by Patricia Rosa

On a stormy Tuesday morning, Tim and I ventured out to the North, West & East Shoal Lakes IBA (MB038). Since our plans in another IBA fell through, we decided to direct our efforts towards the Interlake region in hopes of spotting Red-headed Woodpecker and Least Bittern. Despite the less than ideal weather, we saw a “good number of pelicans”, “okay number of herons”, and were surprised at the “lack of ducks” (Tim Poole, pers. comm.).

We were off to a great start as the rain (thankfully) subsided once we arrived to the IBA and were greeted by a Great Egret near the side of the road.

Great Egret ©Patricia Rosa

East Shoal Lake was buzzing! We encountered an agitated male Bobolink and were soon able to see the source of all the excitement. A nearby female seemed to be the target audience of this one-man show. Unfortunately, another male showed up (left) and although our performer (right) was definitely more motivated than his rival, she remained close to the cool and collected male, and sure enough, they ended up flying off together!

Agitated male Bobolink attempting to impress the female ©Patricia Rosa

Two male and one female Bobolink ©Patricia Rosa

In the field beyond where the BOBO-show was taking place, we got a peek at Sandhill Crane and Great Blue Heron. On the water, we saw lots of Western Grebe, including this brave one carrying young on its back in rough waters. Although getting this grainy shot induced quite a bit of nausea, I was rather proud to have out-photoed Tim on this one (Patricia 1, Tim 0)!

Great Blue Heron ©Patricia Rosa

Grainy images of Western Grebe carrying young on back. ©Patricia Rosa

The strong winds allowed us to witness and admire the prowess of the Black Tern.

Black Tern in action. ©Patricia Rosa

When we came around to suitable Red-headed Woodpecker habitat (e.g. open understorey, standing deadwood, often with cattle grazing), we almost immediately saw two individuals. After several minutes, a bold one flew directly towards us! We had our cameras ready but were too frazzled/excited to get a good picture of it in-flight and both ended up with blurry background pictures (Patricia 0, Tim 0). However, he did stick around and proceeded to pose for us around his habitat!

Red-headed Woodpecker ©Patricia Rosa

My biggest disappointment of the day was failing to get an identifiable shot of a Red-necked Grebe. While I struggled, Tim effortlessly took a great picture (Patricia 0, Tim 1).

©Tim Poole

©Patricia Rosa

Last but not least, we saw a Least Bittern flush while scanning appropriate habitat. Although we were ready and hoping to see one, both Tim and I missed our shot despite getting a good long look (Patricia 0, Tim 0).

Towards the end of our survey, the wind started picking up and the skies started rumbling once again, and so, we headed back to Winnipeg (Final tally: Patricia 1, Tim 1).

Check out the highlights of our brief survey in this IBA and our total count!

On July 9th, a group of people descended on the relatively unknown Kinosota-Leifur Important Bird Area from as far afield as Portage la Prairie, Winnipeg, Birds Hill and Brandon. Our goal was to locate and count the globally Near Threatened Red-headed Woodpecker, a Species At Risk and a stunning species to observe and enjoy.

The IBA at Kinosota-Leifur was the brainchild of Harry Harris who once worked at the Alonsa Conservation District. It was Harry who put together the IBA information and had estimated that at least 50 pairs were present in this area. Since 1995 though, apart from some atlassing, no one had, as far as we know, tried to do a comprehensive count of this species in this area.

There is still evidence of previous efforts to conserve the Red-headed Woodpecker. Copyright Tim Poole

Red-headed Woodpeckers are a species with an interesting habitat preference. They prefer open stands of aspen with plenty of deadwood and snags for cavities. The vegetation must be short and lack dense shrubs, hence they are often present in open woodlots with cattle or horses. The dead trees must all be fairly large, around 25cm diameter at chest height (the technical term is DBH or Diameter at Breast Height).

Typical Red-headed Woodpecker habitat in the IBA. Copyright Sabina Mastrolonardo

This is a migratory species in Manitoba, wintering in the United States and returning to breed in deciduous woodlands in the centre of the continent in spring. There are also resident breeding populations in southeastern USA and southern Ontario.

Data from Breeding Bird Surveys suggest that this species has suffered a marked decline of over 65.5% in a 40 year period. According to Birdlife International, this species decline is due to:

‘Habitat degradation, as a result of the removal of dead trees and branches in urban areas (Pulich 1988), and loss of nesting habitat to firewood cutting, clear cutting, agricultural development and river channelling in rural areas (Ehrlich et al. 1992, Melcher 1998).’

As to the blitz, we really did not know what to expect. An article placed in the Neepawa Banner in the days before had managed to drum  up some interest, mainly from people form the wider area letting us know where Red-headed Woodpeckers might be discovered. We had developed a protocol which included periods of listening and playback for woodpeckers and hoped this would be sufficient even as we stepped into the unknown.

Twelve volunteers embarked on this exploration and we split into 4 groups. The search areas were split into a core area, highlighted in red and an extension area which took in areas to the west of the main highway. This second area turned out to be much wetter than expected and it was to the core area we would focus.

In the north, around Kinosota itself we had a team of Louanne, Margaret, Millie and Bill. This group turned out to be the group with the least luck – not a single Red-headed Woodpecker around Kinosota strangely. They did find some suitable habitat – one spot was especially good. On a positive note, they did get two Pileated Woodpecker, always a cracking species to find. Even more remarkable was an overhead White-faced Ibis, something more likely to pop up at Whitewater or Oak Lake. The comments from Louanne were as follows:

‘Margaret, Millie, Bill and I made 23 protocol stops during the Kinosota-Leifur IBA Blitz in search of Red-headed Woodpeckers. Most of the ‘core’ area and a little of the ‘extended’ area of Group/Zone A, were covered. Our effort began under sunny skies but after just over an hour, a cold wind brought in threatening clouds which led to rain, hampering our efforts though sunny skies did return. All observations were made from inside or a short distance from the vehicle.’

Dark clouds on the horizon. Copyright Sabina Mastrolonardo

The period of windy weather midway through the morning was especially difficult for hearing birds and the second group consisting of Eric, Carrie-Anne and Tim actually revisited suitable habitat which had scored zero woodpeckers first time – scoring a few extra Red-headed Woodpeckers in the process.

Red-headed Woodpecker flying away under dark skies. Copyright Tim Poole

This group found 11 individual Red-headed Woodpeckers, the most of any group. Interestingly they also scored their first one in Amaranth en route, on a telephone pole. Other species of note included a calling Scarlet Tanager and Black-billed Cuckoo.

All photos copyright Tim Poole

South again and our next group included Wally Jansen, Katharine Schulz and Sabina Mastrolonardo. They recorded 8 Red-headed Woodpeckers in a central area between Silver Ridge and Bluff Creek. A nice little patch of habitat. Other highlights included 6 species of flycatcher, 3 of which were another Species At Risk, the Eastern Wood Pewee, and 10 Bobolink. Interestingly, 10 Bobolink might also point towards issues for the Red-headed Woodpecker, if suitable woodland has been felled and replaced with hayland.

Finally, Garry and John surveyed the southern area, detecting 2 Red-headed Woodpeckers, interestingly the furthest west of the survey. They also grabbed a pair in the group to the norths area thanks to a tip off from a friendly farmer. The other highlight was that of finding a Great Gray Owl, not common in this type of habitat in July.

Sharp-tailed Grouse in the Kinosota-Leifur IBA. Copyright Garry Budyk

This gave us a total of 23 Red-headed Woodpeckers for the morning. not bad, but not a patch on the 50 pairs found historically. The next challenge is to try to work out whether we were missing a lot of woodpeckers or whether land-use changes in the 25 or so years since the IBA was put together have led to a large loss in habitat. Hopefully there will be more to come on this in the future. Below is the distribution of Red-headed Woodpeckers mapped. As can be seen, the current boundary is not correct and will be changed to reflect these results.

A summary of all species can be seen below. In total there were 91 species and 2048 individual birds counted, still pretty good and comparable figures to other blitzes. Ring-billed Gulls were numerous as were wetland songbirds such as Sedge Wren, Common Yellowthroat and Song Sparrow.

Day 4 of the IBA Churchill trip and again we kick off with a trip to Cape Merry for a sweep of the birds along the coastline. Bonnie worked her way across the shore and Tim abandoned her for an opportunity to watch the Belugas in the water below. It was quite a sight! There were good numbers of white adults and grey juveniles (sorry Raffi, you’re wrong) in moving with the tide in front of us. Also in attendance was a large raft of Black Scoter, good numbers of Red-throated Loon and the usual mix of Surf Scoters and White-winged Scoter.

Beluga photos above all copyright Tim Poole

There were also Tundra Swans present in large numbers throughout the day.

Cape Merry is a place full of wildlife. For example, look below and you will see from the video below the scattering of loons, eiders, scoters and mergansers around the pods of Beluga.

From Cape Merry we headed eventually down towards CR30 on the Hydro Road in the hope of finding some interesting gulls. As the Hydro Road turns into the road at Goose Creek we checked the swallows and were pleasantly surprised to find a Barn Swallow and a couple of Bank Swallows feeding with the Tree Swallows. These species are rare in the north and even the Tree Swallow is only becoming more abundant thanks to Dr Kit’s bird house program.

Tree Swallow searching for bugs in the loose dirt created by the tire tracks. Copyright Tim Poole

One of the most vivid and stunning ducks one could expect to encounter is the Surf Scoter. This is a sea duck which breeds in boreal ponds and lakes. Crossing Goose Creek we noted there were two males and a single female, a situation which would never end well. Unsurprisingly, the two males were in the midst of a battle over the single female, bad for one of the males, great for those of us fortunate to watch them.

Surf Scoter female (left) and two males. The video below highlights the aggressive interaction between these two males. Copyright Tim Poole

Our primary hope was to find Little Gull. Just past the bridge we had not found Little Gulls but the Bonaparte’s were still showing up well.

Couple of Bonaparte’s Gull. We would search the feeding Bonaparte’s for Little Gull. Copyright Tim Poole

Driving through what should have been small wetlands which were no been enveloped in the Churchill River we eventually spotted our target species. A Little Gull looks much like a Bonaparte’s but lacks the white eye ring, has a more extensive hood, is smaller and most noticeable, is dark underwing. Two Little Gull were feeding in a small wetland behind some trees feeding with Bonaparte’s Gulls. In total we would find six that day, a not too shabby number given there are only around 200 breeding in North America.

A count at CR30 put up good numbers of scoters (all three species), loon and another Little Gull. At this juncture the weather was beginning to turn and we were forced to drive back as the rain began to come down.

We were able to see the Surf Scoters one more time and in the same area there was even a pair of Black Scoter.

Further north as the rain really began to come down we also found a couple of feeding Short-billed Dowitcher. For anyone unfamiliar with this species, it has a very distinct ‘sewing machine’ feeding motion, its head probing in and out of the water at a steady tempo. Almost metronomic one might say!

Short-billed Dowitcher feeding in the rain. Copyright Tim Poole

The weather deteriorated to the extent that we were forced to cancel our evening bird walk. The wind and rain making it almost impossible to see let alone watch and talk about birds. This was a shame as our walks had thus been very well attended. However, we had a good day with a good bird walk and we did get to meet some folks at Parks Canada. The daily bird list saw counts of over 1,000 birds and 55 species with Little Gull certainly being the highlight.

Day 3 of our trip to Churchill was always going to be the busiest. In the morning we were due to give a talk and lead a birding walk with students mainly from the Duke of Marlborough High School in Churchill but also from Gillam. In the evening we were also due to give a presentation to people at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre.

Our group consisted of 10 students anf their teacher, Programming Coordinator Stephanie Puleo, her summer assistant Adele and a centre volunteer. We began in the classroom, Tim giving an introduction to birds and birding, how to identify birds, how to count birds and the importance of the Churchill area for birds.

Tim looking contemplative. Photo copyright Bonnie Chartier

Next we stepped out into the grounds and bussed to different birding locations. We were able to show the students a number of interesting species in the scopes, including Pacific Loon, Long-tailed Duck, Parasitic Jaegar and a passing Whimbrel. Willow Ptarmigan were also abundant along this area and showed up well for the students.

A pair of Pacific Loons, another specialty of Northern Manitoba. Copyright Tim Poole

The key thing was to give the students an experience of how we monitor birds, how we might identify the species and how to count them. Fortunately mother nature has a way of obliging at these moments and a passing flock of Canada Geese gave students an opportunity to practice their counting. There were only around 65 geese in the flock but it was still impressive how close the students were to this figure – most people underestimate even small flocks by around half.

Watching birds in the water. Copyright Tim Poole

Following lunch we went back into the classroom. Over lunch we had a discussion with the teacher about what all this really meant and how it was important and he led a group discussion with students about this. Conclusions included the fact that good monitoring information was important as it would inform scientists about climate change (Tim added the story about the canary in the mine at this point). The students also talked about the critical role Churchill and the surrounding area has for large groups of migrating birds. Before all that, they set up their own eBird account and were given a crash course in how to use it by the team. Hopefully we will see some entries from the school group and individual students in the future.

Later in the afternoon, we had a break and headed out to find some American Golden Plovers which were becoming a wee bit of a nemesis. Bonnie decided this would be a good opportunity to introduce Tim to the Tundra Buggies from the outside – Bonnie still hosts groups in the fall with Natural Habitat (there are of course other companies delivering Polar Bear tour experiences in Churchill each fall).

Tundra Buggy equipment including the fuel tank (left). The roof was designed to prevent Polar Bears climbing on top of the cylinder and then making their way onto the Tundra Buggy. To the right was the kitchen buggy. Copyright Tim Poole

A drive down Launch Road eventually yielded a single plover on the dry tundra. The bird was too distant for photos but the views were decent enough in the binoculars. American Golden Plovers similar to their Eurasian counterparts avoid habitats with trees because, in simple terms, trees means something that might eat them, acting as either a perch for a raptor or cover for something like a fox. They are often found on migration in short grasslands, either pasture or even sod fields as at Oak Hammock. They breed on well-drained rocky slopes, common in the Churchill area, and knolls with sparse vegetation and lichen, again a fairly abundant habitat in the north.

Possible breeding habitat for an American Golden Plover. Short vegetation, rocky knolls and lichens with no trees. Copyright Tim Poole

A second lone plover was picked up just outside Camp Nanuq along with a pair of Tundra Swans, Yellow-rumped Warbler and our friend the Merlin from day 2. This would be a Taiga Merlin which is darker than the Prairie Merlin’s found in urban areas in southern Manitoba.

Yellow-rumped Warbler singing his heart out from the top of a tree. Copyright Tim Poole

Returning to the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, Tim gave a talk to around 40 people in the evening including folk from the centre and the town and also did a short eBird introduction for IBA. This well attended talk will hopefully open up more opportunities in the future. Leaving the centre, we stopped off just outside to view a pair of Horned Grebe.

Horned Grebe just west of the Churchill Northern Studies Centre. Copyright Tim Poole

Along the road as the sun began dipping, the views were simply beautiful.

Copyright Tim Poole

Treeline spruce along the main Churchill road. Copyright Tim Poole

Another day highlight along the road was an Arctic Hare mid moult sitting in the dry tundra.

Arctic Hare. Copyright Tim Poole

So another day ended. No bird checklist this time as we did not have sufficient time to do one justice but the highlight of the day has to be the American Golden Plovers.