoo | 1 |
| Black-billed Magpie | 9 |
| Black-capped Chickadee | 2 |
| Black-crowned Night Heron | 1 |
| Blue-winged Teal | 4 |
| Bobolink | 17 |
| Brewer’s Blackbird | 96 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 1 |
| Brown Thrasher | 6 |
| Brown-headed Cowbird | 89 |
| Bufflehead | 1 |
| Canada Goose | 3 |
| Cedar Waxwing | 20 |
| Chipping Sparrow | 14 |
| Clay-coloured Sparrow | 49 |
| Cliff Swallow | 17 |
| Common Grackle | 3 |
| Common Raven | 6 |
| Common Yellowthroat | 13 |
| Eastern Bluebird | 2 |
| Eastern Kingbird | 78 |
| Eastern Towhee | 1 |
| Eastern Wood-Pewee | 1 |
| European Starling | 3 |
| Forester’s Tern | 1 |
| Franklin’s Gull | 324 |
| Gadwall | 17 |
| Grasshopper Sparrow | 1 |
| Grey Catbird | 8 |
| Great Crested Flycatcher | 1 |
| Green-winged Teal | 1 |
| Hairy Woodpecker | 1 |
| House Sparrow | 20 |
| House Wren | 38 |
| Indigo Bunting | 1 |
| Killdeer | 2 |
| Lark Sparrow | 4 |
| Least Flycatcher | 47 |
| LeConte’s Sparrow | 1 |
| Mallard | 21 |
| Mourning Dove | 83 |
| Nelson’s Sparrow | 1 |
| Northern Flicker | 7 |
| Northern Harrier | 3 |
| Northern Shoveler | 3 |
| Orange-crowned Warbler | 1 |
| Ovenbird | 3 |
| Pileated Woodpecker | 2 |
| Purple Finch | 1 |
| Purple Martin | 1 |
| Red-eyed Vireo | 11 |
| Redhead | 2 |
| Red-headed Woodpecker | 45 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 7 |
| Red-winged Blackbird | 102 |
| Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) | 3 |
| Savannah Sparrow | 26 |
| Sedge Wren | 6 |
| Sharp-tailed Grouse | 1 |
| Song Sparrow | 9 |
| Sora | 6 |
| Spotted Sandpiper | 1 |
| Sprague’s Pipit | 4 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 6 |
| swallow sp. | 1 |
| Tree Swallow | 82 |
| Turkey Vulture | 6 |
| Upland Sandpiper | 9 |
| Veery | 2 |
| Vesper Sparrow | 26 |
| Warbling Vireo | 8 |
| Western Kingbird | 37 |
| Western Meadowlark | 91 |
| White-breasted Nuthatch | 3 |
| White-faced Ibis | 6 |
| Willet | 1 |
| Wilson’s Snipe | 8 |
| Yellow Warbler | 33 |
| Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | 14 |
| Yellow-headed Blackbird | 21 |
| Total species | 90 |
| Total individuals | 1756 |
Manitoba Important Bird Areas Program 