WOLVERINE!

You can now "hear" this story on CBC Radio at: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/close-encounter-with-wolverine-stuns-manitoba-biologist-1.2757107

Many of you will know how much I have poured my heart and soul into coordinating the Manitoba Breeding Bird Atlas over the past six years.  Some of you will also know how much emphasis I have placed on point counting (an extremely useful method of surveying birds where one stands still for a fixed period of time and counts all birds seen and heard), having completed approx 2800 for this project. After five years of summer point counts, on July 18, 2014, I prepared to do what I knew would be my last point counts for the atlas. I was feeling a little nostalgic as I headed out at 2:30 am for a 16 km hike across the dimly lit tundra to get into the last reachable square from the cabin we were staying in. I wasn’t quite expecting the grand finale that my last morning counting would turn out to be.  Early on, I got a brief look at a cream coloured wolf and then near the end of one point count I noticed some odd behaviour from a female Black Scoter – calling agitatedly and flying in a circle before disappearing behind a sedge meadow… then I noticed two little fuzz balls swimming quickly in the grassy edges towards the sound of her voice – this was the first confirmed breeding Black Scoter for the project!  As if that wasn’t enough, just seconds after I finished my final point count, put my notebook in my pocket, and reached down for my day pack, I noticed a movement ahead of me… incredibly, I was looking at my lifer WOLVERINE, a mammal I have dreamt of seeing for the better part of my life! I quickly and quietly took out my camera and the wolverine continued moving in my direction, busily searching the edges of the little ponds for food and scaring the phalaropes and other birds. I got a series of photos of the wolverine running and jumping across little water channels including the one below.  I still can’t quite believe it! Not a bird oddly enough but a truly magic moment (more tales and photos from the season to follow when the final field season completely wraps up for good in a few weeks). Here is a series of shots of this incredible animal:

My first view was something like this - light coloured fur moving through the low vegetation

It only took a second to realise I was looking at a Wolverine!

The wolverine was foraging, apparently looking for birds nests by digging and sniffing along the edge of the many pools and streams. Fortunately, the animal looked up and even showed me their tongue.

 Here is a series of the wolverine running and jumping across the streams and around the edge of the ponds and scaring the phalaropes

Eventually the animal kept on going (completely ignored me the whole time) and disappeared, leaving me shaking at the knees!

Nocturnal owl Surveying

It is Nocturnal Owl Survey season here in Canada and two nights ago I was treated to a few rewards before my survey got started – a pair of Barred Owls (Strix varia) duetting in the evening light (photo below shows the male, based on voice) and a Canada Lynx walking along the dirt road! Although common in some parts of their range, Barred Owls occur in low densities in Manitoba and are always a treat for us here.

The following night, I came across 4 Long-eared Owls (Asio otus) displaying in a clearing in a jack pine stand. The owls sometimes glided and sometimes zig-zagged over the clearing and would periodically clap their wings below them producing an audible “snap” noise (such aerial display also seen in other Asio species such as Short-eared Owl). Both sexes were involved as I heard both male and female voices, although I can’t be sure who was clapping. I took a little time in between survey routes to try to photograph this behaviour but was unsuccessful, although I got these shots of a calling bird (presumed male based on voice) at the edge of the clearing. I couldn’t stay long because I had to go on and do other surveys but it was sure hard to tear myself away from the performance.

the critically endangered Chinese Crested Tern

Once feared extinct, and with fewer than 50 mature individuals in the world, the critically endangered Chinese Crested Tern is one of the rarest birds in the world. They breed on islands in the Strait of Taiwan and visit the Minjiang Estuary on Fujian’s coast typically in May – June. It is therefore hard to describe the emotion I felt when two of these magnificent birds flew in and landed at the estuary on April 5^th (one of the earliest records ever) – I think I am still in a state of shock!

曾经我们担心中华凤头燕鸥已经灭绝了, 现在知道在整个世界有少于50只 !

中华凤头燕鸥筑巢在台湾海峡的一些小岛, 5月,6月到闽江口. 因此, 4月5日在闽江口看到两只飞过来上滩, 我很难交待我那一刻的情感. 我还不敢相信!

Giant Mega!

The Giant Antpitta was once considered one of the most elusive birds in the Neotropics – an absolute mega! That is, until Ángel Paz in western Ecuador trained a female Giant Antpitta named Maria to come in to his call feed on worms. Maria, however, has since passed on and the Giant Antpitta is once again an extremely difficult bird to see. The “eastern” Giant Antpitta (subspecies on the eastern slope of the Andes), which might warrant full species status, is even more of an enigma. For that reason this sighting of a bird I identified as an Eastern Giant hopping along the trail in the early morning on the Guacamayos trail near Cosanga, Ecuador (3 km below the shrine according to my GPS) got my heart racing! Here is a collage of three photos of that truly magic moment. This is one of the 14 antpitta species I saw on my trip to Ecuador (9 on trails, 5 to worms) and definitely the biggest and most “mega”.

It turns out, however, that the identification of eastern Giant Antpitta is not at all straightforward as they are very similar to Undulated Antpitta and, since I didn’t hear this bird call, I have had to pour over my photos and the literature. The result is that I believe this truly is an eastern Giant due to the warm buffy throat with barring all the way up to chin, only a hint of a malar stripe (not an obvious dark strip as would be expected from Undulated), rich chestnut on forecrown and also ear coverts, narrow barring on underparts, and green tones to upperparts. The presence of a wing bar is also an interesting feature that is not noted as a feature of this subspecies but based on comparison of other subspecies seems to point to Giant as well. The elevation of this sighting also ought to be too low for Undulated, although apparently Undulated has been recorded near the start of the trail, which is already on the lower edge of their elevation range. That is my conclusion but expert opinions are thoroughly welcome – please let me know what you think!