Yesterday, May 29th, Randy Mooi, Curator of Zoology at the Manitoba Museum, and Lynnea Parker headed to Whitewater Lake to carry out International Shorebird Survey (ISS) transects. The day was pretty cloudy, smoke from Alberta creating dull, Mordor-like skies. Randy commented as follows:

‘Not the most fantastic day to be at Whitewater, but decent shorebird numbers of a variety of species. Shocking to have no ibis, and pretty much as weird to see only two coots! Grebes were pretty uncommon.’

With a focus on shorebirds, there were plenty of undercounts of other groups. But the lack of coots, grebes and herons/ibises has also been noted by other birders this year. Strange! In total, they counted 69 species and 2,206 individuals. Of these, there were 18 species of shorebird, and 1,246 individuals, a little over half of all birds counted.

At least this plunging american Avocet gave some light relief. It almost looks a bit giraffe-like (all photos copyright Randy Mooi).

There was not much of an east-west split, although due to road conditions, part of the east was not covered.  Lynnea suspected that concentrations were highest in the northeast corner. Interestingly, and in sharp contrast, this area was almost devoid of water during our workshop on the 18th. Semipalmated Sandpiper was the most abundant species (464), with the next being, perhaps surprisingly, American Golden Plover. There were zero American Golden Plover and Baird’s Sandpiper on the 18th. On this occasion there were no dowitchers. This goes to show the seasonal changes being noted, something that ISS was established to examine.

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Thank you to Lynnea and Randy for completing these surveys. We would also like to thank the Manitoba Museum for donating Randy’s time to help, and Canada Summer Jobs for funding Lynnea’s work in southwestern Manitoba this summer (there will be more to come on this).

We still need to do one more visit next week to the lake. If you are interested in helping out we would love to hear from you. Our long-term vision is that we would be able to get visiting groups of birders to run the ISS routes when they are at the lake – the routes cover some of the best places for birding anyway!

And, as ever, here are the results (please note, the 3 zones, east, west and Sexton’s are covered in the maps on this page).

Species Name	Eastern ISS Routes	Western ISS Route	Sexton’s Island ISS Stop	TOTAL
Snow Goose	0	36	0	36
Canada Goose	0	41	0	41
Blue-winged Teal	5	20	2	27
Northern Shoveler	2	94	3	99
Gadwall	4	48	2	54
American Wigeon	0	1	0	1
Mallard	2	112	2	116
Northern Pintail	0	6	0	6
Green-winged Teal	0	2	0	2
Lesser Scaup	0	40	0	40
Bufflehead	0	2	0	2
Ruddy Duck	0	1	0	1
Horned Grebe	0	1	0	1
Eared Grebe	0	3	0	3
Western Grebe	0	21	0	21
Mourning Dove	2	2	0	4
Sora	2	1	0	3
American Coot	2	1	0	3
American Avocet	11	52	2	65
Black-bellied Plover	1	2	0	3
American Golden-Plover	24	124	0	148
Killdeer	12	21	1	34
Marbled Godwit	1	15	1	17
Ruddy Turnstone	0	3	0	3
Stilt Sandpiper	4	75	0	79
Sanderling	20	0	0	20
Baird’s Sandpiper	60	53	17	130
Least Sandpiper	0	4	5	9
White-rumped Sandpiper	120	2	0	122
Pectoral Sandpiper	0	3	0	3
Semipalmated Sandpiper	250	210	4	464
Wilson’s Phalarope	5	16	2	23
Red-necked Phalarope	17	85	3	105
Spotted Sandpiper	0	2	0	2
Willet	5	10	3	18
Lesser Yellowlegs	0	1	0	1
Franklin’s Gull	29	0	0	29
Ring-billed Gull	25	0	0	25
Black Tern	1	0	0	1
Forster’s Tern	11	24	11	46
Double-crested Cormorant	0	6	0	6
American White Pelican	2	93	0	95
Great Egret	0	0	14	14
Turkey Vulture	1	0	0	1
Northern Harrier	2	1	1	4
Red-tailed Hawk	0	1	1	2
falcon sp.	0	1	0	1
Eastern Kingbird	0	6	0	6
Black-billed Magpie	1	0	0	1
Horned Lark	1	5	0	6
Barn Swallow	0	1	0	1
Cliff Swallow	0	3	0	3
Sedge Wren	6	9	0	15
American Robin	2	1	0	3
European Starling	0	3	0	3
American Goldfinch	2	0	0	2
Clay-colored Sparrow	1	0	0	1
Nelson’s Sparrow	1	0	0	1
Savannah Sparrow	12	4	1	17
Song Sparrow	5	1	2	8
Swamp Sparrow	1	0	0	1
Yellow-headed Blackbird	3	79	X	82+
Bobolink	1	0	0	1
Western Meadowlark	1	2	0	3
Red-winged Blackbird	42	X	X	42+
Brown-headed Cowbird	7	14	0	21
Brewer’s Blackbird	6	X	0	6+
Common Grackle	7	43	0	50
Common Yellowthroat	3	0	0	3

On May 17th and 18th, Tim Poole and Christian Artuso delivered a Shorebird Workshop to the new Brandon Birders Group. On the evening of the 17th, we gave a presentation on shorebird identification to the group in a room at Brandon University. The room was donated for free for the evening, so special thanks to the folk at the University Geography Department.

On the morning of the 18th, we were joined by a group of 9 people for a trip to Whitewater Lake. The plan was to find some large groups of shorebirds around the lake and help them to identify the various species in the field, looking specifically at field marks.

When selecting dates for birding events, there is always an aspect of cross your fingers, hoping that it’s not bad weather. Well, we picked a day which was cold and windy, and pretty unpleasant to be outside. We did though plough on, knowing that the shorebirds would still be present in the area.

Christian and I (Tim) had been out at Oak Lake the previous day, completing the ISS survey for this IBA. On the way back to Brandon we were again astounded to see thousands of geese at Deleau, just outside the boundary of the Oak Lake and Plum Lakes IBA. Included in the mass of geese were over 1,000 Ross’s Geese, a significant spring concentration for southern Manitoba. There were also hundreds of geese on the way into Whitewater from Highway 10.

Starting at the east end at 19N (for a map of the IBA, click here), we encountered the unexpected, a vast area of open mud, small pools of water, and distant shoreline. This was in stark contrast to fall 2018. Back then, this area is was covered in shallow water and mudflats, ideal habitat for shorebirds. We could make out some distant Black-bellied Plover. Most impressively, Christian spotted a group of shorebirds flying directly towards us. The unmistakable round, russet forms of 13 Red Knots were a definite highlight of the day, everyone managing to get great views in their binoculars as they flew past.

We carried on along 20N towards the west. At one stage we picked out a vast flock of Snow Geese, over 19,000 splayed across the dull grey skyline. Along the road we also had Ross’s Goose and Greater White-fronted Goose. We also saw our only White-faced Ibis.

Sexton’s Point had a few shorebirds to show, the highlight being a Hudsonian Godwit. We were able to show everyone the distinctly darker plumage and rufous chest. Another highlight was a Clark’s Grebe.

At this point we still had not seen the large groups of shorebirds that we were expecting. We eventually did find one such group along the western edge of the lake.

Least Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper, Dunlin, Pectoral Sandpiper, Stilt Sandpiper and Red-necked Phalarope were among the shorebirds foraging in a small wetland next to the road.

We were able to use the scopes to really zoom in and show people the intricate details. For example, we showed everyone how to distinguish Least Sandpiper from the White-rumped Sandpiper (a lack of Semipalmated and Baird’s made this a lot easier). We asked everyone to focus first on the wing length versus tail length. Then we zoned in on other features (plumage, bill shape and length, leg colour, etc).

There were small numbers of dowitchers mixed in with the general shorebird flocks. At this point, Whitewater Lake IBA Caretaker, Gillian Richards identified that one of these birds was a Long-billed Dowitcher. This was a great spot! We spent some time focusing on the differences between neighbouring Short-billed Dowitchers and the single Long-billed Dowitcher. The first thing that Gillian had noticed was that the flanks of the Long-billed were barred rather than spotted. The plumage was also darker red versus the salmon plumage of the Short-billed. Finally, the clincher was the contrast on the scapular and back feathers. In the case of the Long-billed, these have white tips, and the case of the Short-billed, they have buff tips. Christian very helpfully has provided a contrast collection of his photos from the day so you can really see what we are talking about!

At this point, cold and wind battered, we headed in different directions. We hope everyone had a good trip, and learnt more about shorebirds, and we hope to do this again soon in eastern Manitoba!

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While doing this, we completed the International Shorebird Survey route for west Whitewater Lake. If you would like to find out more about our involvement in this, and would like to contribute to shorebird monitoring, first take a look at this blog. There you will find maps. We would love to hear from you of course if you are interested in finding out more. Email us at iba@naturemanitoba.ca.

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We are also providing links to some documents and resources which might prove useful to you as you learn more about shorebird identification.

IBA Shorebird Photo Identification Card (email if you would like us to mail you a laminated copy)

Copy of Christians’ shorebird presentation and notes

Christian’s shorebird notes handout

An old IBA blitz blog with some good info on fall identification of dowitchers

Christian’s Dowitcher notes

Surfbirds excellent Dowitcher comparison

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Thank you to Glennis, Gillian and Alex for organising the workshop. We would also like to pass on thanks to our funders, notably the Baillie Fund, Enbridge and Tundra Oil and Gas for providing funds for our attendance.

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Apart from Snow Geese, the most impressive numbers were of Least Sandpipers, and Stilt Sandpipers. Here is the eBird summary of the days birding.

Species Name	Species Count
Snow Goose	22,154
Ross’s Goose	2
Greater White-fronted Goose	14
Canada Goose	180
Tundra Swan	31
Blue-winged Teal	66
Northern Shoveler	130
Gadwall	121
American Wigeon	6
Mallard	121
Northern Pintail	16
Green-winged Teal	3
Canvasback	43
Redhead	10
Ring-necked Duck	9
Lesser Scaup	6
Sharp-tailed Grouse	1
Red-necked Grebe	1
Eared Grebe	8
Western Grebe	95
Clark’s Grebe	1
Rock Pigeon	3
Eurasian Collared-Dove	1
Mourning Dove	4
American Coot	2
American Avocet	74
Black-bellied Plover	4
Semipalmated Plover	9
Killdeer	15
Upland Sandpiper	2
Hudsonian Godwit	1
Marbled Godwit	27
Red Knot	13
Stilt Sandpiper	183
Dunlin	9
Baird’s Sandpiper	5
Least Sandpiper	746
White-rumped Sandpiper	9
Pectoral Sandpiper	1
Semipalmated Sandpiper	5
Short-billed Dowitcher	18
Long-billed Dowitcher	1
Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitcher	1
Wilson’s Phalarope	48
Red-necked Phalarope	74
Spotted Sandpiper	1
Willet	15
Lesser Yellowlegs	12
shorebird sp.	500
Franklin’s Gull	441
Forster’s Tern	57
Double-crested Cormorant	2
American White Pelican	8
Great Egret	3
White-faced Ibis	1
Turkey Vulture	1
Northern Harrier	3
Red-tailed Hawk	3
Great Horned Owl	1
Peregrine Falcon	1
Common Raven	3
Horned Lark	1
Tree Swallow	4
Barn Swallow	13
Marsh Wren	1
American Robin	6
European Starling	3
American Pipit	1
Vesper Sparrow	2
Savannah Sparrow	9
Yellow-headed Blackbird	83
Bobolink	3
Western Meadowlark	7
Red-winged Blackbird	105
Brown-headed Cowbird	2
Common Grackle	36
Northern Waterthrush	1
Yellow Warbler	1
Palm Warbler	2
Yellow-rumped Warbler	1
House Sparrow	2