Outside of the main Manitoba IBA volunteer programs, we have also been involved in a project with a number of partners to conserve grassland Species at Risk in southwestern Manitoba. We will publish a report on our monitoring efforts later this year, but we thought people may be interested in a short update from Lynnea Parker on what was done.

In June, I  helped Dr. Christian Artuso of Birds Studies Canada (BSC) conduct a series of bird surveys from Lyleton, north to Kirkella. These surveys were conducted as part of the Manitoba Species at Risk Partnerships on Agricultural Lands (SARPAL) program, ‘Keep Grazing‘. The primary goal of ‘Keep Grazing’ is to offer landowners, primarily beef producers, incentives to adapt grazing regimes and incorporate beneficial management actions in the most important corridor for mixed-grass prairie Species at Risk remaining in Manitoba. BSC and the Manitoba IBA Program are providing bird surveys to support the incentives program. These surveys provide a baseline of what birds are present, and will, we hope, provide opportunities to further engage local landowners in grassland bird conservation schemes. 2018 marked the third year of the program, and the second year of field work, and bird surveys have been completed for 50 landowners encompassing 60 properties.

A herd of cattle graze a pasture of mixed-grass prairie in southwestern Manitoba, photo by Lynnea Parker

I have always held a deep appreciation for field work as it connects me to the land and nature in ways that sightseeing from the road cannot. As I hiked across mixed-grass prairie this summer, I was reacquainted with how unique and diverse every remaining parcel of this threatened ecosystem is. While each section of grassland may appear homogeneous (the same) from the road, walking across the land enables one to see the differences in grass composition, plant and insect diversity, animals, and ground structure. No single parcel of land is the same as another, and this difference (heterogeneity) is a part of what makes grasslands and cattle grazing so important.

For specialist bird species, such as Baird’s Sparrow, Sprague’s Pipit, and Chestnut-collared Longspur, heterogeneity is very important. Each of these grassland birds prefers habitat characteristics which are slightly different. These differences are usually noted in grass density and cover, among other factors such as the presence or absence of sage brush and wolf willow, and proximity to edges, such as roads and tree lines. It is these “special” habitat requirements paired with extensive habitat loss and degradation which has led to the declines of many grassland bird species.

A male Chestnut-collard Longspur in grazed mixed-grass prairie. Carefully look at the interaction between tufts of grass, bare ground, and species diversity. This demonstrates the heterogeneous habitats referred to in the remainder of the blog. Photo by Lynnea Parker

In contrast, generalist species, such as the Savannah Sparrow, Western Meadowlark, and Eastern Kingbird tend to be considered widespread and abundant. These species do not require specialized habitat features to remain successfully competitive in their environment. So why is heterogeneity actually important? it is important so that each species can find areas within a landscape which meet their own foraging and reproductive requirements. Cattle or bison create and maintain heterogeneity, both within a single grazing unit, and across the wider landscape. Simply put, different grazing strategies result in heterogeneous grass structures.

A Western Meadowlark perched on a fence, photo by Lynnea Parker

Getting back to my summer experience, Christian and I would wake up before sunrise so that we could survey from 5:00 am to 10:00 am every morning. Depending on the size of a given property, we would attempt to conduct between 9 and 21 point counts, a minimum distance of 350 meters apart. These point counts provided a snapshot of the bird diversity at each site. Once and a while a herd of cattle, or in one instance horses, would get overly curious and run over to investigate my presence. After a morning of surveys, we would typically return to the field house in Pierson to backup our data and take a nap. Christian was fond of taking a drive in the evening to bird in Saskatchewan for the Saskatchewan Breeding Bird Atlas and sneak in some owling. On occasion we would also take detours on our way back to the field house to see a new area or find a particular species, such as the rare Lazuli Bunting! (featured below)

A rare male Lazuli Bunting is shown on the left, and a Lazuli Bunting x Indigo Bunting hybrid is shown on the right. Both of these birds were seen at the same location along the Antler River near Lyleton! Photos by Christian Artuso

A male Lazuli Bunting has been spending the last few summers in a known location along the Antler River, southeast of Lyleton. While I had seen this rarity last summer with Christian, we both had wondered if it would return again this year. After arriving at the spot we had detected it previously, we found a bird… just not the one we were expecting to see! Darting between the branches, pausing briefly to sing, we saw a vibrant blue bird with white underparts and white wing bar. Now this was odd, as we both knew male Lazuli Buntings had an orange breast for starters. It was Christian who identified it as a probable hybrid, which was later confirmed! This individual was a Lazuli x Indigo bunting. Just to make matters more interesting, Indigo Buntings do not generally occur near Lyleton either.

After spending some time at the site to obtain photographic documentation, the true male Lazuli Bunting made an appearance. With both birds on site, it was a special opportunity to see them in close comparison.

I thoroughly enjoyed spending time this summer near Pierson, Melita, and Lyleton. I would highly encourage anyone with a love of nature to take a trip to the southwest corner to see for yourself what these grasslands have to offer.

Upland Sandpiper

Male Brown-headed Cowbirds

Mixed-grass Prairie

Upper left: an Upland Sandpiper near Lyleton, lower left: male Brown-headed Cowbirds, right: mixed-grass prairie, photos by Lynnea Parker

On Sunday July 15th, the Manitoba IBA Program organised a blitz in the Kinosota-Leifur IBA. Our aim, to count the elusive and threatened Red-headed Woodpecker. Tim Poole, Manitoba IBA Coordinator describes what happened.

It’s 4am, and bleary eyed, I stumble out of bed and into my clothes for the day. Packing up the lunchtime picnic into a coolbox, it’s time to strike the road, to head to Alonsa, an area in the centre of one of Manitoba’s least known, but most intriguing IBAs. En route, I collected Lynnea Parker and Katherine Schulz, and we were soon on the Trans Canada, heading west past Portage la Prairie. As the dawn cracked, the birds came out, huge numbers of Franklin’s Gulls ‘hawking’ for food in agricultural fields.

It took over two hours to reach Alonsa. We met up with local Red-headed Woodpecker guru, Harry Harris. Harry was the instigator of this IBA back in the 1990’s. In Fact, Harry as manager of the Alonsa Conservation District had not only put together the information which led to the IBAs designation, he also spent much contributing to the species conservation, via advocacy, outreach, and conservation agreements. This was obviously the guy we needed on board for this search!

Today’s extremely handsome target species, the rare Red-headed Woodpecker. Photo copyright Randy Mooi

After talking one person up, it turns out I was not even in Harry’s group! Lynnea joined Harry, and local enthusiasts, Dick and Natalie Gordon. This was group C for the day, and no doubt this group were going to find a number of woodpecker territories. I had teamed up with Katharine and a new family for an IBA blitz, local shop owners, Frank, Lily and Mike Chen. They were new to the area, new to the woodpecker, but very keen to learn. We were the so-called group B and based to the south and east of Alonsa. In group A, Jo Swartz, Betsy Thorsteinson, Sabina Mastrolonardo and Christian Artuso headed north of Silver Ridge around Kinosota. Randy and Odette Mooi were in the southwest, having spent the night in a luxury pad in McCreary. This was our Group D.

As stated above, our intention was to target and find Red-headed Woodpeckers in suitable habitat. Fortunately, this is a species with quite particular habitat requirements. They require mature, scattered trees, usually aspen, some standing deadwood, or snags on living trees, little or no shrub cover, and very sparse understorey. This habitat is usually associated with cattle grazing, but can also be found in well managed yard sites. Fortunately, the Kinosota-Leifur IBA is one the premier places for this species in Manitoba, primarily due to presence of cattle in woodlots throughout the summer.

Cattle in a wood lot. This combination is the ideal place for Red-headed Woodpeckers (although these trees may be a bit too spindly). Copyright Randy Mooi

The plan for each groups then was to find the cows. Find the cows and you find the birds. Some of us seemed to spend a lot of time taking photos of cows in fact.

More friendly cows saying hello! Copyright Randy Mooi

Initially our group headed out in two vehicles, with the intention of leaving one in Silver Ridge. Our first attempts at finding woodpeckers ended with no joy, although we were able to point out some of the other calling birds in the area to the Chen family.

One of the first calling birds in the early morning sunshine was a Sandhill Crane. Unfortunately we never saw them, but Randy and Odette did get a very good view! Photo copyright Randy Mooi

We picked up our first Red-headed Woodpeckers on about our third stop. Frank, on his first ever search for this species, managed to find one with an absolutely cracking spot on top of a tree. Brilliant! What’s more, at this and our second stop, we managed to pull out 4 woodpeckers, assuming we had 2 breeding pairs in each patch of habitat.

Overexposed and distant, but this striking pose is irresistible. Copyright Tim Poole

Jumping into a single vehicle at Silver Ridge, we headed off towards the east side of the highway, zigzagging across country in search of our target species. A Black-billed Cuckoo was among the other highlight birds of the morning. Northern Flickers undulated between trees, and Le Contes Sparrow called from the ditches. Fields of Ring-billed Gulls also gathered, a sign that summer is beginning to wane, and birds are starting to gather for a trip to the sun.

In total, we found a not unreasonable 15 Red-headed Woodpeckers, and I can assure you, with very high winds making listening incredibly difficult, we left a few woodpeckers out there, undiscovered by us. We did find a woodpecker entering its nesting cavity, and we also noted one in with a paddock of bison.

A Red-headed Woodpecker appeared as if from nowhere next to some yard sites on top of this hydro pole. Copyright Tim Poole

What of the other groups?

Group A managed to find a very impressive 13 woodpeckers in the north, although a few were north of the new IBA boundary (note to oneself, the boundary might need further revision). They managed to pick out a California Gull (which is why one should always bird with Christian), a single Eastern Wood-Pewee, and even a Nashville Warbler and a Black and White Warbler. The oak woodland west of Kinosota, an old area for Red-headed Woodpecker offered no luck on this occasion. Bobolinks were also among the species found.

This pair of Bobolink either had a major argument, or they really are convinced that no one can see them. Photo copyright Randy Mooi

Group C, driven by Harry were able to find an estimated 10 pairs, although we had to knock off a couple of the birds as they managed to stray into Randy and Odettes area! Other birding highlights included a recently fledged group of Sharp-tailed Grouse.

IBAs are not good for birds, hence this stunning Great Spangled Fritillary (thanks Deanna Dodgson for the i.d.). Photo copyright Randy Mooi

Group D, Randy and Odette Mooi began their scouting on Saturday, looking for woodpeckers in an area south of the current IBA boundary. The area around Kelwood did not turn up any woodpeckers. However, they had far more success driving along 79W, counting 9 relatively concentrated adults, pertaining to at least 5 territories.

Copyright Randy Mooi

Copyright Randy Mooi

Photos above show Red-headed Woodpeckers in the early evening light on snags. Both Copyright Randy Mooi.

The following morning, Randy and Odette searched the southwestern corner of the IBA, coming up with 5 woodpeckers on 5 territories, although there was a wee bit of overlap with the birds from the night before (this is shy we have GPS’s to record coordinates). Another highlight of their morning was a count of 10 Bobolinks, a grassland Species at Risk. Oh, and the two Upland Sandpipers spotted on Saturday evening was another decent species for this area. Being Curator of Zoology at the Manitoba Museum, Randy could not resist checking out a few things en route to look at, including the below Plains Garter Snake, which was both pregnant and rather full of food!

Plains Garter Snake – pregnant female that ate something big. Copyright Randy Mooi

So there we have it, a very tidy total of Red-headed Woodpeckers for a very blustery morning, with volunteers who on the whole had never seen the area before. So what were our totals? First, here is our map of Red-headed Woodpeckers found over 2 days (the 9 from Randy and Odette from the previous day are added as they were still on breeding territories). There is certainly one road I would now drive down to look for this species!

The total figures for Red-headed Woodpecker, excluding those birds found outside the IBA, and double-counts was:

With at least 8 territories outside the IBA boundary, in large concentrations, I think another small revision might be required!

There is something almost frightening about a Red-headed Woodpecker surging headlong towards you! Is it the balck and white warning signs on the body and wings? Or the large red alert sign on the head? Photo copyright Randy Mooi

Here is our total IBA results for Sunday (Red-headed Woodpecker excluded). In total, 84 species were noted and over 3000 birds, most of which were Ring-billed Gulls in one field!

On completion of the blitz, each group made their way down to Hollywood Beach, part of the Sandy Bay Marshes IBA for a picnic. In addition to a slightly confused lone Tundra Swan, we had a really good list of migrant shorebirds on the shoreline. One Pectoral Sandpiper even threw one of our number into confusion (there were some similarities with Great Knot) – but Randy set that person straight. The number of northern shorebirds was very interesting in July, and indicative of news from the north that many High Arctic shorebirds have had a poor breeding season. In addition to the aforementioned Pecs, we had Stilts, Semipalmated Sandpipers and Plover, Baird’s, Least and Red-necked Phalaropes.

Marbled Godwits on the shore. Now, is that a Great Knot in the background? Photo Copyright Tim Poole

Here is our Sandy Bay Marshes IBA checklist courtesy of Lynnea Parker:

So there we have it, another blitz completed, and a rather fun one at that. We managed to cover two IBAs and find a trigger for the primary target species.

Thank you to everyone who came along at the weekend: Jo, Betsy, Sabina, Christian, Frank, Lily, Mike, Katharine, Harry, Dick, Natalie, Lynnea, Randy and Odette. Thanks to Randy also for the great photos.

There is more to come for the remainder of the summer for this program. Watch this space!

On Wednesday July 11th, a small group of Manitoba IBA volunteers got together at Saint Ambroise Beach Provincial Park (in Delta Marsh IBA) for our inaugural beach cleanup. This event was in partnership with the excellent new Clear Your Gear Initiative, launched recently by Minister of Sustainable Development, Rochelle Squires.

Clear Your Gear pail with logo. Photo copyright Lynnea A. Parker

This initiative was launched because many birds and other wildlife are at risk of being caught in angling material. Angling material, including hooks, floats and lines, can enter our water systems by accident. For example, line can break fairly easy, or nets can get washed away. In many cases, wildlife can become entangled, leading to suffocation, drowning or starvation. This is something that no one wants to see. Judy Robertson, an experienced wildlife rehabilitation specialist from Wildlife Haven, has been planning the Manitoba Clear Your Gear Initiative for a few years, partnering with Manitoba Sustainable Development and TransCanada. The initial focus for the project is Lockport, with its large catfish fishery being in close proximity to large concentrations of American White Pelicans. This has been modeled on an initiative from Sanibel-Captiva in Florida – they were even allowed to borrow the name!

An American White Pelican with monofilament wrapped around its wing. This photo was taken in June at East Shoal Lake IBA. Photo copyright Lynnea A. Parker

Independently of the higher level discussions, the Manitoba IBA Program has been planning to do a workparty for a couple of years in an IBA. With the launch of Clear Your Gear, it was certainly a good time to do this, and we were delighted that they were willing to support our endeavours.

The primary intention of Clear Your Gear is to clear any monofilament line from our waterways. Monofilament, single strand fishing line, can now be recycled, and Clear Your Gear will now prepaid provide boxes to send the material to a recycling area.

Fishing net tangled on the beach. Photo copyright Tim Poole

Last Wednesday, 9 people came together at Saint Ambroise. Our team was Barbara and Phil Barnett, Michele and Mike Tumber, Bonnie Chartier, Lynnea Parker, Sabina Mastrolonardo, Christian Artuso and Tim Poole. We split the beach into different sections: Christian, Mike and Sabina heading west towards Clandeboye; Lynnea and Michele were dropped at the east end of the beach and walking back towards the parking lot and; Barbara, Phil, Bonnie and Tim working out from the middle. Overall we probably covered around 3km and managed to collect a pretty impressive amount of material.

Large amounts of materials were collected on the beach. Photo copyright Lynnea A. Parker

Some of the material really took some heavy lifting to remove, even needing two people to drag it together. Other materials needed to be dragged in any way possible.

Hooking up the nets to make dragging easier. Lynnea was photographed here by Michele Tumber

The interesting factor from this cleanup was that apart from one set of hooks, almost all the angling gear taken from the beach belonged to fishing nets rather than individual line. We discovered after the fact that the ice fishing fishery of Lake Manitoba leads to many nets getting stranded following ice break. We removed more than a dozen nets from the beach itself, and left a few which were either buried, or too large to drag away. Just to labour the point about damage to wildlife, the remains of a Red-winged Blackbird were pulled from a net. The problem is fairly extensive – we only covered around 3km after all, with the IBA also including Twin Lakes and Delta Beaches.

Remains of a Red-winged Blackbird in a fishing net. Photo copyright Sabina Mastrolonardo

As mentioned before, this was very much our inaugural and trial event. We learnt a fair few lessons. One was that we would need more heavy duty tools to cut through the ropes on the nets. We also realised that we would need a larger vehicle than any we had available to haul this material away. Indeed, it was very apparent that a truck would be required. Step in Mike and Michel, who drove the hour back to Saint-François Xavier to collect their truck and the hour back again. They loaded the truck, and then took it home for a few days, only being relieved of their load on Monday morning. Heroes!

The team and their plunder. Photo copyright Lynnea A. Parker

We were also grateful to the very helpful guy from Manitoba Sustainable Development, who was delighted with our efforts, and let us store the gear in his compound.

Huge amounts of waste. Photo copyright Sabina Mastrolonardo

All in all this was a very successful morning. Christian and Michele began the process of removing the cement weights and floats from the nets on the beach (if anyone would like these, please let us know). Mike and Michele continued this work at home, and sent the lead weights to a scrap metal dealer. We still have the monofilament to remove from the ropes on the nets – and if anyone would like to join us for a fund day removing this material, please let us know. There will be a small workparty in a yard in Winnipeg at some point soon.

Thank you everyone who made this into a very successful day out! Thank you also to our various funders, including Environment and Climate Change Canada, Manitoba Fish and Wildlife Enhancement Fund, TD Friends of the Environment Foundation, and Noventis Credit Union.

On June 3rd, 2018, the IBA Program organised a bird blitz at the Oak Lake and Plum Lakes IBA in southwestern Manitoba. Our objective was to identify and count as many shorebirds, grassland birds, Franklin’s Gulls and Red-headed Woodpeckers as possible, as well as finding the multitudes of other birds in this wonderful place for birds. Here is our report in three parts.

Early morning in the PIpestone area. Southwestern Manitoba does not look too shabby in the dawn! Copyright Christian Artuso

Sabina Mastrolonardo

On June 3^rd 2018, The Important Bird Area (IBA) of the Oak-Plum Lakes area were divided into 5 zones and Katharine Schultz and myself (Sabina Mastrolonardo) were in charge of surveying birds in the northwest side of the IBA (named Zone 1). We began heading south on Highway 1 at 7AM, now entering our zone of the IBA and beginning to listen and look for all bird species. Over 60 Least Flycatchers, 37 Warbling Vireos, 27 Clay-colored Sparrows, 23 Marsh Wrens, and 21 Yellow Warblers wanted to be heard as they were the most frequent singing birds around all day. In addition, 15 Baltimore Orioles, 3 Great Crested Flycatchers, 1 Vesper Sparrow, and 3 Le Conte’s Sparrows were often heard during the survey before spotting them through binoculars.

Sedge Wren perched on a post; a songbird often detected first by song. Copyright Randall D. Mooi.

Zone 1 included large numbers of swallow colonies, with an estimated 100 Cliff Swallows under a bridge (130 total in Zone 1 of the IBA), 23 Barn Swallows, 4 Tree Swallows, and even 41 Bank Swallows. The Bank Swallow colony was a surprising discovery near the end of a gravel road with Veeries and American Goldfinches singing in the distance.

Despite Brandon and the southwest part of the province receiving quite a bit of rain over the last couple days, the gravel roads were in pretty good shape, making accessibility to the lake achievable! Shorebird highlights were 4 White-faced Ibis with some feeding and some in flight, 2 Great Blue Herons, and 1 Marbled Godwit and 1 Wilson’s Snipe next to each other showcasing a great example of size and bill length differences (not photographed – but photos of species separate below).

Marbled Godwit (Top Left) Copyright Katharine Schultz, Upland Sandpiper (Top Right), and Wilson’s Snipe (Bottom) both Copyright Randall D. Mooi.

By noon it was time to wrap up the bird monitoring and meet the other groups for a picnic lunch at Cherry Point near Oak Lake Resort, allowing us to be around a flock of Cedar Waxwings, many Western Kingbirds and even a pair of Orchard Orioles. A fine Sunday indeed out at the Oak-Plum Lakes area with more to come about the entire IBA totals and other groups successes!  Stay tuned….

Birders flocked together while spotting an Orchard Oriole pair just before the picnic lunch. Copyright Cam Nikkel.

Lynnea Parker

Glennis Lewis and I (Lynnea Parker) took charge of zone 3 which covered the area from Jiggins Bluff (located off road 43N) south to HWY 2 (by Deleau) and west to road 150W. This area is characterized by a mosaic of wetlands, deciduous woodlands, grasslands, and agricultural fields. With such a diversity of habitats, it was no surprise to us that we detected 77 species (zone 3 checklist).

Most species detected were local breeders as the bulk of migratory shorebirds and warblers had already passed through. Our highlights included a single Horned Grebe which is currently ranked as Special Concern by COSEWIC. You can learn more about Horned Grebes in Manitoba by visiting this species account published by the Manitoba Breeding Bird Atlas. Other Species At Risk (SAR) included 1 Eastern Wood-Pewee, 12 Bank Swallow, 69 Barn Swallow, 1 Grasshopper Sparrow, and 10 Bobolink.

Stunning Swainson’s Hawk. Photo copyright Cam Nikkel

All in all, it was a fantastic morning to get out and document the rich bird diversity the area had to offer. The day before the event a series of rainstorms swept through the area. Despite this, road conditions were quite good and we were able to get decent coverage of our zone.

Almost statuesque elegance of the Forster’s Tern captured magnificently here by Cam Nikkel.

Tim Poole

A group of Jen and her 7 year old daughter, Anna, Matt and Tim headed to the southeast extension of the IBA. This area covered the northern parts of the Lauder Sandhills, and the eastern part of Maple Lake. The habitats in this area varied: tame and native pastures; alfalfa hay meadows and occasional crop fields; shallow lakes with emergent vegetation and; large areas of sandhill with broadleaf woodland. The mix of bird species was therefore expected to be slightly different to the other areas.

The torrential downpours of Saturday meant that the original intention of starting with the wetland areas was delayed. instead the group forged into some of the eastern grassland habitats, quickly detecting Grasshopper Sparrows and Bobolink. Excitement levels raised when finding an extensive area of open woodland, ideal for the threatened Red-headed Woodpecker. It wasn’t long before Matt spotted the first woodpecker, and although it is likely that multiple pairs were present, only 2 individuals could be confirmed. A few minutes later, a stray call in another area, confirmed a third woodpecker – unfortunately this was it for the morning for this species (I’m sure there were more out there).

One of only a handful of Red-headed Woodpecker detected during the blitz. Photo copyright Tim Poole

With the roads drying out, a decision was made to go for the Maple Lake area. Tim had previously visited these areas, and had re-found the Franklin’s Gull colony discovered by Ken De Smet in 2017. The area was full of White-faced Ibis, a magnificent species! There were fewer gulls than Tim’s 10,000 from the previous week, but we still put down a cool 5,000 for the day. There were also Eared Grebes in good numbers, White-rumped Sandpipers and Redhead and Canvasback. Nelson’s Sparrow were calling from the sedges, a lifer for Jen, and Black and Forster’s Tern risked the wrath of the superabundant gulls.

Franklin’s Gulls, White-faced Ibis and Yellow-headed Blackbird on the washed out road. Copyright Tim Poole

Tim then decided to try to drive the car through the Lauder Sandhills. This would have been an immense drive – if the roads were a bit drier, but even the most pushy of drivers decided to turn and flee for harder tracks. On that note, it was interesting that the Provincial Road condition was significantly worse than the RM gravel roads. Some of them almost needed an amphibious vehicle to get through the damage caused by heavy vehicles.

On a final note, it was fantastic to be joined by Jen and Anna. Enthusing young people about nature is incredibly important. As a parent of young children, this is something close to my own heart. Unfortunately, there is a great need to have some more formal nature groups for young people in Manitoba to support and encourage young people to learn about nature, and to start a lifelong interest in wildlife. Food for thought….

Jen and Anna watching the Eared Grebes in the Maple Lake area (thanks Jen for permission to use the image). Photo copyright Tim Poole

Here is a summary of our remaining two or three groups (depending on whether Christian decides he was part of a group, or a singular man on a mission).

The handsome Loggerhead Shrike feeding in the IBA later on the same day. Photos all copyright Katharine Schulz.

Randy and Peter birded the southwest corner around Pipestone. There were some grassland birds in this area, including Loggerhead Shrike, Chestnut-collared Longspur and Sprague’s Pipit. Christian added some species from grassland bird surveys in this area, and we had a nice total here. The total of 11 Sprague’s Pipit and 7 Chestnut-collared Longspur’s is a really good result for this area in 2018.

A Chestnut-collared Longspur just posing to be photographed! Copyright Christian Artuso

Christian, in addition to helping out with some of the above, also found several thousand Franklin’s Gulls feeding in fields, and the largest group of shorebirds for the day, mainly White-rumped Sandpipers, and a rarely seen spring migrant, a Buff-breasted Sandpiper. All these birds turned up in a muddy, flooded field.

Those brown dots are a multitude of shorebirds! Cpyright Christian Artuso

Bonnie, Cam and Bill hit the northeast, and added Mountain Bluebird straight away (Bonnie was determined to swell her year list). They also found a number of interesting birds, not least one of the days better hauls of shorebirds.

Mountain Bluebird taking flight. Copyright Tim Poole

Of most interest was the towhee find, what appeared at first to be a rare Spotted Towhee.

A Spotted Towhee – or is it? Copyright Bill Rideout

Here is Christian Artuso’s thoughts on the photos from Bill:

1. obviously perfect rows of spots on wing coverts and mantle plus thick white edge to tertials immediately rules out Eastern Towhee (Eastern shows no white in any of these places but instead show a small pocket hanky of white at the base of the primaries and white along the edge of the outer primary)
2. The problem with calling this a spotted is that it shows a TINY amount of white at the base of the primaries (despite all their spots elsewhere, this area should be black in Spotted Towhee) the mix of this white pocket hanky plus spots elsewhere is usually attributable to hybridisation… in this bird though the amount of white is the key area is miniscule and only noticeable when the primaries and slightly apart… it is so little white it is tempting to write it off but…
3. The eye is clearly red as expected in both species but it is usually a bit deeper red in Eastern and this bird seems to have a dark red eye (sadly there is no photo where the eye is in good sunlight to really judge this)

So, this is why I say MOSTLY Spotted Towhee – almost everything looks right for Spotted except two tiny tiny details… as for their song, all I can say is those two are extremely similar and it takes practices to separate them with confidence! 

The offending blemish – only a very careful eye could pull this out. Copyright Bill Rideout

Thank you to everyone for coming along, it was a fantastic day, and we had some very valuable data collected. Of most note, was the excess of 10,000 Franklin’s Gulls. This would trigger the 1% global population of this species.

Here is our total list:

Eastern Kingbird looking alert. Copyright Cam Nikkel

On Thursday May 24th 2018, organizations, biologists, and volunteers met on an impressive Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) property named Jiggen’s Bluff to start the second day of the Shorebird workshop. If you missed our blog post featuring the first day of the workshop, you can read it here. The MB Shorebird Conservation, Management, and Monitoring Workshop was organized by the Manitoba Important Bird Area (IBA) program, Manomet Shorebird Recovery Program and NCC, bringing together around 25 participants. A few main objectives of the workshop were to work on shorebird identification, connect shorebirds migrating/using the Central Flyway, address threats, and establish a long-term International Shorebird Survey (ISS) in Manitoba.

The schedule for the second day of the workshop was modified due to changes in the weather forecast. The original order of events would have had us watching presentations in the morning, with a trip to Whitewater Lake in the afternoon. To avoid the impending rain we all met at Jiggin’s Bluff at 8:30AM for a presentation by Brian Harrington on Flock Estimation. After discovering how terrible we could be at estimating flock sizes (and realizing why continuous practice is so important), everyone hopped on the bus and headed to Whitewater Lake.

Waterwater Lake IBA provided excellent opportunities to ID Shorebirds in the field, count species numbers, and estimate flock sizes.

At our first stop we had 13 species of Shorebirds including: American Avocet, Semipalmated Plover, Killdeer, Marbled Godwit, Ruddy Turnstone, Stilt Sandpiper, Baird’s Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Wilson’s Phalarope, Red-necked Phalarope, and Willet (complete checklist). Everyone split into groups to ID and count. After everyone had finished their tally, results were compared. Aside from slight variation, which can be due to a difference in detection as birds come and go, results were quite even across the groups. A challenging species to count was the 160 Red-necked Phalarope which flushed regularly and were actively feeding in a large groups with new individuals arriving throughout our observation period. The 20 Ruddy Turnstone were well camouflaged where they were foraging in the bare agricultural field, with some groups not noticing their presence until the very end!

American Avocet (Left), Red-necked Phalarope (Top-right), Ruddy Turnstone (Bottom-right), Photos by C. Artuso

At our second stop we had 12 species of Shorebird, with 3 additional species: Hudsonian Godwit, Dunlin, and Lesser Yellowlegs (complete checklist). We were also quick to note the 2 Greater White-fronted Geese present. This location was not the best for learning opportunities due to the harsh glare of the sun and the distance of the birds, so after taking account of the species we moved on to stop 3.

Workshop attendees straddled along the road looking for shorebirds. Copyright Tim Poole

At the third stop we had 15 species of Shorebird, with 2 additional species: Black-bellied Plover and Long-billed Dowitcher (complete checklist). The Long-billed Dowitcher was a fantastic find, and we spent a good amount of time examining this bird which was foraging with 6 Marbled Godwit and a single Hudsonian Godwit. The close-up scope views of the Marbled Godwit and Hudsonian Godwit provided a unique opportunity to compare these species.

3 Marbled Godwit (Left), 1 Long-billed Dowitcher standing in front of 1 Hudsonian Godwit (Right), Photo by Lynnea Parker

Our last stop landed us at Sexton’s Point, an area known for Western Grebe, Clark’s Grebe, and Great Egret. We were rewarded with 2 Clarke’s Grebe which are considered uncommon in Manitoba. Although uncommon, Clarke’s Grebe are known to breed at Whitewater Lake and sometimes even hybridize with the locally abundant Western Grebe. At this location we had 1 additional species of Shorebird: American Golden-Plover (Complete Checklist). Out on a distant spit of gravel, 20 American Golden-Plover were resting with a flock of 180 Black-bellied Plover. It is always a treat to see these two species in spring migration.

Additional species seen throughout the morning can be found on this checklist. 

In the early afternoon we found ourselves back at the Jiggin’s Bluff house for lunch and continued presentations. Monica Iglecia started off the afternoon talking about threats to Shorebirds and the status of Shorebird populations. It was alarming to learn that 40% of Shorebirds globally are experiencing declines. In North America, 40% of our Shorebird species are in decline, highlighting the need for a central flyway Shorebird monitoring program. Manitoba is located in the central flyway, and our establishment of an International Shorebird Survey (ISS) will fill a gap in regional, continental, and global monitoring efforts.

Monica’s presentation highlighted several challenges with Shorebird conservation, including:

• Shorebirds tend to have low fecundity (small number of eggs per breeding pair)
• Shorebirds face habitat loss and/or degradation at migratory stop-over locations and on breeding grounds
• Climate change is an unknown variable what will undoubtedly affect Shorebirds in various ways
• Unregulated hunting of Shorebird populations still exists in South America and the Caribbean.

During the presentation a considerable hail storm descended upon the area, which captured everyone’s attention. As it turns out, we were correct in changing our schedule to do field observations in the morning!

Rebecca Neufeld presented next on Threats and Habitat Priorities in Oak Lake and Sandhill Conservation Plan. Issues that were identified for this area included the threat of Zebra Mussels establishing in the lake, invasive species management (focus on plants), fire suppression, and the encroachment of woody species in grassland areas.

Management of the Oak Lake and Sandhill conservation areas is directed towards grassland birds, mixed-grass prairie, sandhill blowouts, and riparian areas.

Our third presentation of the afternoon was an Introduction to Shorebird Management by Brad Winn. Brad explained that Shorebirds often respond rapidly to beneficial management. The three core needs of a migrating Shorebird were identified as:

1. Food
2. Staging areas to rest at stop-over locations
3. Night roosting areas

Conservation of Shorebirds means addressing these needs, and ensuring that they can be met. Brad explained how Manomet works with local communities around the globe to establish Shorebird conservation initiatives. An important take-home message from this presentation was that managing for wildlife frequently means changing human behaviour, attitudes, and policy. It is a long process that one must be prepared for!

Christian Artuso was the last presenter of the day, speaking on the need for ISS monitoring in Manitoba. Christian explained why southwestern Manitoba was an exceptional location for migratory Shorebirds. He described how Manitoba’s current wet cycle and numerous ephemeral wetlands provided reliable (but constantly changing) habitat. Whitewater Lake itself is a vital stop-over location in the central flyway. Christian further highlighted that most of the Shorebird research in the province has been conducted in Churchill (northeastern Manitoba), with little attention being given to the southwestern region.