We are delighted to publish our 2014 Program Report on the website. This highlights the fantastic achievements of our Caretakers. I would say 3 Caretakers but since the start of 2015 we have gained a few more! Here is a snippet of some of the achievements from 2014 but to really get a feeling take a look at the report MB IBA 2014 Caretaker and Program report.

MB009 – NETLEY-LIBAU MARSH – Charlie McPherson

• Spent almost 1000 hours time contributing to IBA-related activities
• 40 hours spent building and installing bird boxes within the IBA.
• Time spent advocating marsh improvement with the Lake Winnipeg Foundation.
• Attended a workshop at the University of Winnipeg on Netley-Libau Marsh with the Lake Winnipeg Foundation. Delivered presentations at preliminary meeting at the Manitoba Hydro Building in Winnipeg and the 2^nd and 3^rd meetings
• Delivered a presentation on the IBA Program at Oak Hammock Marsh.
• Delivered a presentation to the Selkirk Birdwatchers Club.
• Meeting with the Rural Municipality of St. Andrews to discuss mitigation for the marsh
• 4 monitoring trips in 2014 includingGoldeye Lake and Folster’s Lake highlights included:
  • 100 Western Grebes, including young
  • Forster’s Tern colony
  • 4 pairs of Bald Eagle
  • 26 Red-necked grebe

MB038 – NORTH, WEST AND EAST SHOAL LAKES, Donna Martin

• 3 checklists submitted to eBird.
• In September, Donna participated in World Shorebird Day, counting shorebirds and other species in the IBA.
• Secured a donation from Rona of two pressure treated posts and hardware to erect 2 signs on the north side of the IBA.
• Received a Lumber donation from Starr Building for North West and East Shoal Lake IBA worth approximately $400 to build some bird houses. Thanks to Sandra Cote for helping Donna Secure this donation.
• Created a Facebook page for the North West and East Shoal Lake IBA linking to the Manitoba IBA website. See here.
• Created a brochure for the IBA. Currently on hold.
• Wrote a blogpost for the Manitoba IBA website on the Least Bittern in the North Shoal Lake (Least Bittern).
• The main birding highlights included:
  • Herring and Ring-billed Gulls are thought to breed in the IBA but again, no colonies have been found yet.
  • Evidence of breeding Willet.
  • Red-necked Grebe bred successfully.
  • 2 adult Least Bitterns were observed in the summer. Following this, 5 juveniles were counted in the fall.
  • Black-crowned Night Heron are present, although there is currently no evidence of breeding.
  • American White Pelican present in low numbers throughout the summer and higher numbers in the fall. There may be a breeding colony.

MB091 – RIVERTON SANDY BAR, Joanne Smith

• IBA signs and ‘Caution ground-nesting bird’ signs placed in parking area.
• Placed information box with the IBA brochure in the parking area.
• Delivered a presentation on the IBA alongside a presentation delivered by a representative of the East Interlake Conservation District. Audience of 25.
• Set up Facebook page for Riverton Sandy Bar.
• Regular visit to Riverton Sandy Bar, even in the depths of winter! Piping Plover have bred here in the past but not in 2014. Bird highlights included:
  • Red Knot, a trigger species on October 10.
  • 130 American White Pelican in early June.
  • 300 Ring-billed Gulls in late May.
  • 1500 Franklin’s Gulls in July
  • Shorebirds noted included Least Sandpiper, Killdeer, Marbled Godwit, Ruddy Turnstone, Black-bellied Plover, American Golden Plover, Sanderling, Dunlin, Hudsonian Godwit, Stilt Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, Pectoral Sandpiper and Baird’s Sandpiper.
  • 48 Western Grebe in early June.
  • 1000 Snow Goose and 1000 Canada Goose during fall migration

Richard Cain produced a logo for the Manitoba IBA Program. The image of the American White Pelican was selected to represent our program. Manitoba is the most important place in North America for this species, being home to one-third of the global breeding population.

Charlie McPherson offers the latest tales of eagles, pelicans, leaky boats and cans of mushroom soup from Netley-Libau Marsh.

Adult Bald Eagle at Netley-Libau Marsh. Copyright Charlie McPherson

Can you believe it?  I backed the boat in at the end of Warner Road this morning and forgot to put the drain plug in again, and Marg wasn’t there this time to let Homer know before he got it off the trailer.

It would have been too hard to reload and drain it from the trailer,  what with the wind blowing the boat off it’s reloading line and Lake Winnipeg’s waves lifting it up and laying it on top of submerged rocks and all (how nice,) so I plugged the thing and started bailing  and dropped the partly filled bailing can into the water and it floated just right/upright off towards Gimli. So I chug-a-lug as much water as I can out of the 4 litre milk jug knowing I’ll be out on the lake for quite some time, then cut the bottom off the jug and used it as  bailing can.

Marg and I boated the beach ridge last week doing the Netley-Libau Marsh (NLM) spring counts for Canada’s Important Bird Area (IBA) Program and counted 39 Bald Eagles. That was according to the IBA Protocol (no double counts.)  I was wanting to redo that count today just to make sure that we hadn’t double counted any. We hadn’t. In fact, more had arrived.

Today’s tally:  Warner Rd. at the NW corner of the IBA to Patricia Beach at the NE corner of the IBA – 25 km., plus up the Main Channel (south) to the center of the marsh and down the East Channel (north) back to the lake – 12 km.

Bald Eagle: 86 (WHOA!)
Nest Occupied: 5
Adults: 24
Juveniles: 62

Juvenile Bald Eagle at Netley-Libau Marsh. Copyright Charlie McPherson

Other Species not in last week’s spring migration count: 

Tundra Swan: 20  

A 360 degree canvas of clean grey on clean grey was my treat for today, with additional  grey on grey added to yet even more grey on grey for fun.  Mixing beautiful greys and keeping them fresh and clean must be the Magic Painter’s specialty. I couldn’t find any errors. And then, to pull it all off,  a canvas within a canvas: a brilliant white sun poked it’s head out from amongst the grey to cast a sprawling, dazzling white net across the water to catch a flock of 20 White Pelicans struggling to break free in flight – the best white on white I’ve ever seen – crystals of backlit white water splashes marking their runways.   And off in the distance for an anchor, a pair of adult Bald Eagle sporting  all black coats and  sensitively painted all white diamonds for top hats and all white silk  for coat-tails.

GAWD! Was it ever cold on the lake: SE wind @ about 10+ and rising (not the best wind for lake travel – but doable,)  temps supposed to go to 10 C (ha, ha): long johns, lined pants, light down-lined coat under full cover skidoo suit; wool socks, leather wool-lined mitts (not gloves); cold left over white rice and black beans in a grey, mushroom soup gravy which, after bouncing around in the washtub waves and lifting the lid, I see a 5″x8″ of what I had seen all around me. Some crazy Lake Genie held back a few mushrooms for clean and fresh  grey clouds in a tint of grey soup for the  sky over a tone of grey soup for the lake,  spoonful’s of clean and fresh white rice for the net, tones of white rice mixed in just a touch of gravy for backlit pelicans and sparkles of white splashes for their runways; a few beans and a few grains of rice for the eagles, and a hodge/podge of mixed beans and gravy for the beach ridge. And to pull all that off, a few of the beans scattered about for the black backs of diving Western Grebes.

86 Bald Eagles! Who’d a thunk it! And that’s not counting the ones in the south end of the marsh. There’s always a few hanging around down there.

Charlie McPherson, IBA Caretaker for Netley-Libau Marsh reminises about an especially memorable birding outing in 2012….

‘Tess, you’ll still need to dress warm and bring a change of clothing and rain gear and such.  You can run into soakers and sudden drops in temps. out there in June, even July’.

When I first met Ray he asked if I’d take him into the Netley-Libau Marsh (warm, sunny day – July 29, 2012) so I included him in on the counts I was having to do for Canada’s Important Bird Area program. We ended up counting birds all day from the Netley side of the marsh, along some of the beach ridge, and through the maze of marsh channels in the north end to the Libau side of the marsh when, around about 5:00 pm, I noticed a storm brewing in the west and I didn’t like the look of it – had never seen anything like it.   We were oh, I’d say, 20 km. from the truck. I advised him to pack up his birding gear and slap on his rain gear because we were going get it, and GET IT we did.

Like when my boys (8 and 10) asked me, years ago, to take them fishing one evening. I was too tired to go through the song and dance of loading and unloading the canoe and they were still too young to be of any help, really, especially paddling it, so I took them to the beach ridge and we fished from shore. Good thing too! The wind was very mild out of the south but it started shifting west, then turned into a violent tornado  with sweeping arms trying to suck us into it’s ugly, saliva dripping mouth.  We were getting sand blasted  and the boys started crying and  I hardly had but a few seconds to  grab them up and throw them into a stand of cane willows in a bit of swale along the lakeside of the ridge  and lay over top of them while THE MONSTER did its thing. It touched down at Gimli ten miles north but it sure would have blown us to ‘who knows where’ had we been in the canoe.

Because the wind was slight out of the south when we first started fishing, the water along the shoreline lay smooth and calm. By the time ‘The Thing’ did its thing in swinging west, gaining momentum,  then letting us have a taste of its rage from the north west, the quiet, smooth, ever so pleasant waters to fish in turned to a steamy, boiling pot of violence. As I lay there squint/peeking out over the lake, I wasn’t sure if the airborne gulls were fleeing for their lives or just dancing around in the wind having fun. I wasn’t having any, although I was kinda enthralled by the awesome wonder of it all. Had the torn touched down where we were, it might have torn us apart, or we might have been seen dancing around in the wind ourselves and, who knows, touching down in the middle of the lake or wherever it decided to spit us out.  Moral of the story? I had been eating lots of garlic with my bacon and eggs in the morning and storms like this don’t like garlic so eat lots of garlic and they’ll look for some other victims to gobble up – hee, hee!

Windswept cattails during the storm

So Ray and I  dawn our  full body rain gear and start beating’er back west across the marsh through it’s maize of channels to the Hughes Channel and it’s ‘tempt me into risking a 1/2 mile shot from it’s mouth, west to the Salamonia Channel via Lake Winnipeg’ for just an itsy, bitsie, teenie, weenie, speedy cruise along the shoreline where, once at the Sal.,  it’s an easy walk west along  the beach ridge to the truck,  the wind on the lake still being slight from the east so it’s, ‘not all that bad’ yet. But you can’t trust L. Wpg. when a storm is brewing. We weren’t but a couple hundred yards from the lake where Fran and I had those ’35 in one hour’ Sharp-shinned Hawks crashing our picnic the other day when a squall of wind turned dirty and came barreling up the channel stopping us dead in the water.  “Don’t you dare!” in other words. I pulled into the weeds along the bank and said, “The wind isn’t going to let us out Ray! We’ll have to go back south to the Passwa Cross Channel, then to the Sal., then to the beach ridge to the truck.” He said, “You know the marsh. It’s your call!”

So we boot it south up the Hughes, west and north  along the Passwa,  and attempt to cross Hughes Lake (a small,  shallow inner marsh lake) north west to the Sal. and the BIG STORM  hit with a soaking, violent vengeance.  We were no more than 100 ft. into  Hughes Lake and, had we had arms of elastic, we could have stretched’em  out  and touched the banks of  Sal. and pulled ourselves ashore –  we were that close –  about 1/2 km.! But we had to turn’er back. I sped the boat south up the Passwa about 100 yds. and rammed’er into a big, tall stand of cattails on the Passwa’s east bank.

There’s shelter in a big block of  cattails. I learned that as a young teen while hunting with my dad. I’d be standing  on the seat of the boat looking out over the tops of the cattails scanning the sky for ducks and getting about as cold as an improperly dressed  teen can get  in a  late October wind and would have to  tuck down out of the wind to warm up; doable, sorta, but  best if there a bit of  sun to beat  down on ya. Later in life, as a courtesy to my young, pre-teen/pre-hunting boys who’d be along for the ride whenever I went out for a hunt,  I built a box to keep them dry and off  the dog shaking/dog dripping wet floor of the boat and stuffed it with blankies and extra socks and mitts and scarves and hats and changes of clothes and hot soup and wagon wheels.  Wagon wheels:  1/2″ x 4″ round, chocolate coated wafery thingys –  kinda like a Kit Kat, only better (marsh mellowy, not crunchy,)  and  kinda common way back then.

As I’m yelling for Ray to pull’er up into the cattails, the wind sucks the  boat length/boat width piece of vapor barrier up and sends’er sailing 60 yards into the cattails.  I use that piece of tarp to keep wind spray from soaking me and my birding gear when tooling it into even slight winds over even tiny marsh lake/marsh channel wind driven waves, let alone even tiny L. Winnipeg wind driven waves. So I drop everything and disappear through the 8′ cattails –  torrential, drenching rain pounding me into the yucky, mucky marsh pavement –  chasing this piece of plastic hoping the wind won’t suck it up and send’er flying again.  Thankfully, I got it, and ran back and called for Ray to grab our comfy lawn/boat birding chairs. We tucked the plastic under the back legs and pulled the sheet over top of us and ‘iglood out the storm’ nice and safe down low below the howling wind and nice and safe from the deluge of rain. Did it ever come down, pelting at us for a good 35 minutes.

So we sat in comfort yacking above the roar of the rain getting to know each other. It was here in the Igloo that I told the Inuit about the Pembina Valley Hawk watches where he could get one of the Lifer’s he was lusting after – a Golden Eagle. Come spring the following year, we drove to the Valley and the first raptor on his first step out of the vehicle was a Golden Eagle. Imagine that! We had to bail the boat once the storm let up but floating around in the back was the water proof plastic tub where I keep my rusty camp stove and coffee pot,  and my  coffee making supplies. Best coffee I had in a long time, although it was iffy trying to coax the matches that I keep in my wallet to light. You want Boat Coffee Tess? Then it’s Boat Coffee you get. But don’t worry about the rust. The coffee grinds are the same color and you won’t even know it’s there. Ray brings his own, all new shiny camp gear now but I still do rustic.  It’s the Cancer in me. I’m a June baby. And besides, evening light on ‘rusty’ makes for better photos. So we survived, got out, got to the truck and found our way home. I picked a shivering wet Robin squab off the ridge when we got to the truck, cupped it in my hands and blew warm, yummy garlic breath on it for about half an hour to revive it, fed it dog food and hard boiled eggs (the right protein mix for birdies) for a couple of days, found a pair of adoptive parent Robins with kids the same age a couple of blocks over, got them to sign the paper work and let them take it from there. Robins will adopt. The highlight of our counting was when we came across the Forster’s Tern Colony between Pruden Bay and Parisian Lake (both inner marsh bodies of water) and scattered numbers of juvenile Franklin Gulls.

The western sky clears over Cochrane Lake after the July 2012 storm

Moral of the story? Don’t go birding with Charlie on a day in July no matter how tempting the  yellowy, slanty/streaky evening light texturing and  warmly washing White Pelicans and coffee pots can be.  If you do fall into temptation, bring the extra clothing that he’s been tellin’ya to bring. And eat lots of garlic.  Ray skipped breakfast that day and look what happened to him. I didn’t, and the storm only ‘touched us.’ He can thank me for that, and for saving his life.

Charlie McPherson, IBA Caretaker for Netley-Libau Marsh shares this mornings tales of migrating birds… 

As I left for Warner Rd. (two miles from my house in Whytewold)  this morning a flock of some 30 crying gulls were flying over.  And when I got to Warner Rd., “Oh my! I guestimate 1000 scattered about on the ice as far as the binocs could see with another several thousand winging their way north as singles and small flocks averaging 10 – 50 at a time from 6:30 am – 7:30 am – all coming out of the Netley-Libau Marsh (MB IBA009) to the beach ridge separating the marsh from the lake, all following the lake’s shoreline north, all crying, a small contingent of Franklin Gulls being a part of this gull migration.  T’was very worth hearing and seeing..

Another thing worth seeing and hearing was the Tree Swallows migrating as singles, doubles, groups of 3 or four, ten etc… Their twittering tips one off to their presence although they’re easily spotted overhead. And with, and before, and behind them, hundreds of grackle and blackbird migrating as singles, doubles, and groups of 10, 20, 50, 100 etc…

As per usual, the migration stalls within 2- 3 hours of first light.

Conditions were a complete overcast sky, slight breeze (NW) and slight drizzle to start, document page getting whimpy wet,  lake ice a blotchy mix of light grey and white to crystallized, waterlogged  dark grey, shore pond size not bad, fingers cold to freezing cold. For a moment, a one inch square of orange broke through the cloud cover on the eastern horizon hinting of a rising sun but only for a minute before being swallowed up  – a one  inch square on a 16″x32″ canvas were I to pull out my paints and paint it, cupped drake Pintail dropping in for a splash in the foreground of course.

Strikingly handsome Hooded and Red-breasted Mergansers dropped in for a visit and worked the shoreline shallows just out front. Small flocks of Pintail, Green-winged Teal, and a first flock (for me this year) of equally strikingly handsome Canvasback dropped in as well, as did a flock of about 200 Mallards. These guys (the Mallards) were very wary doing their 3-4 passes, circling ever lower,  before committing to a touch down.  5 Wood Ducks (4 M, 1F) worked the shoreline off in the distance.

Today’s Tally:

Gulls: (aprox: 3000)
Franklin: 32

Can. Goose: 16
Pintail: 11
Mallard 217
Bufflehead: 24
Wood Duck: 6
Wigeon: 3
Green-winged Teal: 16
Shovelor: 1
Goldeneye: 7
Ring-necked Duck: 7
Canvasback: 16
Lesser Scaup: 2
Just Ducks: approx.: 100

Common Merg: 6
Red-br. Merg: 6
Hooded Merg: 2

Robin: 1
Grackle and Blackbirds: (aprox: 700)
Flicker: 1
Tree Swallow: 42
Dickie-birds: 7 (:

Killdeer: 1 (singing – if you can call it that.)

Greater Yellowlegs: 8
Wilson’s Snipe: 2

Great-blue Heron: 1

Magpie: 2
Crow: 14

Raven: 1

Blog by Tim Poole, Manitoba IBA Coordinator

May 9^th is International Migratory Bird Day, a day where we celebrate one of the most important annual events in the Americas (and wider afield). This is probably the most exciting time of year for any self-respecting birder with even seeing common species seeming like an event. The American Robin at the back of my house burst into song last week, I saw my first Common Loon of the year just last night, raptors are daily on the move along the Red River and Pembina River Valleys and the sight of Canada Geese is no longer an event in Winnipeg. The birds are on the move!

Oak Hammock Marsh Interpretive Centre will be celebrating International Migratory Bird Day with a series of events including bird banding and a warbler workshop by Paula Grieef, Resident Naturalist (see here for details on the workshop). Earlier in the morning, I will be doing a birding walk to collect data to be entered on eBird later in the day. I will aim to leave the main parking lot at 8am. Along with meetings with our Caretakers, the Manitoba Breeding Bird Atlas Coordinator, Christian Artuso, will be giving a talk in the afternoon on IBA’s and eBird. This is a fantastic opportunity for people to discover more about the IBA Program and get an insight into using eBird. The plan is that Christian will be entering data collected that very morning within the IBA. We will also be around before and after the talk to discuss volunteer opportunities (or you might just wish to go birding). Cost for Christians talk will be included in standard admittance to the Interpretive Centre, although the Workshop will cost extra. For more information on the day at Oak Hammock see http://www.oakhammockmarsh.ca/events/international-migratory-bird-day/.

For more information on International Migratory Bird Day see http://www.migratorybirdday.org/.

by: Joanne Smith, Caretaker at Riverton Sandy Bar IBA. All photos copyright Joanne Smith with the exception of caretaker photo by Lynda Baker

Black-bellied Plover, Sanderling, Northern Leopard Frog and Nature Manitoba summer student Marshall Birch

It has been rather interesting to see how an IBA can change within a few short months.  In 2014, the Sandy Bar sand spit (east of Riverton on the west shore of Lake Winnipeg) went from being a snow covered area with six foot high drifts in May, to a beautiful beach area accessible by foot in June, to a flooded area only accessible by boat in July and finally back to a normal looking beach area by October.  The area was normal in that it was again accessible by foot and the land area was probably about the same however, the shape had completely changed.

Riverton Sandy Bar IBA

On May 9^th, there were still 4 ft snow drifts at the south western part of Sandy Bar but by May 16^th the shoreline was basically bare with some ice remaining on Lake Winnipeg.  By this date, the two target species for this IBA, Common Tern and Ring-billed Gull, had both arrived.

From left to right and top to bottom: Common Tern nest, Common Tern, Sweet White Clover erosion and Caspian Tern, Common Tern and Ring-billed Gulls

In June, ground nesting signs were placed in two areas on Sandy Bar as well as the official IBA sign to alert visitors to the importance of this area.  Funding for the nesting signs was provided by Manitoba Conservation.

For those who were in Manitoba during the July Canada Day weekend, you may remember the rain/wind storm that resulted in high lake levels. Many young birds were found washed ashore on a few of the southern beaches of Lake Winnipeg.  This storm made some huge changes to the appearance of Sandy Bar.  A large portion of the sand bar was under water and the storm had washed away one of the nesting signs which had been bolted onto a steel post.  It is believed that this storm likely destroyed nests at Sandy Bar as there were only one juvenile Common Tern and one juvenile Ring-billed Gull seen during the summer visits to the area.  However, one advantage of having much of the sand bar under water was that it deterred ATV access.

In August, an information box was erected on the Chamber of Commerce notice board with Manitoba IBA brochures that were available for anyone interested in learning about all of Manitoba’s 38 IBA’s.

From right to left and top to bottom: Juvenile Bald Eagle, approximately 1500 Frankin’s Gulls, the only Juvenile Common Tern seen in 2014 and Green-winged Teals in fall migration

Juvenile Bald Eagles from the nearby nest, juvenile Spotted Sandpiper and a Great Blue Heron were common sights at Sandy Bar during the summer months. Fall migration brought with it a few interesting birds such as one Red Knot of the endangered ‘rufa’ subspecies and a number of “Species at Risk” Rusty Blackbirds.  The regular fall visitors Ruddy Turnstone, Least Sandpiper, Sanderling, Dunlin, Green-winged Teal and Caspian Tern were also seen in late summer and early fall.

From top to bottom: Rusty Blackbird, Blue-green algae, Ruddy Turnstone and Least Sandpiper

In 2014 Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship designated Riverton Sandy Bar as a Special Conservation Area.  This means that all-terrain vehicles will now be banned from this area from April 1 to September 15.  It will also forbid human use of the area should a piping plover be reported.  This will also be of great benefit for other ground nesting birds such as the Common Tern.

Top to bottom: White Sweet Clover, Dunlin, ATV tracks and Ring-billed Gull

To help make IBA Riverton Sandy Bar appealing to Piping Plovers, it has been suggested that pulling the white sweet clover from the sand bar would be beneficial.  In a previous conservation plan, it was suggested that if project funding was limited, encroachment by woody vegetation should be considered the highest ranking threat to avian nesting habitat along the Sandy Bar.

For those who may be interested in helping to “Weed for a Day” at IBA Riverton Sandy Bar, there will be a morning set aside within the next few weeks where volunteers can meet to help pull some of the clover from the area.  No experience necessary!  All that is required is a pair of work gloves and a little ambition. Many hands make for light work…and hopefully for successful nesting birds!

Weeds to pull on Riverton Sandy Bar

For more information on the weed-pulling day, please contact:

Joanne Smith

Email: picsmith@live.ca

Click the link to see Joanne’s Riverton Sandy Bar Facebook page

The following is an article which appears in the latest MB Breeding Bird Atlas newsletter. In it, Tim Poole, the Manitoba IBA Program Coordinator, suggests how former atlassers can continue to gather important bird data while helping the IBA Program.

Manitoba’s Important Bird Area (IBA) program

What are IBA’s?

Important Bird Areas (IBAs) are places with lots of birds. Simple. In fact the populations of birds within each IBA is, or has been, significant, either at a global, continental or national scale. IBAs are not just Canadian; there are 12,000 of them across the world, representing the largest global network of important sites for biodiversity. To achieve IBA status, each candidate site has been assessed against standard criteria from Birdlife International. For some sites in Manitoba this might mean that they provide habitat for significant but small populations of a globally threatened species like the Piping Plover or that they hold significant assemblages of migrating waterfowl or shorebirds. Take Douglas Marsh for example. There were estimated to be 500 pairs of Yellow Rail present in 1995, an impressive 11.6% of the total global population of this species. Therefore Douglas Marsh meets the criteria based on the population of a single species. At Whitewater Lake spring shorebird counts are as high as 23,068 birds and total waterfowl counts exceed 250,000 birds, making the site globally significant. These figures are impressive and yet worrying at the same time: How many Yellow Rails are currently breeding at Douglas Marsh? Are there still 250,000 waterfowl at Whitewater Lake? Do we know? What is the current state of the habitats? Has land-use changed since 1995? Whitewater Lake and Douglas Marsh have some formal protection but what about the 78% of IBAs with none? The Manitoba IBA Program seeks to provide answers to these questions by engaging volunteers. We need your help!

Many of Manitoba’s IBA’s were identified because of large congregations of shorebirds. Here at Whitewater Lake there are American Golden Plover, Short-billed Dowitcher, Long-billed Dowitcher, Pectoral Sandpiper and Least Sandpiper. Copyright C. Artuso.

Many of Manitoba’s IBA’s were identified because of large congregations of shorebirds. Here at Whitewater Lake there are American Golden Plover, Short-billed Dowitcher, Long-billed Dowitcher, Pectoral Sandpiper and Least Sandpiper. Photo by C. Artuso.

Caretakers

Across Canada there are a number of IBA Caretakers, including 3 in Manitoba. The role of a Caretaker is to monitor birds, assess habitats, document changes and 6 Other Citizen-Science Initiatives build community awareness around one particular site. A Caretaker could be an individual, a group of like-minded friends or a local bird watching club or community group. The minimum commitment is 15 hours per year to cover 3 visits (spring migration, summer breeding, fall migration), although caretakers may wish to go the extra mile. If you wish to become a caretaker but do not have the time or resource to cover the entire site, then why not become a caretaker for a smaller subsection? Sites without a current caretaker includes well known birding spots as Delta Marsh, Whitewater Lake, Oak Lake/Plum Lakes, Langruth and Churchill. Plenty of opportunities then!

North, West and East Shoal Lake Caretaker, Donna Martin discovered breeding Least Bittern in North Shoal Lake in 2014. See here for more details. Copyright Donna Martin

Roving Birders

If caretaking a particular IBA is not your style, you can still help in various ways. This year we are rolling out our roving recorder program. It is very simple. If you are planning a trip to an IBA, you are already halfway to becoming a Roving Recorder. By the end of May we will be adding maps to our website of many of the more accessible IBAs. Each map will contain a specific monitoring area making data recording simpler. We will make monitoring forms available. All you have to do is record all the birds you encounter in each subarea. All IBA data should be recorded on eBird which will upload automatically into the IBA system. If you do not wish to enter data on eBird we will even do it for you!

Groups of birders at Whitewater Lake. Photo by Bev Sawchuk.

What next?

By volunteering with the program, you are not only taking part in grassroots conservation but joining a network of people globally committed to conservation of our best sites. Our IBAs are amongst the best and most treasured birding spots in Manitoba and we can keep them that way.

We can send volunteer packages by mail or you can download them here:

IBA Monitor Welcome Package 2014

IBA Site Caretaker Welcome Package 2014

Using eBird for the Manitoba Important Bird Area program.

These provide information, a volunteer job description and even a brief introduction to using eBird for IBA. Contact Tim Poole at iba@naturemaniotba.ca or 204-943-9029.

by: Donna Martin, Caretaker at the North, West and East Shoal Lakes IBA

Least Bittern – copyright Donna Martin

I am the volunteer caretaker of North, West and East Shoal Lakes Important Bird Area, which is located within the southwestern part of Manitoba’s Interlake Region.  Identified as MB038, this IBA is approximately 15 km east of Lake Manitoba, in Manitoba, Canada.

The North, West and East Shoal Lake IBA is a landlocked drainage basin consisting of three large bodies of water. Land use surrounding this IBA is mainly grazing, with a small percentage used for forage crops. Open deciduous forests are found scattered around all three areas, mostly in early successional stages. In recent years, water levels have risen to an all-time high, which has affected land use surrounding all three lakes and has impacted the avian species that use this area for breeding and staging.  The marshes associated with these lakes are mostly cattail marshes, which is prime habitat for least bitterns and other waders, waterfowl and marsh birds.

North, West and East Shoal Lakes IBA

Between 1985 and 1996, 46 pairs of Piping Plovers (1.5% of the Great Plains population) were found nesting here (IBA Canada, http://bit.ly/1ugivvD). However, they have not been recorded here since the early 1990’s (IBA Canada, http://bit.ly/1ugivvD).  Historic records also identified large numbers of breeding American White Pelican, four species of grebe, Black-crowned Night Heron, and to a lesser extent, Common Tern, Double-crested Cormorant, Herring Gull and Ring-billed Gull (IBA Canada, http://bit.ly/1ugivvD).  At one point, fall staging records documented over 100,000 Canada Geese and approximately 200,000 snow geese using this area, along with large numbers of waterfowl species (IBA Canada, http://bit.ly/1ugivvD).  Also recorded were various species of shorebirds, using the area for staging during both the spring and fall (IBA Canada, http://bit.ly/1ugivvD).

A moderate shift in both the number and species using this area has been observed and hopefully with continued survey effort over the next few years, we will update and document the breeding bird data and staging usage for this IBA.

One of five juvenile Least Bitterns found in the North Shoal Lake area on Sept 15, 2014 – copyright Donna Martin

This year, we were excited to document two adult male Least Bitterns early in the breeding season. Observed by quite a few people, these two birds were identified in two different areas of the IBA. The first bird was found in the North Shoal Lake area and the second bird was spotted in the East Shoal Lake area.

Both adult birds were very skittish and although I saw both on most days I was out there, they would fly into the dense cattail reeds at the first sign of approach.

Adult male Least Bittern – copyright Christian Artuso

The Least Bittern is classified as a small heron of about 30 cm, just bigger than a robin. It breeds in marshes associated with emergent vegetation and needs some open, clean and clear water, as it hunts the marsh edges by sight. This bird is seldom seen but most often detected by call.

Listed by Manitoba’s Endangered Species and Ecosystem Act (ESEA) as an endangered species and considered nationally threatened by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC), it was a great bird to find associated with this IBA.

According to the Species at Risk Public Registry, there are approximately 1500 pairs of Least Bitterns in Canada, with the majority of breeding populations found in Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia (http://www.sararegistry.gc.ca/species/speciesDetails_e.cfm?sid=51).

One of the five juvenile Least Bitterns found in the North Shoal Lake area – copyright Donna Martin

It was great to document the two adult Least Bitterns early in the season, but it was even more exciting to find 5 hatch year birds in early September.

Trips to the IBA revealed one Juvenile Least Bittern on September 6, 2014. Two juveniles were seen on September 10, 2014 and September 14 revealed three birds, all believed to be hatch year birds. On September 15, five juveniles were seen in the same area in North Shoal Lake.  The juveniles found this year appeared more tolerant than the adults found earlier in the season, which allowed for some great photographic opportunities and documentation.

This was the first juvenile Least Bittern found on September 6, 2014 – copyright Donna Martin

The Least Bittern is protected under the Federal Species at Risk Act (SARA), Migratory Birds Convention Act, and the Manitoba Endangered Species Act.

The main threats to this species are mostly anthropogenic, with loss from destruction of habitat, shoreline development, wetland drainage and invasive species. It has a low threshold and does not tolerate human disturbances well and will leave suitable habitat if human activities become too great. Climate change could also be a threat, as it can alter water levels, which can alter habitat.

Close up view of a Least Bittern seen at North Shoal Lake, September 15, 2014 – copyright Donna Martin

The Least Bittern was an exciting species to find this summer.  Efforts next year will include trying to document breeding evidence, behavior, density and numbers of young birds of this species.

– Donna Martin

Additional Least Bittern info and photos can be found on Christian Artuso’s Birds and Wildlife Blog at http://artusobirds.blogspot.ca/2014/09/least-bittern-shoal-lakes-iba.html