This year, for the first time, Manitoba IBA is monitoring a very interesting, incredibly elusive bird, the Eastern Whip-poor-will. It is one of two species of special focus this summer, along with the Red-headed Woodpecker. The Eastern Whip-poor-will is part of the nightjar family, a group of nocturnal insectivore birds. Coming from the same group is the Common Nighthawk, another bird found in Manitoba. After a week or two spent coming up with a proper protocol for surveying these birds, Amanda, Vicky and I conducted our first survey. More on that below, but first, we need to get to know the Whip-poor-will a little better.

The Whip-poor will is a medium sized, top heavy bird who calls out their own name. You may hear them calling their distinct whip-poor-will for hours on end. The Whip-poor-will is a ground nester, often choosing a spot next to a shelter from the warm sun. The prefer forests with open understory. They are incredibly hard to spot during the day due to their colouring and nocturnal nature. 

Whip-poor-will numbers are in decline. The Whip-poor-will is a threatened species in Manitoba and Canada and is on the 2016 State of North America’s Birds’ Watch List, which reports on birds that are most at risk of extinction without the intervention of conservation efforts. The main concern for Whip-poor-wills is the loss of open understory forests, which can come from conversion to pasture, crops or urbanization. The birds are also at risk for collision with cars due to their inclination to sit on or fly over roadways.   

Because this year was our first for monitoring these birds, we had to come up with the proper protocol. Working from the Canadian Nightjar survey (Birds Canada), we put together a survey protocol specific to Nightjars in Manitoba. Our first survey took place at the Delta Marsh IBA. Our version of the Nightjar survey this year is exploratory, meaning there are no set routes, and you simply drive around and find suitable habitat. We chose this option as there were very few records of Whip-poor-wills in Manitoba IBAs to base a route around. Typical suitable habitat included forests that are not overly dense and sections of forest or treed pasture with open sections of meadow. They key time to see (hear) Whip-poor-wills is the two week period around the full moon – for the breeding season this means the full moon in June. Once we find a good spot, we stop and listen for 6 minutes. It is important to remain very quiet and to not play any call backs. This usually involves turning the car off and sticking our heads almost out the window. Whip-poor-wills have very distinct calls, but sometimes they are far from the road, and their calls have been loud and very faint. We found when multiple birds would call at the same time, it was tough to figure out how many there were due to varying distance and the layering of the sounds.  

We have been fortunate to identify a handful of the birds on each survey we have conducted so far, meaning that we now know there are individuals located in the IBAs – a big step up from where we were when starting the surveys. This includes two surveys in the Shoal Lakes IBA and two in the Delta Marsh IBA. Because they are nocturnal, it is always by their calls. One observation we made was that we were only identifying the birds after it had become dark (rather than the 30 minutes before sunset start of the survey). That doesn’t mean they aren’t out earlier; we have just only heard them once other birds grow silent.  

The exploratory nature of the survey means leaving main roads and traveling mile roads within the IBA. Often it is a large area that we are covering and can be visited more than once. Sometimes we travel all the way down a road to find that we are simply moving closer to a do not trespass sign, forcing us to turn around and try another road. Vicky and I were very surprised when we drove up to someone’s driveway near West Shoal Lake and were greeted by two farms dogs and a donkey running to the car to say hello! If they were there to seem threatening, it only surprised and delighted us.

Overall, the surveys have been a success and I hope we will be able to monitor more before the summer is up. It is very exciting to know that this threatened bird is so close to home.  

If you are interested in learning more about whip poor wills or conducting your own survey, we would love to hear from you. We are also looking for any reports that you might have of Whip-poor-wills during the breeding period around any of our IBAs. Simply email Amanda at iba@naturemanitoba.ca for more information!

-Ariel

As COVID-19 numbers stay low, and the province slowly opens up the Manitoba IBA program is also ready to hold events with volunteers again! We are limiting our event capacity and continuing to follow our same COVID-19 protocols from last year (social distancing, no carpooling outside your “bubble” and mandatory masks) but we are excited to see you all again!

Hello Everyone!

I am Ariel, one of Manitoba IBA’s Summer students for 2021. This past spring, our coordinator Amanda and I, as well as some of our wonderful volunteers have been visiting some of our IBAS to survey for shorebirds.

The protocol that we follow is one of our own, based heavily on the International Shorebird survey by Manomet, but fitted to the specific characteristics of Manitoba. The original protocol includes elements specific to coastal shoreline, which obviously doesn’t work for us in southern Manitoba! There are 4 survey sites that were covered throughout the spring shorebird monitoring. These sites are Whitewater Lake, Oak Hammock Marsh, Shoal Lakes IBA and Oak/Plum Lakes. Oak Hammock Marsh and the Shoal Lakes IBA routes are new this year! Theses sites have multiple routes to monitor and are normally surveyed 3 times in the spring and 3 times in the fall. Below you will find the results of our surveys for the Spring 2021 season. Note that while multiple species are observed and recorded under the ISS protocol during surveys, only shorebirds are included in the data.  

New this year are several photos sites that we have set up in the IBAs. The purpose of these photo sites is to take a photo and share it with us so that we may compare photos of the site each year. Sites that are chosen are usually marked with something distinct, such as a road sign.

A big thank you to Gillian, Bonnie, Tammi, and Mike, our lovely volunteers who were a big help this year in going out and monitoring our IBAs!  

Spring 2021 Oak Hammock Marsh

Oak hammock Marsh has 3 routes and was monitored several times in May partially during shorebird peak season. A total of 18 species were identified by volunteers and the IBA Program. Routes included the front pond – which as you may know is managed for shorebirds by the staff at the Marsh. One of the routes also includes our shorebirds scrape constructed last autumn. Route 2 was visited four times, Route 1 as visited twice and route 3 was visited three times. The Shorebird Scrape was done 3 times.

Spring 2021 Oak/Plum Lakes

Oak and Plum lakes has 3 routes that were each monitored once. Due to the drought weather this spring, many of the areas close to the roads had dried out or moved farther back, making identification difficult at times. A total of 8 species were identified.

Really low water levels at the ISS site along the northern tip of Grande Clairiere Road at Oak Lake. Normally the water goes all the way (and sometimes covers) the rock causeway seen at the end of the video. No wonder the shorebirds are so far out!

Spring 2021 Shoal Lake

North and South Shoal Lakes cover a larger area. There are 4 routes around the lakes, plus the water access near the Erinview campground. They were surveyed 25 times between April and June. Route 1 was surveyed five times, route 2 was surveyed eight times, route 3 was surveyed six times and route 4 was surveyed four times. The Campground was surveyed twice. A total of 24 species were identified. Shoal Lakes was my personal favorite IBA to survey as it was common to see a variety of other birds, such as several species of duck, pelicans, birds of prey and even a Red Headed Woodpecker, one of our focus species this year. Shoal Lakes was another area that was very clearly affected by the drought this year, with many normally suitable spots to survey having been dried out and pushed back farther from the road.

Spring 2021 Whitewater Lake

Whitewater Lake was surveyed 23 times over the course of the season. There are 7 routes in total on the east and west side of the lake. For the west side of the lake, route 1 was surveyed three times, route 2 was surveyed twice and route 3 was surveyed five times. For the East side of the lake, route 1 was surveyed four times and route 2 was surveyed once. Sexton’s point was surveyed eight times. While the graph shows large numbers of certain birds, volunteers reported that the water around the lake was low, and When Amanda and I went to set up photo sites, we noticed the same. The dry weather has no doubt affected the IBA’s this year. A total of 23 species were recorded with a staggering 23,424 individuals counted. A large number of these shorebirds were recorded by Gillian on May 16th when huge numbers of shorebirds were counted along the ISS routes.

As we can see by the graph, most species have relatively high counts but the Pectoral Sandpiper’s count towers over the rest at 18,706!

Future ISS Surveys

If you are interested in volunteering for International Shorebird surveys or about shorebird identification, please contact Amanda at iba@naturemanitoba.ca for more information as well as tools to get you started. You do not have to commit to running all sites at a location – there may even be a route or two that you follow on your normal birding trips! We are also able to provide mentoring for shorebird ID and/or lend out spotting scopes if needed. The fall ISS survey period starts on July 11th and runs until October 25th.

This year we have two summer assistants joining our program. Ariel will be focusing on work with Species at Risk and Vicky will be helping with a variety of IBA activities. While we are sad to say that we have been quiet on the public programming side, we have been busy behind the scenes! Read on for a hello from both of our summer assistants…

Hi Everyone! 

My Name is Ariel and I am the newest employee at IBA for the summer of 2021! I am currently a student at the University of Winnipeg, working towards my bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies with a focus on issues in sustainability.

After developing a deep interest in the environment and animals during my childhood, I knew that I wanted to bring that love into my future career and do my part. In the past, I have volunteered with the Green Action Centre and worked a variety of jobs, from barista to greenhouse technician. After a few years of casually watching birds, I decided to take it more seriously, and after seeing a group of Cedar Waxwings out in Bird Lake, my interest in birding exploded! That’s why I am so excited to be working with the IBA team this summer and I am looking forward to hopefully spotting my first Whip-poor-will!

Hello everyone! My name is Vicky Tang, and I am happy to be a part of the team as a Program Assistant this summer.

I am currently finishing my 3^rd year at the University of Manitoba. I am working towards a Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Sciences, with focus on environmental and integrative physiology. I am also minoring in Entomology, so leave the creepy critters to me! This will be my first year working with a conservation focused employment and I hope to continue this trend! Starting with IBA, I am looking forward to learning about Manitoba’s native species and developing my competence towards conservational efforts.

I have been passionate about nature since childhood. I love the sounds I can hear being in the forest, and what makes up most of the sounds are birds. So, I am excited to be monitoring birds and participating in field trips to learn more about them in hopes to provide good care to our native bird species.

We are excited to have Vicky and Ariel on board!

This spring the Manitoba IBA program at staff at the Harry J. Enns Wetland Discovery Centre put out a trail camera at the Oak Hammock Marsh shorebird scrape. The scrape was constructed last year to create additional habitat for shorebirds in the marsh. It is the first time (to our knowledge) that a scrape has been constructed in Manitoba for shorebird habitat. A scrape is a shallow depression made in the ground of wet habitat (in our case attached to a pond) that is seasonally filled with water. The scrape slowly dries out and provides the shallow water and shoreline habitat favoured by shorebirds and many other bird species as well. As this is very much a trial, we wanted to have a set of “eyes” out on the scrape often – so we added a trail camera!

While the trail camera gives us a good idea of how often shorebirds are at the scrape – nothing beats a pair of eyes and binoculars (or a spotting scope). So, if you are birding at the marsh, a stop by the scrape and an eBird checklist shared with Manitoba IBA is appreciated! You will see from some of our images below that due to the limitations of putting the camera out in the marsh mud, the distance the shorebirds are often at, and the resolution of the trail camera, determining species is difficult. I have tried to identify the shorebirds in the photos below, but if you can make out a species I cannot – I am happy to hear from you!

Our first photos with the trail camera were taken April 22. Our late April photos largely consisted of Canada Geese. We also had some nice sunset/ sunrise photos and various duck species.

On April 26^th we moved the camera to a new spot to get a better view of the scrape. This is when we saw our first shorebird at the scrape – a Marbled Godwit.

The Marbled Godwit was our most consistent species at the scrape showing up on April 26-27, April 29-May 1, and May 4-10.

Other species spotted include American Avocet on May 10-11, Killdeer on May 1 and May 8 and Yellowlegs (species unknown) on May 9-11.

Some other notable non-shorebird sightings from the trail camera include swans (unsure if Trumpeter or Tundra), a gosling, a crow flyby and some lovely sunset/sunrise photos of the scrape. Who says wetlands can’t be beautiful!

These photos were from relative early on in shorebird migration, photos during the peak time are still to come. We access the camera periodically to change the SD cards and batteries so stay tuned to see what comes off the camera next!

Manitoba IBA recently received funding through the province of Manitoba’s Green Team program to hire a Summer Assistant. We are excited to have another member of our summer staff come on board. See below for application information. A .pdf of this job posting is available upon request at iba@naturemanitoba.ca.

Manitoba Important Bird Areas Summer Assistant

The Manitoba Important Bird Area (IBA) Program is hiring a Summer Assistant. This position is based out of Winnipeg and includes travel to various IBAs in southern Manitoba. The position is a 460-hour full-time contract at $13/hr – start date late May/ early June 2021.

For more information on the Manitoba IBA program, visit: http://importantbirdareasmb.ca.

Responsibilities

Working closely with the IBA Coordinator, the responsibilities of the Program Assistant are to:

• monitor the endangered Chimney Swift in urban areas of Manitoba, especially Winnipeg;
• monitor populations of threatened birds in Manitoba’s IBAs;
• assist with species at risk monitoring blitzes in Manitoba’s IBAs;
• assist with organising events and activities for the Manitoba IBA Program;
• provide outreach to landowners with the federally threatened bird species;
• research and develop educational materials for landowners and the general public to promote Manitoba’s IBAs;
• represent the IBA Program at meetings, local events and festivals in southern and central Manitoba;
• data entry;
• assist with Manitoba IBA blog site and social media set-up;
• assist with volunteer and partner communications via email and phone;
• other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

The successful applicant will have:

• A minimum of 2 years of post-secondary education in biology, conservation or environmental science degree / diploma program
• Knowledge of and demonstrated interest in the natural history of Manitoba
• A keen interest in, knowledge of and ability to identify birds in Manitoba
• Previous experience in environmental education and outreach is a strong asset
• Experience with & knowledge of WordPress, Facebook and the Microsoft Office suite
• Exceptional written and interpersonal communication skills
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail
• Ability to work well as a team and independently

Interested in applying?

Applicants must meet the following criteria to be eligible for the position:

• youth aged 15 to 29,
• living in Manitoba, and
• legally entitled to work in Canada.

How to Apply:

Interested applicants should forward their resume and short 1 page cover letter as 1 PDF file by email to the IBA Coordinator at iba@naturemanitoba.ca (Subject line: IBA Summer Assistant) by Friday, May 14^th, 2021. Applications will be reviewed as they are submitted.

Only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

Although it may not look quite like spring outside this week, the Manitoba IBA Program is pleased to launch our spring webinar series. Our first two webinars in April are listed below, with more to be announced for May 2021. We hope to see you there!