Prior to this winter storm, migration in Manitoba was preceding as normal with people reporting birds like Canada Geese, Dark-eyed Juncos, American Robins, Trumpeter Swans, Herring Gulls and more. While these birds are likely not enjoying the spring snowfall (similar to us humans!), they are adapted to withstand the occasional bout of cold and snowy weather. Similar to humans and other mammals, bird need to keep a constant body temperature, regardless of the weather.
All of the birds I listed above are early spring migrants to Manitoba. With our unpredictable spring weather, this means that they have evolved to be successful under a variety of spring conditions – from warm weather to cold weather, rain to snow!
Feathers
Feathers are a bird’s multi-tool – they serve many different purposed! A bird’s plumage can help attract a mate, or provide camouflage. However, one of the most important roles of feathers is to help keep a bird warm and dry. During periods of cold weather, a bird will fluff up their feathers in the cold to trap as much of their body heat as possible. In fact, they can seem up to 2-3 times their body size all fluffed up! This is similar to how a down duvet traps your body heat. The average bird’s body temperature is approximately 40.6oC (105oF) and they can maintain that in cold weather. Additionally, the oil that birds apply to their feathers while preening works to help repel moisture.
Juncos are a more ball-shaped bird in general but you can see the difference in the body shape of a cold junco! Photos from eBird.org (left) and audubon.org (right).
Shivering
Birds can shiver to help maintain their body temperature in cold weather. When birds shiver in cold weather they activate opposing muscle groups that contract against each other. This allows the birds to better retain body heat.
Feet
Bird feet in general can withstand lower temperature as they are mostly tendon and bone with little nerve or muscle tissue, so there is not much to freeze. However, the feet of ducks, geese, and gulls have evolved further to withstand cold water and ice. This is done through an adaptation called counter-current heat exchange in their legs and feet. Warm, oxygenated blood is pumped from the heart into the feet through arteries, which are close by the veins in the legs and feet that are returning colder, deoxygenated blood from the feet back to the body. As the arteries and veins are close together heat is transfer from the warmer arteries to the colder veins. Counter-current heat exchange allows the core body temperature to stay warmer, rather than losing heat through the cold legs and feet. Other mammals that live in cold climates, such as squirrels also use counter-current heat exchange.
Counter-current heat exchange in a gull leg and foot. Image from Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Adapted from Randall et al. 2002.
Behavioral Adaptations
There are a number of different ways that birds can alter their behavior to stay warm during spring cold spells. As humans, we can often feel the warmth of the sun in the spring, even if the air or wind is a bit chilly. Birds (especially dark coloured birds) can warm up on sunny days, by doing the aptly named “sunning” whereby they turn their backs to the sun, exposing the largest area of the body to the sun’s heat.
Birds can also flock together to help keep each other warm with combined body heat. In addition to the flocking itself birds may also gather in areas sheltered from the wind or cold, such as in sheltered shrubs or cavities in trees.
We talked about feathers above, but what about areas on a bird’s body that do not have any feathers? The feet, legs and bills/ beaks of most birds are not feathered. These areas of the body are kept warm by tucking them under areas that do have feathers. Birds may stand on one foot, with the other tucked up under the body feathers, or sitting on their feet which allows them to cover both legs and feet with their feathers. Similarly, they may tuck their beak/bills into their shoulder feathers to breathe air warmed by their body.
Opportunistic feeding
It can take a lot of energy to keep warm, so food sources during early spring cold snaps can be especially important. In urban areas, as well as rural farm yards, birds can often find supplemental food through bird feeders. High energy foods that are safe for a variety of birds include black oil sunflower seeds and suet.
The next few days might just be the perfect time to observe how birds adapt to the snowy conditions from the comfort and safety of home!
You may have heard that Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) has been detected in various US States and Canadian provinces in the past few months. The latest report confirms a first case in Saskatchewan but no suspected cases in Manitoba yet (see http://www.cwhc-rcsf.ca/avian_influenza_testing_results.php).
The Avian Influenza Virus is a contagious viral infection that can affect domestic and wild birds. Many strains occur naturally in wild birds and circulate in migratory populations. HPAI can cause mass disease and mortality in infected poultry but there have been no human cases of avian influenza from exposure to wild birds in North America.
The federal government are providing lots of good information on how to limit the spread of this disease which you can find at – https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/migratory-game-bird-hunting/avian-influenza-wild-birds.html. The main take home is do not handle wild birds, take precautions if you keep birds at home or work and report any larger groups of dead or sick birds using the contact information on that page. The federal government are continue to update their information and will change their advice based on the latest data.
Our spring webinar series is back for another round in April and May 2022. We have a great line-up this year with guest speakers joining the IBA Coordinator to present on all things related to birding in Manitoba, and our Important Bird Areas.
To register email Amanda at iba@naturemanitoba.ca with the webinars you would like to attend. All webinars are free, appropriate for all birding skill levels and open to the public.
Reports have been coming in recently about some of our early arriving migratory birds! The first Canada Goose in an IBA was reported on March 16th at Oak Hammock Marsh. In more urban environments the first Peregrine Falcon was spotted on March 17th at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Winnipeg and identified as Hart the next day.
First Canada Goose sighting at Oak Hammock Marsh WMA. Photo from Oak Hammock Marsh.
For many of us the long Manitoba winters mean we go 4-6 months without practicing our ID skills for many of our migratory birds. If you are getting into birding for the first time, or looking for some options to refresh your bird identification skills, or get into citizen science here are just a few free resources to keep you up to date on the sights and sounds of birds in the spring.
1. Check out various webinars
The Manitoba IBA Program spring webinars series is gearing up for April and May. We will be including some bird identification webinars in our mix this year along with some exciting new topics. Stay tuned for the announcement soon! In the meantime, the majority of our past webinars are available to watch on the IBA Manitoba Youtube account here. These webinars are specific to birding in Manitoba and include Grassland Birds, Shorebirds, Wetlands Birds and Bird Species at Risk.
2. Field Guide Apps for sights and sounds
If you are more likely to carry your cell phone along with you than a printed bird guide, consider using a free mobile app like Merlin. You can download “bird packs” local to your area, and once downloaded it can be used without an internet connection. You can browse through birds as you would in a field guide, or you can try giving a description, taking a photo or sound recording of your mystery bird and see if Merlin can identify it for you. There many different birding apps to choose from, some free and some paid.
If you are not into electronics while birding, but don’t want to carry around a bird ID book, the Manitoba IBA program has several habitat-based quick ID guides that are available for free both on our website and as a printed copy. Grassland birds, shorebirds, wetland birds and birds of Churchill and the Nelson River Estuary are all available.
3. eBird.org
eBird.org is a strong resource for birders and I am always learning about new ways to use it. eBird uses birding checklists submitted by citizen scientists to track abundance and distribution of birds across the landscape. We use the eBird “IBA Protocol” to track birds within our Manitoba IBAs by our volunteers. They even have a mobile app that lets you enter your birding checklists without an internet connection! You can also use the maps and bar charts to explore when are where certain species are sighted historically, or more recently. There is way too much to describe here, but you can check out these guides to getting started on eBird.org or eBird mobile app prior to spring migration!
Example of a bar chart generated for Whitewater Lake IBA for bird timings. April is coming up fast with migratory bird sightings to become more and more common!Map generated from eBird that shows locations of White-faced Ibis sightings in the last five years. You can change species, locations and dates to see what birds and found where (and when).
4. BirdCast
BirdCast is a website that uses weather surveillance radar to create bird migration forecast maps, real-time migration maps and local bird migration alerts. Unfortunately, the maps only extend to the Canada-US border, but as concentrations of birds move through the United States on spring migration, we can use the maps to predict when they might arrive in Manitoba. There are many studies that show strong ties between weather and migration rates. Additionally, large numbers of birds actually show up on Doppler radar themselves!
Example of a bird forecast predicted by BirdCast. I watch for areas of migration intensity to move towards the Canada/ USA border, and then I know that they will be in southern Manitoba shortly.
Did we miss anything you consider essential to gear up to spring migration? Let us know!
With our recent wintery weather, you might not be thinking about your local wetlands, but February 2, 2022 is World Wetlands Day.
Today is a great day to reflect on your favourite local wetland. Do you visit in the spring for birding? Do you go canoeing or fishing in the summer? Do you go hiking in the fall? Do you snowshoe across it in the winter?
What birds can we spy with our scopes in a wetland? Photo by Amanda Shave.
Wetlands play a huge role in as habitat for both breeding and migrating birds, and is key habitat in our Manitoba IBAs. While not all of our IBAs are designated specifically for wetlands, almost all of them contain wetlands within their boundaries. For example, the Southwestern Manitoba Mixed-grass Prairie IBA contains a lot of – you guessed it- prairie, but also has a variety of large and small prairie wetlands. These prairie wetlands support breeding shorebirds such as Marbled Godwit, Wilson’s Phalarope and American Avocet, and breeding waterfowl such as the Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler and Gadwell, just to name a couple of species of each.
Of course, we also have a number of IBAs that were developed specifically because they contain wetlands. These include Delta Marsh IBA, Douglas Marsh IBA, Big Grass Marsh and Langruth IBA, Netley-Libau Marsh IBA, Sandy Bay Marshes IBA, Marshy Point and Saskatchewan River Delta IBA. Many of our northern IBAs that border Hudson Bay also include a variety of marshes, bogs, sedge meadows and fens, which are all different types of wetlands.
Shorebirds foraging in mudflat and shallow water habitat in the west side of Delta Marsh. Photo by Katharine Schulz.
Our IBAs also include human-constructed or restored wetland habitat, such as Oak Hammock Marsh Wildlife Management Area. Oak Hammock Marsh was originally a wetland, but was largely drained for agriculture. In 1967 the provincial and federal governments, Ducks Unlimited Canada, and other conservation organizations and local landowners starting working to restore the wetlands to what we see today. The marsh is managed through a series of dikes, wetland cells and artificial islands that move and store the water across the landscape. Additionally, The Manitoba IBA program, the Province of Manitoba and Harry J. Enns Wetland Discovery Centre staff collaborated to create our province’s first shorebird scrape in 2020 at Oak Hammock. Shorebird scrapes are a feature that holds water in a depression on the landscape, creating mudflat habitat within a wetland. We saw many wetland birds using the scrape via trail camera, and through eBird checklists last season. The scrape was expanded further this past fall! While currently under ice and snow, the scrape is an excellent spring birding destination at Oak Hammock Marsh.
Trail camera image of (mainly) American Golden Plovers and Canada Geese using the scrape and adjacent pond. Photo by: Manitoba IBA Program.
If you would like to learn more about wetland habitats and how they impact our birds check out IBA Manitoba’s Freshwater Habitat for Birds factsheet or our Shorebird Scrape factsheet!
Similar to the Eastern Whip-poor-will surveys reported in our blog several weeks ago, the Manitoba IBA program made a concerted effort this year to survey for Red-headed Woodpeckers in several of our IBAs.
The Red-headed Woodpecker’s federal Species at Risk Status was changed from Threatened to Endangered in April 2018. Under provincial legislation the Red-headed Woodpecker continues to be classified as Threatened. You can look for their distinctive ruby-red heads and white and black wings and body, or otherwise listen for their territorial calling. Red-headed Woodpeckers are out and active for a fairly long period in Manitoba from mid-May until the end of August.
“Querr” or “tcher” call of the Red-headed Woodpecker. Call from xeno-canto.org.Red-headed Woodpecker. Photo by Christian Artuso.
You might think that an Endangered/ Threatened species would be hard to find, but if you look in the right habitat at the right time of year you will probably have some pretty good luck with the Red-headed Woodpecker in Manitoba. Manitoba and Ontario support the majority of Canada’s Red-headed Woodpecker population. We often see them in patches of larger-sized standing dead trees in cattle pastures. The trees need to be large enough to support nesting and roosting cavities for the woodpecker. At the same time, they like habitat with little understory or living tree branches – which the cattle using the pasture tend to keep nice and short.
Some prime Red-headed Woodpecker habitat at North, East and West Shoal Lakes IBA. Note the low understory vegetation and larger diameter standing dead trees. Photo by Katharine Schulz.
The Manitoba IBA program started holding blitzes focusing on Red-headed Woodpeckers in 2017. Since then, we have tried several different ways of monitoring these woodpeckers on blitzes. You may have been on a blitz where we stopped more casually to look for Red-headed Woodpeckers whenever we saw decent habitat, or on a blitz where we surveyed more formally and stopped every 300m in appropriate habitat. The issue with blitzes for the Red-headed Woodpecker is always the trade-off between time and the distance covered. We often have to choose between surveying a smaller area really well or surveying a larger area less thoroughly.
Last winter we set up specific routes and protocol to survey for the Red-headed Woodpecker. Unlike with the Eastern Whip-poor-will, we had a pretty good idea from past IBA program records, eBird records and records from the Manitoba Conservation Data Centre for where to place the survey routes to monitor presence from year to year. Routes were set up in Oak Lake/ Plum Lakes IBA; North, East and West Shoal Lakes IBA; and Netley-Libau Marsh IBA.
Following the pre-set route, surveyors stopped every 300m in Red-headed Woodpecker habitat. The 300m distance was chosen so that individuals would not be double counted. Surveyors would sit passively for two minutes observing. If no woodpeckers were seen then the Red-headed Woodpecker “querr” or “tchur” call was played for 30 seconds before waiting two minutes again.
When we planned our Red-headed Woodpecker surveys the idea was that we would run them similar to a bird blitz with multiple groups each running a route and meeting up at the end. With our routes earlier in the season that was not possible due to COVID-19 gathering limits. Luckily, we had some volunteers who, well, volunteered! A big thank you to Ryo Johnston and Hazel Blennerhassett for surveying in Netley-Libau Marsh IBA; Gary Franzmann and Al Mickey for surveying at the North, East and West Shoal Lakes IBA; and Glennis Lewis and Gillian Richards for their help at Oak Lake/ Plum Lakes IBA.
Onto the results!
Netley-Libau Marsh IBA
As I mentioned above Hazel and Ryon surveyed for us here, in addition to some work our IBA program summer students did. Hazel and Ryon are the IBA Caretakers for the Netley-Libau Marsh IBA, so they know it inside and out. The surveys were conducted in early to mid June. There was a total of 11 observations of Red-headed Woodpeckers during surveys by both teams in this IBA. After accounting for repeat observations, we are confident that there were 9 unique individuals spotted during the survey. Of the 9 birds there were three sets of assumed breeding pairs (adult pairs seen in the same territory) and three single individuals.
The first ever Red-headed Woodpecker seen by the IBA summer students during a survey for this species in Netley-Libau Marsh IBA. Drumming was heard first at a bit of a distance and once play-back was used it was easy to confirm which species of woodpecker it was! Photo by Amanda Shave.
North, East and West Shoal Lakes IBA
Gary and Al were of great help surveying at the North, East and West Shoal Lakes IBA, along with Manitoba IBA program summer students. Between the two teams there were a total of 24 observations with 19 unique individuals based on locations and likely territory size. These numbers were largely driven by observations at two key locations. On the east side of Shoal Lake, at a well-known Red-headed Woodpecker habitat site (near the corner of highway 415 and 416) Al and Gary were able to spot 11 Red-headed Woodpeckers at one survey stop! At another site on the west side of the lakes on highway 518 they had four individuals! There were four other sightings of one individual each. They also had a sighting JUST outside the IBA.
It is important that I break down the sighting just outside the IBA because for the very first time since 2018 and only the second time in the history of the IBA we hit the IBA threshold for Red-headed Woodpeckers at Shoal Lakes IBA! The number of woodpeckers needed to hit the threshold in an IBA is 14. You can view the Shoal Lakes IBA’s list of species that have reached the IBA threshold at the IBA Canada site here. In 2018 20 Red-headed Woodpeckers were counted, so the population within the IBA appears to have stayed fairly stable in the last four years.
Southeast of Shoal Lakes IBA
If you have taken part in IBA blitzes at the Shoal Lakes IBA or read our past blogs, you may have noticed that we sometimes get a group to monitor an area just to the southeast of the IBA itself. This is because we have long suspected (and over the years confirmed) that this area had good Red-headed Woodpecker habitat due to all of the cattle pastures in the area. This year Ariel and Vicky (our summer students) spent a couple of days doing a thorough exploratory survey of the area and counted a huge number of Red-headed Woodpeckers! They observed at least 70 unique individuals with another possible two individuals that they were not 100% sure on.
Our data from this year, combined with provincial data on Red-headed Woodpeckers collected several years ago has shown this area to be key to Red-headed Woodpeckers in Manitoba over several years (and likely longer). While this area is not in the IBA, we still hope to be able to work more with the landowners and birds in future years since it is so close to the Red-headed Woodpecker population inside the Shoal Lakes IBA.
Oak Lake/ Plum Lakes IBA
The Red-headed Woodpecker surveys were held at Oak Lake/ Plum Lakes IBA in late July. This meant that we were able to hold the surveys together with volunteers during a Red-headed Woodpecker blitz as intended! We had two of the three blitz groups survey a pre-planned Red-headed Woodpecker route at the start of the blitz. Once each group had run their route (and the third group which had no route in their area) they switched to a less formal monitoring style for the areas that had less optimal Red-headed Woodpecker habitat. You may remember we had Gillian Richards, Kathryn Hyndman, Katharine Schulz, Glennis Lewis, Vicky Tang, Ariel Desrochers and myself at the blitz (you can check out the blog post for that blitz here, if you are curious).
A Red-headed Woodpecker seen along 45N in the Souris Sandhills area of the IBA. Photo by Katharine Schulz.
At the time of the blitz we had 12 Red-headed Woodpeckers spotted in the IBA and 3 woodpeckers spotted just outside the IBA. This was pretty close to the IBA threshold for Red-headed Woodpeckers, which is 14 individuals. However, we were not able to cover all the ground in the IBA during that blitz. One of our intrepid volunteers, Glennis, returned to the IBA to survey additional areas four times in later July and early August and found 15 more woodpeckers – putting us over the IBA Red-headed Woodpecker threshold for a second IBA this year! So in total there were 27 unique Red-headed Woodpeckers spotted at Oak Lake/ Plum Lakes IBA this summer. This is the first time that Red-headed Woodpeckers have reached the IBA threshold at this IBA. You can view Oak Lake/ Plum Lake’s list of species that have reached the IBA threshold at the IBA Canada site here.
An adult Red-headed Woodpecker bringing in a food item to a nesting cavity at Oak Lake/ Plum Lakes IBA in summer 2021. Photo by Gillian Richards.
Other Red-headed Woodpecker Observations
We did have some other Red-headed Woodpecker sightings brought to our attention that were outside these target IBAs (or IBAs in general) that were interesting this year. Four Red-headed Woodpeckers (2 adults and 2 juveniles) were reported at Delta Marsh IBA by Jo Swartz on August 14th. She saw them along road 77N just west of highway 430. A confirmed nesting cavity for Red-headed Woodpeckers was also reported by Ray Methot in Matlock this year – so assuming two adult woodpeckers there as well.
Overall, it appears to have been a good year for Red-headed Woodpeckers – or at least observations of them!
If you have Red-headed Woodpecker habitat on your land that you would like to help conserve let us know and we’d love to help. Also, if you are interested in searching for Red-headed Woodpeckers keep an eye out for postings of surveys and blitzes next year as we are planning on continuing to run activities based around this charismatic species!
With the end of the old year, we thought we would highlight some of the exciting birding news from Manitoba IBAs in 2021. If we are missing a highlight for you, let us know!
What is an IBA threshold and why is it important?
You’ll read below that we reached IBA thresholds for species in several different IBAs this summer – but why is this important? There are a series of criteria that bird populations at a site must hit for that site to be qualified as an Important Bird Area. We commonly refer to hitting these criteria thresholds as an “IBA trigger”. If species in the IBA are continuing to reach the IBA trigger, it is likely that the site continues to provide key habitat going forward. There are two main types of IBA triggers that are most commonly used in our Manitoba IBAs. The first is for congregations of species, needing either at least 1% of the global population for the species or at least 1% of the national population for the species. The second trigger is for Species at Risk. Due to the challenges that these species face, they require fewer individuals to reach their IBA trigger. Species at Risk are also classified at either a global scale (IUCN listed species) or regional scale (COSEWIC listed species).
Red-headed Woodpecker
It was an exciting year for this charismatic bird and the IBA program. Thanks to volunteers conducting both formal and informal Red-headed Woodpecker surveys we were able to reach the IBA threshold for this species in two IBAs this summer. The IBA threshold is 14 individuals. At the North, East and West Shoal Lakes IBA (north of Winnipeg near Inwood) volunteers and program staff counted 19 individuals. At the Oak Lake/ Plum Lake IBA (west of Brandon) volunteers and program staff counted a whopping 27 individuals. If you are interested in hearing more about our Red-headed Woodpecker experience this summer watch for the next blog which will go more in-depth with our efforts monitoring this beautiful species during summer 2021.
Red-headed Woodpecker in a nesting cavity at Oak Lake/ Plum Lakes IBA in 2021. Photo by Gillian Richards.
Pectoral Sandpiper
While out doing the International Shorebird Survey (ISS) at Whitewater Lake this spring Gillian Richards counted 12,050 Pectoral Sandpipers while birding along and between ISS routes. Gillian’s sighting was on May 16th. She went back on May 19th and counted 5,652 Pectoral Sandpipers. The number required for the IBA threshold for this species is 625 individuals, so Gillian’s count was well beyond the threshold in both cases! The threshold is approximately 1% of the global and national population for Pectoral Sandpipers, so this observation was approximately 20% of the global population – pretty neat!
Pectoral Sandpipers. Photo by Amanda Shave.
Piping Plover
Piping Plovers were seen twice this year in IBAs. The first sighting was on April 30th at Whitewater Lake by IBA Caretaker Colin Blyth. There was just the one individual seen. When he went back to try and find it two days later it was gone. The other sighting of Piping Plovers was at Chalet Beach at the northwest end of Netley-Libau Marsh IBA. A pair of Plovers was seen over the May-long weekend. However, likely due to the high volume of people using the beach over the weekend the plovers left the area before any conservation work could happen for them.
Piping Plover spotted at Whitewater Lake in spring 2021. Photo by Colin Blyth.
Black-necked Stilt
In the same trip where Colin spotted the Piping Plover at Whitewater Lake (April 30th) he also spotted a Black-necked Stilt – a pretty lucky birding trip! Just like the plover, however, the stilt was no where to be found upon a second birding trip.
Black-necked Stilt spotted at Whitewater Lake in spring 2021. Photo by Colin Blyth.
Sabine’s Gull
A Sabine’s Gull was spotted at Delta Marsh on September 20th, 2021 by Cal Cuthburt. He spotted it flying amongst a mixed flock of Forster’s Terns and Franklin’s Gulls. Great spot!
Photo of a Sabine’s Gull taken in 2020 at Delta Marsh. Photo by Cam Nikkel.
Lesser Black-backed Gull
At least three individual Lesser Black-backed Gulls hung around Delta Marsh IBA this spring/ summer. They were largely seen in the community of Delta Beach and/or around the landfill on provincial road 227.
One of several Lesser Black-backed Gulls seen at Delta Marsh in 2021. This photo is taken of a first summer plumage gull at the landfill. Photo by Cal Cuthbert.
Dickcissels
Dickcissels were seen in several IBAs this summer. Including three individuals in the Southwestern Mixed Grass Prairie IBA (on July 1st and 9th), one in Whitewater Lake IBA on June 23rd, and between 1-5 Dickcissels were spotted at Oak Hammock Marsh from July 7th-9th.
A male Dickcissel photographed by Rudolf Koes at Oak Hammock Marsh in summer 2021.
Sandhill Cranes
On October 17th at Oak Lakes/ Plum Lakes IBA, IBA Caretaker Gillian Richards counted 12,000 Sandhill Cranes. The IBA threshold for Sandhill Cranes is 5,300 individuals. Like with the Pectoral Sandpiper, the IBA threshold represents 1% of the global and national population of Sandhill Cranes, so this was approximately 2% of the population seen in this observation.
Not quite the same huge number of cranes spotted by Gillian, but this photo of a flock of Sandhill Cranes taken at Oak Lake shows the habitat that the large flocks will sometimes gather in. The combination of water and wetland habitats with leftovers from cropped fields makes some attractive habitat for flocks of cranes. Photo by Amanda Shave.
Burrowing Owls
Wild Burrowing Owls kept up their streak in southwestern Manitoba this year! A pair of wild Burrowing Owls (i.e. not part of the captive breeding population) successfully nested and raised six young. The Manitoba Burrowing Owl Recovery Program (MBORP) documented the season. You can read more about it, and see photos, on MBORP’s Facebook page and Walter Potrebka’s blog post.
Hopefully our 2022 birding season is just as successful! The Manitoba IBA program wishes everyone good health, happiness and great birding in 2022!
Today is winter solstice – the shortest day of the year and the “official” start to the winter. While the days are short, like our hardy resident birds, we make the best of it! Whether you enjoy the winter or tolerate it I hope you can curl up with a warm beverage of our choice and remember, from here on in our days will start getting longer again, and eventually warmer as well!
From all of us at Manitoba IBA, we wish you the best of the holiday season and health and happiness in the New Year!
-Amanda Shave (Coordinator), Tim Poole (Chair), Bonnie Chartier, Paula Grieef, Christian Artuso, Marika Olynyk and Gillian Richards
With IBA events on hiatus due to COVID-19 in early summer 2021, our IBA team turned to monitoring that could be done individually. One of the focal species we were looking at was the Eastern Whip-poor-will. It is not often seen, but rather heard, with the whip-POOR-will call heard for up to three hours at a time! This species is the soundscape to rural Manitoba for many people. It is also a Species at Risk – designated as Threatened by both the federal and provincial governments.
Eastern Whip-poor-will. Photo from allaboutbirds.org.
Most bird monitoring happens in the early morning hours but for some species, like the Eastern Whip-poor-will, moonlit nights are the best times to monitor! Interestingly, none of the different types of popular bird surveys in Manitoba capture Eastern Whip-poor-wills all that well, according to the COSEWIC species report for the Whip-poor-will. The Breeding Bird Survey happens at the right time of year, but is a morning survey when the birds at not that active. The Nocturnal Owl Survey happens at the right time of day (night) but at the wrong time of year.
So, with a grant from the Habitat Stewardship Program, we set out to determine how many Whip-poor-wills call our IBAs home. Most IBA activities happen during the early morning hours, so conducting surveys at night was a new experience for myself and our summer students.
Surveys were conducted at the North, East and West Shoal Lakes IBA and Delta Marsh IBA. We surveyed between June 15th and July 15th, which is the period around the full moon during the breeding season. The full moon provides enough light for Eastern Whip-poor-wills to extend their nightly foraging. Surveys started 30 minutes before sunset and went for two hours. Due to a lack of historic data, surveys this year were exploratory, with stops in areas of Eastern Whip-poor-will habitat, rather than specific locations decided upon a head of time. Each stop included 6 minutes of passive listening targeting nightjars (Eastern Whip-poor-wills and Common Nighthawks).
Eastern Whip-poor-will habitat can include deciduous, conifer or mixed woods forests with little to no understory and near to open areas. Open areas are used for foraging for insects, while forested areas are used to roost during the day and for nesting.
Eastern Whip-poor-will recording from xeno-canto.org.
Delta Marsh IBA
Surveys were run on the east side of Delta Marsh IBA on June 21st and June 22th. We started up near St Ambroise 30 minutes before sunset and worked our way south and west over the next two nights. We were unsure what to expect during these surveys but were pleased to hear Whip-poor-wills at 9 stops over the two nights, for a total of four individuals heard during our surveys. We were keeping track of distance and direction of the calls during our surveys to reduce the chance of double-counting individuals as the sound of a Whip-poor-will can travel far. Two individuals were heard along mile road 81N and the other two were heard along mile road 77N. We also head two Common Nighthawks the first night, one near to the town of St Ambroise and the other near to the intersection of HWY 430 and HWY 411.
Birding at dusk and into the night was an interesting experience. Of course, at dusk there was a cacophony of bird sounds each evening. Near dusk at Delta Marsh we heard Killdeer, Hermit Thrush, Eastern Meadowlarks, Grey Catbirds, Baltimore Orioles, Yellow Warblers and more. Once night hit it was considerably quieter, however we did get an excellent view of a Great Horned Owl both flying overhead and later perching in a tree.
Locations of stops where Eastern Whip-poor-will were heard on June 21-22, 2021 at Delta Marsh IBA. Some points are of repeat birds. A total of four individuals were heard over the two days.
North, East and West Shoal Lakes IBA
Surveys were conducted at the Shoal Lakes IBA on June 28th and June 29th. We started on the west side of the lakes and made our way eastward. Manitoba IBA staff had a total of seven stops where Eastern Whip-poor-will were heard calling, which accounted for a total of nine individuals. A further two more birds were originally heard but taking into account the distance and direction of the song, were determined to be repeat individuals. There were no Common Nighthawks heard on the surveys at Shoal Lakes.
The general pattern of bird diversity during the survey at the Shoal Lakes was similar to Delta Marsh. Bird activity was high leading up to sundown with species like Killdeer, Yellow Warblers, Red-eyed Vireos, Clay-coloured Sparrows and Grey Catbirds singing and calling.
Locations of stops where Eastern Whip-poor-will were heard on June 21-22, 2021 at Delta Marsh IBA. Some points are of repeat birds. A total of four individuals were heard over the two days.
“Birding After Dark”
Overall, we found “birding after dark” to be an interesting new way to experience the birds and their habitat. It will be interesting to see what we are able to find next year as we plan to run the surveys again. If you are interested in joining us next summer send an email to iba@naturemanitoba.ca.
With the help of our volunteers and citizen scientists another year of the International Shorebird Survey (ISS) in Manitoba is in the books!
Fall breeding plumage American Avocet at Oak Lake/ Plum Lakes IBA. Photo by A. Shave.
If you recall from our spring ISS round-up, this year the Manitoba IBA program officially added ISS routes in two new locations this year, the North, East and West Shoal Lakes IBA and Oak Hammock Marsh. These locations join our original two locations, Whitewater Lake IBA and Oak Lake/ Plum Lakes IBA. The program is run by Manomet and the goal of the ISS is to track long-term trends in shorebird numbers globally. The Manitoba IBA program coordinates the ISS locally in the province. With the ISS we have pre-set routes that volunteers try to visit at least 3 times in the spring and 3 times in the fall to count shorebirds on migration. You can find the results of our spring 2021 ISS surveys here.
Much like in the spring, the big story of the ISS this year was the lack of water. By the fall, my shorebird search technique was “if you are looking for shorebirds, look in areas that used to be duck habitat (i.e. deeper water)”. Any areas that were shorebird habitat in the past years was dried up by early summer!
You might ask, if we know the route will be dry, and there will be no shorebirds then why run the route at all? As the ISS is a long-term dataset it is extremely important to record shorebird numbers consistently each year, and along the same routes. This can allow us to track how changes in habitat can impact habitat use, population numbers, etc. While it may not always seem like it at the time, “zero” data are very important data to have! With that in mind let’s dive into location-specific results.
Oak Lake/ Plum Lakes IBA
Both the Oak Lake/Plum Lakes ISS routes and the Whitewater Lakes ISS routes were created back in 2018 – which was near the end of a string of high-water years. So, if the area designated for shorebird habitat was shallow water in a high-water year – you can bet that it was dry in a drought year, like this year!
Unsurprisingly, the routes at Oak Lake/ Plum Lakes IBA were largely dry, and/or the water was seen way off in the distance, outside the range of a spotting scope and the range of the ISS. Each of the 5 routes at Oak Lake/Plum Lakes was visited twice this fall, except for Route 1, which was visited 3 times.
Gillian and Glennis birding at a side trip to our Oak Lake ISS routes, down Lakeshore Drive. Photo by A. Shave.
A total of 16 species (plus undetermined Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitchers) were seen during the fall season. This included at total of 260 individuals. The proportion of each species was fairly even. The highest proportion were Long-billed Dowitchers at 15%, followed by Lesser Yellowlegs (12%), Killdeer (11%) and Wilson’s Phalarope (11%). The least common species was a single Baird’s Sandpiper.
2021 Fall Season Oak/Plum Lakes Shorebird Counts
Species
Total # of Individuals
Proportion of Individuals (%)
American Avocet
17
7
Baird’s Sandpiper
1
0
Greater Yellowlegs
21
8
Killdeer
28
11
Least Sandpiper
16
6
Lesser Yellowlegs
32
12
Long-billed Dowitcher
40
15
Marbled Godwit
9
3
Pectoral Sandpiper
24
9
Semipalmated Plover
2
1
Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitcher
24
9
Spotted Sandpiper
4
2
Stilt Sandpiper
4
2
Upland Sandpiper
5
2
Willet
3
1
Wilson’s Phalarope
28
11
Wilson’s Snipe
2
1
Total
260
100
A big thank you to everyone who helped out for ISS surveys at Oak Lake/ Plum Lakes including our two IBA summer students, Vicky Tang and Ariel Desrochers, our Oak Lake/ Plum Lakes IBA caretakers, Glennis Lewis and Gillian Richards, and Matt Gasner from Nature Conservancy Canada.
Whitewater Lake IBA
Like I mentioned above, Whitewater Lake ISS routes were also created during the wet spell back in 2018. However, the routes faired a bit better in terms of water levels this year than the routes along Oak Lake. This area really dried out mid-summer, the same as Oak Lake, but got several days of good showers in mid-August that revitalized water levels for a period of time (before they dried out again). We know this as the Manitoba IBA program was luckly enough to hold our bird blitz at Whitewater Lake just after those rains, and multiple local birders described to us what a difference it made, even though it was still quite dry.
Kathryn and Carla looking at shorebirds at Sexton’s Point. The area where they are standing is normally under water! Photo by A. Shave.
The number of visits to the different routes at Whitewater Lake varied by site with the east side routes visited less often (once or twice) with the western routes visited 3-4 times each, and Sexton’s Point visited 5 times. Anecdotally, the east side seemed to dry out faster than the west side.
A total of 17 species (plus some unknown shorebirds) were seen at Whitewater Lake on fall migration counts, with a total of 1745 individuals. The distribution of species was quite a bit different than at Oak Lake. At Oak Lake the proportion of individuals was quite even, but Whitewater Lake had high counts of some species and low counts of many others. The most common species were Long-billed Dowitchers (34%), American Avocets (24%) and Sanderlings (13%). The least common species were the White-rumped Sandpiper (1 individual) and Wilson’s Snipe (1 individual). The fact that White-rumped Sandpipers were uncommon is not unexpected – they are not a common shorebird in Manitoba in general.
2021 Fall Season Whitewater Lake Shorebird Counts
Species
Total # of Individuals
Proportion of Individuals (%)
American Avocet
413
24
American Golden-Plover
34
2
Baird’s Sandpiper
13
1
Greater Yellowlegs
16
1
Killdeer
16
1
Least Sandpiper
89
5
Lesser Yellowlegs
99
6
Long-billed Dowitcher
600
34
Pectoral Sandpiper
12
1
Red-necked Phalarope
7
0
Sanderling
235
13
Semipalmated Plover
5
0
Semipalmated Sandpiper
55
3
Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitcher
53
3
Stilt Sandpiper
11
1
White-rumped Sandpiper
1
0
Wilson’s Phalarope
10
1
Wilson’s Snipe
1
0
large shorebird sp.
5
0
peep sp.
70
4
Total
1745
100
Thank you to everyone who conducted ISS counts at Whitewater Lake including Colin Blyth and Gillian Richards (Whitewater Lake IBA Caretakers), Carla Keast, Kathryn Hyndman, Doug Ford, Carson Rogers, and our summer students Vicky and Ariel!
Semipalmated Plover taking advantage of the mudflats exposed by the lower water levels at Sexton’s Point. Photo by A. Shave.
North, East, West Shoal Lakes IBA
The first of our new IBA blitz sites for fall 2021! The Shoal Lakes IBA and Oak Hammock Marsh ISS sites were created and scoped out last year when the water was not so high, but definitely not as low as it was this year. As a result some areas of Shoal Lake still had water a bit later in the summer/ early “fall” (as determined by ISS timing), however, most sites still eventually dried right out.
Each site at the Shoal Lakes IBA in the fall was visited 2-3 times. The total number of shorebird species seen was 9 (with some unknown peeps) and 133 individuals seen. The two most common species by far were the Greater Yellowlegs (58%) and Lesser Yellowlegs (22%). The least common birds were the Short-billed Dowitcher and White-rumped Sandpiper at one individual each.
2021 Fall Season North, East and West Shoal Lakes Shorebird Counts
Species
Total # of Individuals
Proportion of Individuals (%)
American Woodcock
1
1
Greater Yellowlegs
77
58
Killdeer
2
2
Least Sandpiper
6
5
Lesser Yellowlegs
29
22
peep sp.
9
7
Short-billed Dowitcher
1
1
Spotted Sandpiper
3
2
White-rumped Sandpiper
1
1
Wilson’s Snipe
4
3
Total
133
100
A big thank you to Bonnie Chartier, Mike Karakas and Tami Reynolds who have been great about joining in our ISS monitoring at the Shoal Lakes in its first full year!
Oak Hammock Marsh
And last but not least we have the Oak Hammock Marsh ISS site to report on. This site is unique for a couple of reasons. First of all Oak Hammock Marsh is a human-restored wetland, built to bring this habitat back from largely agricultural land to its original wetland state started in 1967. The second unique thing about Oak Hammock Marsh is that the water level is actually semi-controlled though a system of dikes and culverts. It used to be entirely controlled, but the infrastructure is used less often now. However, if you have ever gone looking for shorebirds at the “front pond” (the pond just to the west of the interpretive centre front doors) just know that you have centre staff to thank for keeping it at just the right height for shorebirds! And the third unique thing about Oak Hammock Marsh is the Shorebird Scrape – additional human-made shorebird habitat created last fall adjacent to a small lake – the first of its kind in Manitoba!
Oak Hammock Marsh probably was the site that was best retaining water this year as it has areas of varying water depths all close together. So although areas that were normally shallow dried out, there were areas that normally have higher water that turned shallow this year, but still stayed wet.
Two routes at Oak Hammock Marsh were visited twice in the fall, and one route was visited once. There were 9 species of shorebird seen during ISS visits, and a total of 228 individual shorebirds counted. The most common species were Greater Yellowlegs (64%), Lesser Yellowlegs (12%) and Killdeer (11%). There were several species that were only counted twice on ISS surveys including the Least Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper, Upland Sandpiper and Willet.
2021 Fall Season Oak Hammock Marsh Shorebird Counts
Species
Total # of Individuals
Proportion of Individuals (%)
Greater Yellowlegs
147
64
Killdeer
24
11
Least Sandpiper
1
0
Lesser Yellowlegs
28
12
Semipalmated Plover
9
4
Spotted Sandpiper
1
0
Upland Sandpiper
1
0
Willet
1
0
Wilson’s Snipe
16
7
Total
228
100
Bonnie, Mike and Tami were instrumental in collecting our ISS monitoring data at Oak Hammock Marsh as well as at the Shoal Lakes IBA and were joined at Oak Hammock by Tim Poole. Thanks all!
ISS Round-Up
While this may have not been the most exciting year for shorebirds on migration due to the difficulty in finding them with the low water levels, it is an incredibly important year in recording the numbers (or lack of numbers). There is a lot of winter and chance for precipitation between us and the Spring 2022 ISS season, so we will keep our fingers crossed that it will be a bit wetter next year!
As you can see from the numbers of times we were able to run ISS routes, we’d love to have a few more volunteers to consistently reach our targets of visiting each site 3 times in the spring and 3 times in the fall. You do not have to run all the ISS routes in a location in a day – pick one or two that fit with where you normally bird! While you do have to record all shorebirds, you are also free to record the other birds you see as well, just like normal birding. If you visit any of the ISS site during the spring or fall, just send me an email at iba@naturemanitoba.ca and we can see if running an ISS route might be of interest to you!
Manitoba Important Bird Areas Program 