On August 26th, the IBA Team and eight volunteers ventured out for our final bird blitz of the season, and it sure was a major success! The event took place at none other than Oak Hammock Marsh WMA (OHM). The marsh ranks among Manitoba’s most iconic natural spaces, and it’s arguably the province’s most widely recognized IBA. Highly accessible at just ~30 kilometers north of Winnipeg and chock-full of interpretive resources, OHM is an amazing location to begin one’s birding journey at – and for seasoned birders, poses opportunities to challenge both visual and auditory identification skills (especially with shorebirds!). What better place to round out our blitz season?
What began in the late-1960s as a wetland restoration project has truly flourished into the beautiful, biodiverse freshwater haven that it is today. Oak Hammock Marsh received its IBA designation due to the high concentration of shorebirds, waterfowl, and waterbirds that congregate there; however, the site also offers prime habitat for songbirds, raptors, wading birds, and more. According to the OHM website, the marsh is home to over 300 avian species – and during the migratory season, upwards of 100,000 waterfowl individuals may pass through in a single day!
Our morning at OHM began bright and early, with participants meeting at the Wetland Discovery Centre – the marsh’s interpretive center – at 7:30 AM. Upon arrival, countless swallows immediately greeted us, with the rising sun acting as the most spectacular backdrop! With respect to organization, this blitz was closely reminiscent of our season’s first event at Whitewater Lake: instead of dividing into smaller teams and covering individual portions of the IBA (as is our usual fashion), we opted to stay as one group. Remaining together allowed participants to learn from one another, exchange birding anecdotes, and share a spotting scope! We travelled both by vehicle and on foot, stopping to explore multiple spots. In total, the 11 of us covered 11.9 km of the IBA.
After a short introduction from Program Coordinator Mackenzie, we came up with a plan and set out on the first leg of our journey. We drove a short distance south from the Wetland Discovery Centre along Provincial Road 220, discovering three places to get out and explore. Our first pit stop was a flooded field, currently acting as a temporary wetland and offering refuge to a host of shorebird species. Here, we spotted yellowlegs, Wilson’s Snipes, and a Killdeer – the latter of which displayed behaviour consistent with a leg injury. However, since these birds are masters of distraction – often faking a wing injury to coax predators away from a nest – we weren’t entirely certain whether we could take it at face value. A few participants regarded this as a “boy who cried wolf” scenario, since Killdeer are so prone to deceit!
Our second stop along Provincial Road 220 was more of a “true marsh” environment, complete with shallow water, native grass, and wetland vegetation. Compared to the previous location, we saw a higher number of waterfowl species such as Blue-winged Teals, Green-winged Teals, a Northern Shoveler, and a Mallard. Also teeming with shorebirds, we observed more Wilson’s Snipes and yellowlegs, along with multiple species of sandpipers: Stilt, Least, and Pectoral! Some of the group moved their gazes from the marsh to the sky, spotting passerines like Marsh Wrens, Barn Swallows (Species at Risk), and an Eastern Kingbird. A lone Northern Harrier was also seen patrolling the field, hunting for prey.
The final stop on this stretch of road was unplanned – but what a special surprise it was! After deciding where we were heading next, volunteers returned to their respective vehicles to drive to that location within the IBA. However, while driving, everybody caught a flash of a distinctly striped wing of a bird in-flight: a Common Nighthawk! The bird had been roosting on the side of the road, conserving energy while migrating to their wintering grounds in South America. The Common Nighthawk must have become disturbed by the passing vehicles, having then flown into a sheltered portion of the adjacent field to settle in. After a few minutes, they returned to their original roost site on the shoulder of the road, where we were fortunate enough to capture some incredible photographs. Common Nighthawks are not only elusive birds, but they are also listed as Threatened here in Manitoba. What a rare privilege it was, getting such an up-close view of this Species at Risk!
Next, we spent time conducting a point count at a wetland area located off of Highway 67. We positioned ourselves along a patch of dry, walkable land, working together to identify the plethora of birds there for nearly two hours! To our west was Parks Creek – a tributary of the Red River which water from OHM empties into – and beyond that, lay the wetland. By comparison, the eastern side’s wetland was more ephemeral in nature, with an overall lack of marsh vegetation suggesting a temporary rather than permanent marsh environment. Both habitats proved to be equally attractive to the many shorebirds, wading birds, and waterfowl we encountered! In total, we logged 32 different species and over 1000 individuals at this stop, alone.
Amongst the 32 species we accounted for here, some were particularly memorable. The western wetland treated us to Soras (one of which being a juvenile!), American Coots, Sandhill Cranes, Black-bellied Plovers, American Golden-Plovers, Wilson’s Phalaropes, Great Blue Herons, and a lone Ruddy Turnstone. To the east, we saw a lovely pair of Trumpeter Swans, a variety of sandpipers, and duck species. Scattered between both sides were many Franklin’s Gulls – upwards of 600!
Juvenile American Coot (west wetland). Courtesy of M. Glover. 
Trumpeter Swans and Canada Geese (east wetland). Courtesy of M. Glover. 
Wading Yellowlegs sp. (east wetland). Courtesy of M. Glover. 
Sandhill Cranes and American White Pelicans (west wetland). Courtesy of M. Glover. 
American Golden-Plovers and Franklin’s Gulls (west wetland). Courtesy of B. Bell. 
Black-bellied Plovers and Franklin’s Gulls (west wetland). Courtesy of B. Bell. 
Sora camouflaging amongst marsh vegetation (west wetland). Courtesy of B. Bell. 
American White Pelicans, Great Blue Herons, Franklin’s Gulls and duck spp. (west wetland). Courtesy of B. Bell. 
Birds taking off (west wetland). Courtesy of B. Bell.
Once satisfied with our final count of the birds – and after putting our collective ID skills to the test – we headed to our final destination of the morning: the OHM Shorebird Scrape. Constructed in 2020, this is an area of shallowly excavated land that becomes filled with water; typically, being wetter in the spring months and drier in the autumn. Scrapes serve as prime feeding and resting locales for migrating birds, so we were keen to see who was occupying it! Species represented there included Blue-winged Teals, Mallards, Buffleheads, Hooded Mergansers, and Pied-billed Grebes.
Time spent at the Shorebird Scrape completed our morning of birding. However, our time together was not yet over. As a group, we walked back to the Wetland Discovery Center to enjoy a delicious lunch at their cafe, courtesy of the IBA Program. A fantastic way to finish off our time together; from scanning the wetlands to swapping our highlights over lunch, it was a wonderful reminder of just how much more meaningful birding is when we do it as a community! Check out the table below for a complete look at all the birds we observed while visiting OHM!
… And with that, our blitz season has officially come to an end! A very big thank-you to volunteers Karine, Sylvie, Jin, Isabella, Abigail, Paul, Cherylene, and Joshua for accompanying us on our final IBA Program blitz of 2026! We still have one last IBA event coming up on September 11th: a shoreline clean-up in Lockport, MB. If you’d like to preserve habitat for Manitoba’s waterbirds by ridding the area of litter and fishing debris, find the registration link under the “Upcoming Events” tab and follow us on social media for further information!
Instagram: @manitobaiba | Facebook: Manitoba Important Bird Areas Program
On a personal note, I would also like to extend a sincere thank-you to the birding community for welcoming myself, and my colleagues Gibson and Mackenzie so completely this season. It has been the greatest of pleasures to participate in, meet so many incredible volunteers, and then recap these IBA blitzes throughout the summer. Your passion, knowledge, and dedication are what makes this program – and this community – so special!
Until our paths cross again,
Brooke (Program Assistant)
| Species (* denotes Species at Risk) | Total |
| American Coot | 3 |
| American Golden-Plover | 45 |
| American Herring Gull | 1 |
| American White Pelican | 19 |
| * Bank Swallow | 16 |
| * Barn Swallow | 24 |
| Black Tern | 1 |
| Black-bellied Plover | 6 |
| Blue-winged Teal | 48 |
| Bufflehead | 2 |
| Canada Goose | 142 |
| Common Grackle | 1 |
| * Common Nighthawk | 1 |
| Common Tern | 1 |
| Double-crested Cormorant | 1 |
| Duck sp. | 17 |
| Eastern Kingbird | 2 |
| Franklin’s Gull | 642 |
| Great Blue Heron | 5 |
| Greater Yellowlegs | 12 |
| Green-winged Teal | 9 |
| Gull sp. | 1 |
| Hawk sp. | 1 |
| Hooded Merganser | 3 |
| Killdeer | 2 |
| Least Sandpiper | 52 |
| * Lesser Yellowlegs | 7 |
| Mallard | 11 |
| Marsh Wren | 6 |
| Merlin | 1 |
| Mourning Dove | 2 |
| Northern Harrier | 4 |
| Northern Shoveler | 5 |
| Pectoral Sandpiper | 1 |
| Pied-billed Grebe | 3 |
| Red-winged Blackbird | 58 |
| Ring-billed Gull | 1 |
| Ruddy Turnstone | 1 |
| Sandhill Crane | 18 |
| Semipalmated Sandpiper | 8 |
| Solitary Sandpiper | 1 |
| Sora | 5 |
| Stilt Sandpiper | 3 |
| * Trumpeter Swan | 2 |
| Wilson’s Phalarope | 3 |
| Wilson’s Snipe | 51 |
| Wood Duck | 4 |
| Yellow-headed Blackbird | 1 |
| Grand Total | 1253 |