On May 23rd, the IBA team held our first outing of the year, an exciting morning of birding at the Whitewater Lake IBA! Gillian Richards of the Westman Naturalists led the group through the IBA, showing us all the best spots to see a variety of bird species.
Whitewater Lake is a famed destination for birders hoping to see a variety of shorebirds and waterbirds in Manitoba. In fact, while there we crossed paths with another group of birders, one of whom was embarking on a big year! Water levels at Whitewater Lake can fluctuate greatly between years; in “wet” years, the lake provides important nesting habitat for gulls, wading birds, and waterfowl, while the surrounding farmland allows geese to graze and raptors to hunt.
In total, 12 people participated in the Whitewater Lake survey. We met some of the volunteers in Brandon at 7 am and carpooled to the IBA, where the rest of the group joined us around 8 am. Travelling together through the IBA by car and stopping at several points along the way to set up spotting scopes and survey the birds present, we covered approximately 25 km along the north side of the lake that morning. At each stop, Sandy scanned for a count of all the birds present and the group worked together to identify species and come up with species-specific counts. Here, I will break down what we saw at each stop and provide a full summary table listing the total species counts at the end.
We made it less than 3 km from our meet-up point before our first stop of the day where, along road 448 N, we spotted a number of shorebird and waterfowl species in a muddy pond surrounded by farmers’ fields. Species sighted here included the American Avocet, American Golden-plover (identified as an Orange Alert Tipping Point species in the North American Bird Conservation Initiative’s 2025 State of the Birds report), Double-crested Cormorant, Gadwall, Killdeer, Redhead, and Willet.
Stop two was brief and yielded mainly grassland birds such as the Brown-headed Cowbird, Red-winged Blackbird, Savannah Sparrow, and Western Kingbird.
At stop three we walked along a treed stretch of gravel road with the goal of spotting sparrows and warblers. We succeeded, recording one each of the Clay-coloured Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, and Northern Yellow Warbler. Additional sightings included an American Kestrel, a pair of Cedar Waxwings, and three Western Meadowlarks.
Our fourth stop gave us our first direct view of Whitewater Lake. Here we had the incredible opportunity to view Dunlins, Baird’s Sandpipers, Stilt Sandpipers (Orange Alert species), White-rumped Sandpipers, and hundreds of Least Sandpipers and Semipalmated Sandpipers (Orange Alert species) in close proximity as they probed a nearby narrow stream and the lakeshore. Other birds sighted further off in the lake included American Avocets, Eared Grebes, Red-necked Phalaropes, and Ruddy Ducks. In the adjacent fields we spotted two Northern Harriers and one Sora, Marsh Wren, Nelson’s Sparrow, and Sedge Wren.
The fun continued at our fifth stop where new shorebirds sighted included the Sanderling (Orange Alert species) and Upland Sandpiper. Waterfowl spotted included the Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Ross’s Goose, and Snow Goose, and we also spotted two Black Terns!
Finally, we saw two Marbled Godwits and one Swainson’s Hawk on the drive from stop five and, at our sixth and final stop of the morning, we had the pleasure of viewing a large group of Black-bellied Plovers (Orange Alert species). Mixed in with the approximately 100 Plovers, a few eagle-eyed volunteers spotted 2 Red Knots (Orange Alert species and listed as Endangered under SARA), 3 Ruddy Turnstones (Orange Alert species), and a handful of Wilson’s Phalaropes.
We had lunch and snacks in the field after our final stop around 1 pm. In all, we sighted 1,190 birds from 66 species. A big thank you to Gillian and the Westman Naturalists for guiding our outing and to the volunteers that joined us at Whitewater Lake (Gina, Joy, Kristopher, Renee, Ron, Sandy, Tom, and Zara)! Thanks as well to Brooke and Mackenzie for sharing photos from the day.
For news about our upcoming events, keep an eye on our website, follow us on Instagram or Facebook, or email Mackenzie at iba@naturemanitoba.ca to join our email list. We have an exciting summer ahead of us!
-Gibson, IBA Program Assistant
| Species | Sum of Count |
| American Avocet | 14 |
| American Golden-Plover | 5 |
| American Goldfinch | 1 |
| American Kestrel | 1 |
| American Robin | 9 |
| Baird’s Sandpiper | 11 |
| Bald Eagle | 1 |
| Barn Swallow | 7 |
| Black Tern | 2 |
| Black-bellied Plover | 100 |
| Blue-winged Teal | 6 |
| Brewer’s Blackbird | 2 |
| Brown-headed Cowbird | 14 |
| Canada Goose | 7 |
| Cedar Waxwing | 2 |
| Clay-colored Sparrow | 1 |
| Common Grackle | 30 |
| Common Raven | 1 |
| Common Yellowthroat | 1 |
| Double-crested Cormorant | 1 |
| Dunlin | 18 |
| Eared Grebe | 12 |
| Eastern Kingbird | 2 |
| Franklin’s Gull | 58 |
| Gadwall | 8 |
| Gray Catbird | 1 |
| Green-winged Teal | 4 |
| Horned Lark | 1 |
| Killdeer | 5 |
| Least Flycatcher | 1 |
| Least Sandpiper | 146 |
| Mallard | 11 |
| Marbled Godwit | 2 |
| Marsh Wren | 4 |
| Mourning Dove | 9 |
| Nelson’s Sparrow | 1 |
| Northern Harrier | 2 |
| Northern Shoveler | 3 |
| Northern Yellow Warbler | 3 |
| Red Knot | 2 |
| Redhead | 13 |
| Red-necked Phalarope | 39 |
| Red-winged Blackbird | 17 |
| Ring-billed Gull | 5 |
| Ross’s Goose | 3 |
| Ruddy Duck | 99 |
| Ruddy Turnstone | 3 |
| Sanderling | 13 |
| Savannah Sparrow | 12 |
| Sedge Wren | 1 |
| Semipalmated Sandpiper | 250 |
| Snow Goose | 55 |
| Song Sparrow | 2 |
| Sora | 2 |
| Spotted Sandpiper | 1 |
| Stilt Sandpiper | 50 |
| Swainson’s Hawk | 1 |
| Tree Swallow | 2 |
| Upland Sandpiper | 5 |
| Vesper Sparrow | 1 |
| Western Kingbird | 4 |
| Western Meadowlark | 5 |
| White-rumped Sandpiper | 79 |
| Willet | 13 |
| Wilson’s Phalarope | 5 |
| Yellow-headed Blackbird | 1 |
| Grand Total | 1,190 |
| Species total | 66 |
Manitoba Important Bird Areas Program 