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Record-Late
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3 July 2009 
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         INTERNATIONAL

 

2500-Year-Old Nest Found

17 June 2009Scientists have discovered a 2500-year-old Gyrfalcon nesting site – the oldest raptor nest on record – as part of a study of 13 Gyrfalcon nests in Greenland. Gyrfalcons are known to return to the same nest sites over long periods; researchers used radiocarbon dating of guano samples and other nest debris to estimate nest ages. Learn more about their findings on the BBC website, or visit the website for the journal Ibis to read the abstract for the paper “Gyrfalcon post-glacial colonization and extreme long-term use of nest-sites in Greenland” by Kurt Burnham, William Burnham, and Ian Newton. 

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        NATIONAL

 

BSC Annual Members Meeting

3 July 2009 – Bird Studies Canada members are invited to join us at our national headquarters in Port Rowan for our 2009 Annual Members Meeting, to be held on Saturday, September 19 at
2:00 p.m.
   At the time of the meeting, there will be five vacancies on Bird Studies Canada’s Board of Directors. The following individuals have been nominated to fill these positions: Bryce Hunter, Chartered Accountant and businessman; incumbent Hugh McArthur, retired teacher and coordinator of the Friends of Long Point Bird Observatory; incumbent Betsy McFarlane, a freelance translator and volunteer at McGill Bird Observatory; Margaret Skeel, Manager of Natural Heritage Programs for Nature Saskatchewan; and Richard Waterous, founding Partner of and Counsel to Waterous, Holden, Amey, Hitchon LLP, and Chairman of La Réserve Beauchêne.

BSC Hires Database Manager

26 June 2009 – Daniel Dillon has joined the BSC team at our national headquarters in Port Rowan. As Database Manager, Daniel will assist Senior Scientist Denis Lepage with a variety of database-related tasks, including work on breeding bird atlases, the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network, the Marsh Monitoring Program, Nocturnal Owl Surveys, and many other programs.
   Daniel learned to program a business database and e-commerce website to accommodate the needs of a growing family business in 2000, and he received his B.Sc. in biology from the University of Western Ontario in 2007. His diverse work experience includes a position developing databases for the St. Clair Conservation Authority in Strathroy, Ontario. Welcome, Daniel!

Record-Late Spring Hinders Breeding Season


Photo: Christian Artuso

13 June 2009 – As winter and heavy snow cover lingered in northern Manitoba and the eastern Arctic into mid-June, Robert Alison reported in the Winnipeg Free Press that scientists were predicting that most wildlife species, including migratory birds (such as geese and shorebirds), would be unlikely to successfully breed in the Hudson Bay area this season. As a result of snowy conditions and below-average temperatures, Canada Geese did not initiate nesting until June 7 (more than one month later than usual), and shorebird nesting had not yet begun, even though it was already three weeks late as of June 13. Late nesting means birds may not have time to rear young that are strong enough to survive fall migration, with some birds unlikely to nest at all. Fortunately BSC began to receive anecdotal reports the week of June 22 that conditions were changing quickly, and that shorebird nesting had begun in the Hudson Bay area.

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        REGIONAL

 

OMNR Funds Species at Risk Projects

25 June 2009 – Ontario Minister of Natural Resources Donna Cansfield has announced nearly $700,000 in funding from the province’s Species at Risk Fund to support 20 volunteer stewardship projects in Halton, Brant, Hamilton, Haldimand-Norfolk, and Niagara regions.
   Bird Studies Canada has been awarded $78,740 to support stewardship, monitoring, outreach, and educational projects that increase knowledge and understanding of bird species at risk. Over the next year, BSC’s Ontario Program staff will conduct research and monitoring in specific ecosystems (e.g. Carolinian Forest, urban areas, and grasslands), targeting several at-risk bird species: Acadian Flycatchers; Hooded Warblers; Cerulean Warblers; Chimney Swifts; Bald Eagles; Short-eared Owls; and Barn Owls. The results will be used to direct future on-the-ground recovery activities. Visit the BSC website to learn more about our species at risk research and monitoring programs.
   In addition, Long Point Waterfowl (administered by BSC) has been awarded $20,900 to identify breeding sites and best management practices for Least Bitterns in the Long Point area.

Sea to Sky Atlassing

24 June 2009 – The rugged terrain of British Columbia poses some real challenges to atlassers trying to reach remote places to count birds. Intrepid atlassers in BC are up the challenge. BC Breeding Bird Atlas Assistant Coordinator Christopher Di Corrado was recently offered some helicopter time to atlas remote alpine areas in northern BC. This was not new for Christopher, who spent a summer clambering about the mountains by helicopter in search of Spotted Owls – at night! He and Marty Mossop also found a dozen woodland caribou – a rare treat. In Atlin, 25 keen birders (a great per-capita turn-out!) joined Christopher for a presentation, and regional coordinator Pam Sinclair joined in to explore the rugged mountains around Atlin.
   Regional Coordinators Sandra Kinsey and Laird Law have teamed up with a floatplane owner to atlas some remote lakes, forests, and alpine habitats in northern BC, a link the atlas team hopes to expand with the BC Floatplane Association in coming years. We have help in high places – one of the pilots is Dick Cannings’ cousin.
   Atlas Coordinator Rob Butler, Regional Coordinator Art Martell, and bird enthusiast Gerry McKeating (all retired CWS biologists) took to the high seas onboard a sailboat to atlas the remote and extraordinarily beautiful Bute Inlet for birds, dodging bears as they went. You can read about their adventure on the BC Atlas website and Rob’s blog on the Vancouver Sun website. Rob is off to the Queen Charlottes next on board the sailing vessel Island Odyssey, to atlas some of the most remote coastline in the province.

LMBO Unveils New Interpretive Sign


Photo: Dale Williams

22 June 2009 – As part of the recent 60th Anniversary celebrations for Nature Saskatchewan, a new interpretive sign was unveiled at Last Mountain Bird Observatory. Kiel Drake, BSC’s Prairie Region Marsh Monitoring Biologist (pictured above), was in attendance. Along with a number of other partners, Bird Studies Canada and the James L. Baillie Memorial Fund contributed funding for the new sign, which provides information about topics such as Last Mountain Regional Park, findings from LMBO’s migration monitoring program, and the miracle of migration.

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