A taste of atlassing

This is the first year of the Manitoba Breeding Bird Atlas. There has been a LOT going on!! (see http://www.birdatlas.mb.ca/). I thought I would like to share a photographic highlight or two from a summer's worth of atlassing (see the "Atlas Photos" section under the "About the Atlas" tab on the web site for more)...

One of the first nests I found in Riding Mountain National Park this year was of the beautiful Black-backed Woodpecker.

A territorial Connecticut Warbler is always a good find... what a powerful song!

Eastern Phoebe's like to nest under eaves of various human structures and are easy to get confirmed breeding of...

Finding owl nests is mostly a lot of hard work, with the exception of Great Horned Owl nests (their nests are usually easy to find because they start so early in the year when there are no leaves on the trees and they often nest in conspicuous places like old stick nests). here are some of this year's owl finds...

A Short-eared Owl nest


An Eastern Screech-Owl leaving the nest in their typical stealthy fashion (they fly low in the shadows and swoop up into or down away from a nest rather than a direct line flight).


Finding a Great Gray Owl nest was one of the summer highlights for me (as always)!


Great Horned Owl fledglings have a lot of character!


Gray Jays breeding remarkably early and I found fledged young in mid May...


A young Wilson's Phalarope out for a promenade - put that down as FY (fledged young)!


Red-headed Woodpeckers put on a good show this year... This one, seen first flying through the trees...


happened to have a partner...


allowing me to eventually track down the nest site.


A big find was a Loggerhead Shrike on territory just south of Riding Mountain National Park, well north of their expected range...


And as always, atlassing gives you the opportunity to refine your knowledge of different species and their habitat associations... here is a Le Conte's Sparrow singing in typical habitat (along with other marsh buzzers!)


And there is sometimes time for a close-up too!


Waterbirds are relatively easy to atlas - we would find them either nest building like ths pair of Horned Grebes


Or more commonly with fledged young like this Eared Grebe family....

Two heads are better than one - well if you find a pair of birds that is - here is a handsome male and female Evening Grosbeak pair...

I enjoyed doing some grassland atlassing this year. One of my favourite Manitoba Grassland species, the Chestnut-collared Longspur put on a splendid show. Here is some agitated behaviour, an angelic pose, and a nest I found near St Lazare...

Plenty more great finds! An awesome summer contributing to monitoring and conservation.

Floppy ears

Been a crazily busy summer but got loads of atlassing done! Sorry for the lack of blog posts of late! Getting back into the swing now and thought I'd start with this photo of a Long-eared Owl that I took this evening. Usually when Long-eared Owls are alert their ear tufts stand up, but this bird, although clearly aware of my presence, was content to "hang loose"...

Little Brown Rarity

On May 30th 2010, I was walking back on the Grasshopper Trail at Riding Mountain National Park after having completed a morning exercise with my point count trainees. As we approached the bridge over Lake Audy Dam, who should pop up in front of me but a Rock Wren - the very first one I have seen in Manitoba. We all got to enjoy watching this little brown rarity, even a lifer for a few, as the bird fed along the rocks at the base of the bridge. The neat thing was watching this natural behaviour (Rock Wren on the rocks) even though this bird was hundreds and hundreds of miles off course. You can see what the wren was catching in the second photo.

Quite a treat!

Yet Another Prairie Bird on the Wrong List

If you recall my post “Another one on the wrong list” (http://artusobirds.blogspot.com/2009/12/another-one-on-wrong-list.html) referring to Chestnut-collared Longspur as being added to the COSEWIC list of threatened species, well, history has repeated itself and nobody is surprised. Today COSEWIC recommended adding Bobolink to the list of Threatened Species.

Like the Chestnut-collared Longspur, the Bobolink is a grassland bird that has suffered significant declines as a result of habitat loss, (changes in) agricultural practices, and pesticide use. The Bobolink is an “Icterid”, i.e. in the group that includes the “New World” blackbirds, “New World” orioles, cowbirds, grackles, meadowlarks, oropendolas and caciques. Quite a few North American blackbirds have suffered from “bird control measures” in cropland areas in their wintering range and at large winter roosts. Both Rusty Blackbird (Special Concern) and Bobolink have suffered declines as a result of this practice.

It is worth pointing out that Bobolink is a little different to some of the other Threatened grassland birds of mixed grass and short grass prairies, such as Sprague’s Pipit and Chestnut-collared Longspur. Bobolinks are found in grasslands, alfalfa fields, pastures and wetland edges as far west and eastern British Columbia; however they also utilize taller vegetation such as the Tall Gras Prairie and the prairie/parkland transition zone and their range extends all the way to the east coast of North America in these tall grass habitats. The plight of the tall grasslands of eastern North America is absolutely dire to say the least and the Bobolink has suffered their most severe declines in the east.

A few of my photos of the beautiful Bobolink are added below. I used two photos of a breeding male and one of a bird in non-breeding plumage. In late summer, males and females in non-breeding plumage look extremely similar. In fact, Bobolinks are unusual in undergoing two complete moults per year. Their rich, cheery, bubbly song (from which their English name is derived) and spectacular display flutter flight have punctuated many a grassy field in parts of Manitoba I have visited and have filled many a morning with joy. It saddens me to see such a “common” bird listed but hopefully this will improve our ability to conserve this grassland treasure.