I was asked by Jeff Wells to do a guest blog posting on the topic of our recent bird surveys on the eastside of Lake Winnipeg. This can be accessed at:
http://www.borealbirds.org/blog/?p=870
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Great Summer!
It has been an amazing summer of bird atlassing in numerous remote areas of Manitoba. I will slowly get around to processing the photographic record but, in the meantime, here is my first teaser and one of the many outstanding highlights… do you know who this is?
Monday, May 16, 2011
Barn Swallow Threatened in Canada?
Citing declines (in some areas) by as much as 76% in the past 40 years, COSWEIC recently decided to list the Barn Swallow as Threatened (see: http://www.cosewic.gc.ca/eng/sct7/sct7_3_17_e.cfm).
Barn Swallow is one of several common insectivorous species experiencing declines and the cause is the subject of much debate. It remains unclear whether habitat change, insect distribution, abundance and phenology, or climate are at the root of these declines. Barn Swallow began declining in the mid 1980s; however, their present population is still generally considered to be higher in Canada now than before Europeans altered the landscape so drastically. Furthermore, the sources of the data available to assess swallow declines reveal biases and needs to taken with a large grain of salt. It will be interesting to watch the reaction to this listing both in Canada and in the international scientific community. This and several other recent COSEWIC decisions; for example, the recent listing of Bobolink and other species where COSEWIC's assessment differed radically from Birdlife International despite relying on largely the same data sets, have the potential to result in a tarnishing of our reputation… or perhaps provoking a wider discussion on what it means to call a species "Threatened"!
Barn Swallow is one of several common insectivorous species experiencing declines and the cause is the subject of much debate. It remains unclear whether habitat change, insect distribution, abundance and phenology, or climate are at the root of these declines. Barn Swallow began declining in the mid 1980s; however, their present population is still generally considered to be higher in Canada now than before Europeans altered the landscape so drastically. Furthermore, the sources of the data available to assess swallow declines reveal biases and needs to taken with a large grain of salt. It will be interesting to watch the reaction to this listing both in Canada and in the international scientific community. This and several other recent COSEWIC decisions; for example, the recent listing of Bobolink and other species where COSEWIC's assessment differed radically from Birdlife International despite relying on largely the same data sets, have the potential to result in a tarnishing of our reputation… or perhaps provoking a wider discussion on what it means to call a species "Threatened"!
Barn Swallows perch just outside the entrance to Oak Hammock Marsh Interpretative Centre, Manitoba (perhaps to greet Peter Pyle or other visitors on the day)…
Friday, May 13, 2011
Band-tailed Pigeon in Winnipeg
After last year’s White-winged Dove, Manitoba seems to be on a bit of a rare columbid roll with a Band-tailed Pigeon found yesterday in Winnipeg. I managed this shot early this morning, between light rain showers, that shows the neck pattern and a bit of the tail pattern that gives this species their name. 
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