Following the recent blog demonstrating how volunteer and blitz data is now beginning to bear fruit, offering insights into the significance of some of our bird concentrations in Manitoba, we thought it might be useful to provide a follow-up with suggestions for target groups and species of birds for which triggering an IBA total is both possible and plausible.

Before moving ahead it is worth recalling how IBAs are designated. Each IBA meets the Birdlife International standardised criteria. For a site to qualify as an IBA concentrations of birds must meet one of the criteria laid out in the table below. This table has been adapted and simplified from an explanation available on the IBA Canada website. Note that there are no restricted range or endemic species in Canada and we no longer use the national importance criteria for congregations of birds.

Criteria		Globally Threatened Species	Restricted-range Species	Biome-restricted Species	Congregations
		1	2	3	4
Global	A	A1  IUCN listed species,  Critically Endangered & Endangered = 1                             Vulnerable = 30                                                                               Static thresholds. Bird species with a natural breeding range less than 50,000 sq km	Bird species with a natural breeding range of less than 50,000 sq km . No species meet this criterion in Canada.	N/A	1% of species’ global abundance.
Continental	B	B1  IUCN listed species Near Threatened: non‐songbird = 30,                 Songbirds = 90. Static thresholds	N/A	N/A	1% of species’ North American abundance.
National	C	C1  COSEWIC listed species 1% of all listed species Threshold set based on species abundance within the region of listing.	N/A	N/A	N/A

The trigger for each of the species across Canada are set by the IBA Canada Technical Committee and below is a list of potential species for which it is very possible to meet these criteria on a day out at your IBA.

Remember these lists are updated regularly and there is a possibility that the birds you are counting, although not considered threatened at the time they are recorded, might become endangered in the future so please still record everything you encounter!

Globally Threatened Species

These are species present on the IUCN Red List which has just been updated. A globally threatened species is considered as any species listed on the high end of this list (Vulnerable, Endangered, Critically Endangered, Extinct in the Wild, Extinct). The list of species in Manitoba present on the Red List currently can be found in this spreadsheet which I have condensed from the Birdlife International long list of c. 11,000 species. Fortunately we have very few species on the actual Red List in Manitoba and those that are present tend to be on the lower risk of extinction (apart from those which are likely to be extinct or extirpated from the province). The current list is:

• Eskimo Curlew (almost certainly extinct but still not officially confirmed so we keep it for posterity)
• Long-tailed Duck
• Rusty Blackbird
• Greater Prairie Chicken (Extirpated in the province)
• Horned Grebe
• Whooping Crane (occasional visitor but listed under the The Endangered Species and Ecosystems Act for Manitoba)

Continentally threatened species

These are species which are listed by the IUCN Red List as Near Threatened. This means that the species is undergoing sharp declines in population and range but not enough yet to be considered as threatened with extinction. Unfortunately, there are a number of Manitoban species present in this category.

• Common Eider
• Black Scoter
• Chimney Swift
• Yellow-billed Loon (occasional species)
• Piping Plover
• Red Knot
• Buff-breasted Sandpiper
• Semipalmated Sandpiper
• Red-headed Woodpecker
• Olive-sided Flycatcher
• Chestnut-collared Longspur
• Golden-winged Warbler

Nationally threatened species

These are species listed by COSEWIC as threatened in Canada. When counting any of these species it is important to remember that triggering a population threshold is going to be more straightforward for some species than others. For example, even though they are in steep decline, the overall breeding population in Canada of Red-necked Phalarope is 1.85 million  compared to 3600 Ferruginous Hawk. This would mean that to trigger the IBA threshold for each species one would need to locate 18,500 and 36 individuals respectively. The current avian list for Manitoba is:

• Baird’s Sparrow
• Bank Swallow
• Barn Swallow
• Bobolink
• Buff-breasted Sandpiper
• Burrowing Owl
• Canada Warbler
• Chestnut-collared Longspur
• Chimney Swift
• Common Nighthawk
• Eastern Whip Poor Will
• Eastern Wood Pewee
• Evening Grosbeak
• Ferruginous Hawk
• Golden-winged Warbler
• Horned Grebe
• Least Bittern
• Loggerhead Shrike
• Olive-sided Flycatcher
• Peregrine Falcon
• Piping Plover
• Red-headed Woodpecker
• Red Knot
• Red-necked Phalarope
• Ross’s Gull
• Rusty Blackbird
• Short-eared Owl
• Sprague’s Pipit
• Western Grebe
• Yellow Rail

Global and Continental Congregations

In simple terms, these thresholds are set for congregations of species which exceed 1% of their global or continental population at any time during their life-cycle. The following are examples of species – not listed under the above categories – for which it is very possible to meet these criteria in Manitoba. This list is not exhaustive and it goes without saying that collecting and entering data for all species is critical. Globally bird populations are in decline and it is conceivable that many more Manitoban species will be added to the IUCN Red List or COSEWIC in the future.

So here is a non-exhaustive list of species:

Colonial nesting birds

• American White Pelican
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Ring-billed Gull
• Herring Gull
• Franklin’s Gull
• Black Tern
• Caspian Tern
• Common Tern
• Forster’s Tern
• Arctic Tern (northern Manitoba)

Waterfowl

• Canada Goose
• Cackling Goose
• Snow Goose
• Ross’s Goose
• Tundra Swan
• Trumpeter Swan
• Canvasback
• Redhead
• Greater Scaup
• Lesser Scaup
• White-winged Scoter

Long-legged Waders

• White-faced Ibis
• Black-crowned Night Heron
• Great Blue Heron
• Great Egret
• Sandhill Crane (strictly speaking not a long-legged wader, but for these purposes we’ll include it here)

Grebes and Loons

• Red-throated Loon
• Red-necked Grebe
• Horned Grebe
• Eared Grebe
• Western Grebe

Shorebirds

Shorebirds are one of the more likely groups of birds for meeting the IBA thresholds. Shorebirds tend to gather in large concentrations during migration (call it safety in  numbers) and this combined with the fact that shorebird habitat is often seasonal means that this is a group where it is certainly possible to locate 1% of the global or continental populations of a species in a single area on a single day. It goes without saying that concentrations of shorebirds are worth targeting during monitoring trips to your local IBA.

Rare Breeders

Some rare breeders for North America do appear in Manitoba, especially around Churchill and the Hudson Bay Lowlands. For example, Ross’s Gull is such a rare breeder in North America that even a single breeding pair triggers the continental congregation. To qualify the species must be a breeding species (so a random Eurasian Common Crane turning up in Churchill would not count). However there is a small breeding population of Little Gull in Churchill which would count.

 

It was revealed yesterday that Nature Conservancy Canada have purchased 47 hectares of wetland, grassland and woodland in the Oak Lake and Plum Lakes IBA. CBC have covered this on their website, including some quotes from Manitoba Important Bird Areas Coordinator, Tim Poole. 

Congratulations to the NCC!

As we enter the last few weeks of 2016, it is a great opportunity to reflect on the achievements of the past 12 months. Rather than a full season review which we did last year, I thought this would provide a great opportunity to share some of the contributions to the program from our volunteers by summarising where volunteers had provided bird data which was of global or North American significance to that species. To do this, it is first important to understand how the IBA Program nationally works. This has been summarised really well on the IBA Canada website and can be accessed by clicking on this link.

A huge amount of data has been added to eBird over the past couple of years. Please note that the data summarised below is that which is either already uploaded on the IBA Canada website or data which we expect to see there in the future. There may also be additional data submitted to eBird which we are currently unaware of.

2015

MB015 – Whitewater Lake IBA

3rd May 2015, 800 Pectoral Sandpipers recorded by Gillian Richards and Colin and Scott Blyth. This is over 1% of the estimated North American population.

2nd August 2015, 2197 Short-billed Dowitcher recorded by Jo Swarz and Christian Artuso. This is more than 1% of the total estimated global population.

20th August 2015, 67 Buff-breasted Sandpiper recorded by Christian Artuso, Bill Watkin and Carla Church. This is a concentration of continental significance for this globally Near-threatened species.

2nd September 2015, 1,500 Short-billed Dowitcher recorded by Colin Blyth. This is more than 1% of the total estimated global population.

 

MB024 – Southwestern Manitoba Mixed-grass Prairie IBA

June 21st 2015, 41 Sprague’s Pipit, recorded by IBA blitz volunteers. This is a concentration of global significance for this globally Vulnerable species

June 21st 2015, 238 Chestnut-collared Longspur, recorded by IBA blitz volunteers. This is a concentration of continental significance for this globally Near-threatened species

October 28th 2015, 68 Rusty Blackbirds counted by Christian Artuso and Callie Bowman. This is a concentration of global significance for this globally Vulnerable species

MB038 – North, West and East Shoal Lakes IBA

October 3rd 2015, 223 Rusty Blackbirds counted by IBA blitzers. This is a concentration of global significance for this globally Vulnerable species

Note also that IBA Caretaker Donna Martin documented breeding Least Bittern in this IBA in 2014.

MB055 – Saskatchewan River Delta IBA

April 19th 2015, 3,204 Tundra Swans counted by Joel Kayer. This is over 1% of the estimated North American population of this species.

2016

MB001 – Delta Marsh IBA

August 28th 2016, 1,936 Semipalmated Plover counted by IBA blitzers. This is more than 1% of the total estimated global population of this species

November 2nd 2016, 34 Rusty Blackbirds counted by IBA blitzers. This is a concentration of global significance for this globally Vulnerable species

MB003 – Churchill and Vicinity IBA

June 12th 2016, 8 Little Gulls observed by 6 people including Linda Curtis. This is more than 1% of the estimated number found in North America

June 2016, a single Ross’s Gull seen by Bruce di Labio. This would be more than 1% of the total North American population

MB010 – Oak Hammock Marsh IBA

October 1st 2016, 609 Rusty Blackbirds counted by IBA blitzers. This is a concentration of global significance for this globally Vulnerable species.

MB015 – Whitewater Lake IBA

August 2nd 2016, 930 Pectoral Sandpipers observed by Christian Artuso and one other person, equating to more than 1% of the North American population of this species

August 2nd 2016, 4,175 Short-billed Dowitcher observed by Christian Artuso and one other person, equating to more than 1% of the global population of this species

August 7th 2016, 629 Pectoral Sandpipers observed by IBA blitzers and one other person, equating to more than 1% of the North American population of this species

August 7th 2016, 1,594 Short-billed Dowitcher observed by IBA blitzers, equating to more than 1% of the global population of this species

August 7th 2016, 2,080 Western Grebes observed by IBA blitzers, equating to more than 1% of the global population of this species

August 7th 2016, 1691 American White Pelicans counted by IBA blitzers. This equates to just under 1% of the estimated global population of this species.

Note also that Whitewater Lake was also the location of the only known breeding pair of Black-necked Stilt in Manitoba in 2016.

MB024 – Southwestern Manitoba Mixed-grass Prairie IBA

July 10th 2016, 58 Sprague’s Pipit, recorded by IBA blitz volunteers. This is a concentration of global significance for this globally Vulnerable species

July 10th 2016, 180 Chestnut-collared Longspur, recorded by IBA blitz volunteers. This is a concentration of continental significance for this globally Near-threatened species

 

Note also the total number of calling Baird’s Sparrow, 21 males, was a notably high count for Manitoba.

MB099 – Riverton Sandy Bar IBA

September 30th 2016, 38 Rusty Blackbirds counted by Joanne Smith and the weed-pulling party. This is a concentration of global significance for this globally Vulnerable species.

If you use the eBird app on a phone or tablet to enter your sightings, then this might be of interest to you. Gillian Richards contacted eBird last week as we have previously not been able to enter information under the IBA Canada Protocol even from a pc once the data has been submitted. Thankfully, this is no longer the case. You can do this by:

1. Open you app and go into Settings
2. Under the portal option, set your portal to be eBird Canada. Once you’ve done this, when you go to the Review & Submit page, you’ll see “IBA Canada” under the list of “other” protocols.

Hopefully this works but let us know if there are any issues

This week has seen the publication of our first ever newsletter as a program. This is an e-news format and you can subscribe by clicking the mailing list link on the right of this website. To read the newsletter, please click here.

 

Our volunteers are still getting out to IBAs before the final geese, warblers and shorebirds pack up for warm winter feeding in the south. There are a few opportunities over the coming months to get out and bird, to do some citizen science activities and enjoy hearing about birds (and IBAs). We will be keeping the Manitoba IBA Upcoming Events page on the website updated with anything of interest. For now though, here are a few activities to consider:

Nature Manitoba Birding Events

Saturday 5th November – Lake Winnipeg Beaches

Saturday 3rd November – Winnipeg River Outing

Sunday 18th December – Winnipeg Christmas Bird Count

Nature Manitoba Indoor Events

Nature Manitoba organises a number of terrific workshops and discovery evenings as part of its indoor program over the winter. There are a couple of IBA-related Discovery Evenings worth checking out:

Monday, February 6, 2017, Birds of the Hudson Bay Lowlands (incl. Seal River IBA) by Dr, Christian Artuso

Monday, February 27, 2017, Restoration of two large, coastal wetlands in Manitoba: Delta Marsh and Netley-Libau Marsh by Dr. Gordon Gainsborough

Christmas Bird Counts

Apart from the Winnipeg Christmas Bird Count, there are a number of events across Manitoba, including Oak Hammock Marsh, Portage La Prairie, Delta Marsh, Selkirk, Carman, Brandon, Glenboro, Riding Mountain and Inglis). You can find details about each one on the Bird Studies Canada map.

Nocturnal Owl Surveys

The Nocturnal Owl Surveys is in progress from mid-March to mid-April every year. The Manitoban version has been operating since 1991 thanks to Jim and Patsy Duncan.

Having awaken to the first flecks of snow on the ground today, it comes apparent that with the slow changing of the weather comes the demise of the monitoring season for Manitoba’s IBAs. And what a year it’s been! I will, in the next month or so, publish a review of some of the monitoring achievements for 2016 but for the moment we can satisfy ourselves with another review, that of the October 1st IBA blitz at Oak Hammock Marsh IBA.

We chose Oak Hammock Marsh for a few reasons: it is easily accessed and easily accessible compared to most IBAs; it is a protected site and therefore volunteers and hunters would not need to spend the day avoiding each other; there is already fall monitoring areas for counting waterfowl identified; and of course, it has a cafe.

This blitz would also turn out to be a wee bit different as we would be monitoring birds in two separate stages. The first would be an early morning count of the waterfowl departing the marsh, and the second, a count of all birds identified on walks across different parts of the Oak Hammock trails.

As is often the way with bird surveys, we began in the gloom of early morning, meeting in the parking lot at the Interpretive Centre. Resident Naturalist, IBA Steering Committee member and bander extraordinaire, Paula Grieef was on hand to greet and to brief each group on the mornings work. Each group would start by taking up position on a vantage point at the corner of the marsh, a surefire way to get the chills. What’s more, some of us had day-old coffee in our flask, a horrendously poor decision in the circumstances.

Group A with regular IBA monitors Jo Swartz and Betsy Thorsteinson, along with first timers Emily Hanuschuk and Neil Balchan, were to be positioned in the northeast corner and walked the trail towards the middle mound (see here for trail guide). This area had the largest movement of Canada Geese, 10967 in total, plus 1222 Mallards. They also counted an impressive 19 Northern Harriers.

Group B were directed to the northwest corner and headed to the northern mound. Bonnie Chartier, Emily McIntosh and John Hays. They counted fewer Canada Geese but 2256 Mallard and 42 Snow Goose, the largest count of the day for this species. Speaking with older hands, it is apparent that the number of Snow Goose in eastern Manitoba is far lower than in previous years. In 2008, 153,800 Snow and Ross’s Geese were counted  on October 8th at the marsh, so 42 was really pretty low! They also had a Sharp-shinned Hawk, American Golden Plover (congratulations to Emily on the lifer) and 31 Rusty Blackbirds.

 

Group C consisted of Christian Artuso, Sabina Mastrolonardo and Amélie Roberto-Charron. This group headed to the southeast corner close to the Oak Bluff. They managed to see the most species from their goose observation spot, including Wilson’s Snipe, Greater Yellowlegs, 7 Hooded Merganser and a globally significant, 574 Rusty Blackbird. This made up to 28 species. On their walk, they did find a Great Egret along the perimeter dike.

The final group consisted of Tim Poole, Cameron McNabb and Josie Brendle. This group were responsible for counting the southwest corner. An (exhausting) 6772 Canada Geese later, they took to the trails near the centre and were fortunate to see a number of shorebirds including American Avocet, Black-bellied Plover, Least Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher and Wilson’s Snipe.

We also managed to add the banding data form the Delta Bird Observatory (on tour at Oak Hammock) and could include Lincoln’s Sparrow, Harris’s Sparrow, Winter Wren, American Tree Sparrow and Fox Sparrow to the total.

Lunch followed with great views of a Peregrine from the Oak Hammock cafe and a feeding Great Egret.

I also forgot to ention a very late season Osprey at the marsh seen by two groups.

One final thing, it is often noticeable when attending birding events and Christmas Bird Counts that there are a lack of younger people participating in citizen science programs. So it was great to see five University of Manitoba students and 16 year old Emily involved in the blitz. Hopefully will get involved in the future….

Here are the final scores:

Snow Goose	105
Cackling Goose	50
Canada Goose	27898
Cackling/Canada Goose	5
Wood Duck	24
Gadwall	44
American Wigeon	3
Mallard	6120
Blue-winged Teal	269
Northern Shoveler	40
Northern Pintail	28
Green-winged Teal (American)	63
Canvasback	14
Redhead	20
Greater Scaup	5
Lesser Scaup	3
Common Goldeneye	1
Bufflehead	1
Ruddy Duck	5
Hooded Merganser	8
duck sp.	448
Pied-billed Grebe	4
Western Grebe	2
Double-crested Cormorant	2
American White Pelican	27
American Bittern	3
Great Blue Heron	3
Great Egret	3
Black-crowned Night Heron	1
Osprey	1
Northern Harrier	38
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1
Bald Eagle	2
Red-tailed Hawk	4
American Coot (Red-shielded)	23
Sandhill Crane	1
American Avocet	2
Black-bellied Plover	5
American Golden-Plover	21
Least Sandpiper	5
Pectoral Sandpiper	10
Long-billed Dowitcher	19
Wilson’s Snipe	54
Greater Yellowlegs	37
Lesser Yellowlegs	3
large shorebird sp.	13
Bonaparte’s Gull	2
Ring-billed Gull	93
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)	2
Mourning Dove	1
Downy Woodpecker	1
Northern Flicker	2
Merlin	1
Peregrine Falcon	1
Blue Jay	2
Black-billed Magpie	5
American Crow	6
Common Raven	11
Black-capped Chickadee	3
Winter Wren	1
Marsh Wren	14
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	4
American Robin	4
European Starling	63
American Pipit	76
Lapland Longspur	485
Tennessee Warbler	1
Common Yellowthroat	7
Palm Warbler	3
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	11
American Tree Sparrow	1
Fox Sparrow	2
Dark-eyed Junco	16
White-crowned Sparrow	9
Harris’s Sparrow	1
White-throated Sparrow	6
Savannah Sparrow	72
Song Sparrow	32
Lincoln’s Sparrow	2
Swamp Sparrow	46
sparrow sp.	7
Red-winged Blackbird	2853
Western Meadowlark	20
Yellow-headed Blackbird	3
Rusty Blackbird	609
Common Grackle	1
Brewer’s Blackbird	3
Blackbird sp	4865
American Goldfinch	22
passerine sp.	2
TOTAL	44809

Patricia Barrett of the Express Weekly has written a piece about the Riverton Sandy Bar weed pull. Jump to page 26 at this link.

“I don’t think weed pulling is a very exciting thing for most people. It is just like a carpet out there, but it’s actually really easy to pull.”

Joanne Smith, IBA Caretaker, CBC News

Thus spoke the voice of wisdom! However, I have to confess something. Weed pulling can be hard work at times, but it can also be very rewarding, being a great way to enjoy a beautiful fall day, hang out with some fine company, see some fun birds and experience fantastic home baking. What better way to spend the final day in September!

Firstly, a wee bit of background information. Caretaker Joanne Smith had been exploring options for removing white sweet clover, an invasive species taking over large areas of the Riverton sandbar. In addition, increased (illegal) ATV traffic has disturbed soils which provides ideal conditions for plants to colonise sandy soils.The increased vegetation has reduced habitat for Piping Plover and other nesting species. Joanne, a true champion of the IBA, wished to start the process of rectifying this, culminating in Fridays event.

We arrived at the parking lot in good spirit. The IBA Program had taken on the great responsibility of providing the garden waste sacks for which we would remove the weeds of our labour. Proudly showing off my bundle of 20 bags, Joanne immediately informed us that we would need at least 10 times as many to remove the vegetation from the bar. What’s more, the target area was about 1km from the parking lot. Original plans to drive the weeds to the landfill at Gimli were shelved and a new plan hatched which would involve a permit and a bonfire.

That though would be a task for other organisations on another day. Our plan was simple, we would need to get pulling. Stage 1 was to select an area in which to remove the vegetation. In any walk of life it is important to adapt plans to the circumstances. Although many of the plants had still not gone to seed, some unfortunately had and it was clear that already large amounts of seed had dispersed on the sand. Lesson 1 then was to ensure we did any weed pulling earlier in the fall in repeat workparties in 2017 (for there will be repeats).

Lesson number 2 of the day was to focus on one area and not spread ourselves too thinly. Following a first hour spread over a wide area, we decided latterly to focus all effort on a smaller area, clearing just enough habitat to create a single Piping Plover territory.

The final lesson was to make sure we could have a controlled burn on the day next time, ridding the area of any remaining seed to prevent greater encroachment. That said, the bagging team, led ably by Nature Manitoba member Jeff Bruce, did a great job.

Twenty full bags seemed like an achievement until you notice the very large pile of weeds on the right side of the photo below

On completing our days weed pulling, we couldn’t resist a short walk to the end of the bar to look for some birds. After all, we were in an IBA. The highlight had to be a Smith’s Longspur, lifer for at least 3 observers. Another highlight were the Rusty Blackbirds, numerous enough to hit the trigger for globally important concentrations on the day.

Other species encountered included a group of American Golden Plovers, Spotted Sandpiper, Black-bellied Plover, Harris Sparrow, Lapland Longspur, Horned Lark, Ring-billed Gull, Bonaparte’s Gull, Common Merganser, Green-winged Teal, Pectoral Sandpiper and American Pipit, a pretty good day list. Special mention to Jock McCracken here as well, having secured I believe 6 lifers during the morning.

While we were out at the tip of the sandbar, Manitoba Sustainable Development had put up the below new signs. These are partly aimed at restricting vehicle access to the Special Conservation Area during the summer. ATV use is an increasing pastime seemingly in some of these rural areas and can cause disturbance to breeding birds and their habitats.

Thank you to all our volunteers, the East Interlake Conservation District and Manitoba Sustainable Development. These were:

Christian Artuso, Tim Poole, Bonnie Chartier, Dave Roberts, Audrey Boitson, Heather Alexander, Jeff Bruce, Patricia Barrett, Thor Johannson, Jock McCracken, Linda Curtis and Peter and Elsie Douglas.

 

Most of all, thank you to Joanne, a great champion for Riverton Sandy Bar, for organising a great day. We will be doing this again in 2017, so please watch this space and consider joining us.

Black-necked Stilts are a rarity in Manitoba so it is a real privilege not just to see them but to have a breeding pair with fledging young. Our caretaker Gillian Richards sent us this photo of an adult and young from Whitewater Lake IBA this summer. The pair have raised 4 chicks.