Roseate Terns Banded in NS
Seen in Cape Cod, MA
8 October 2009
– Researchers from the Massachusetts Audubon Society and the
USGS (Patuxent Wildlife Research Centre) were thrilled to find 12
Canadian-hatched Roseate Terns at staging sites in Cape Cod, MA, over a
38-day period from August 14-September 21, 2009. The birds, which were
banded as chicks in 2009 on Country Island, Nova Scotia by staff of
Environment Canada’s Canadian Wildlife Service, each sported colour
bands which made them highly visible amongst thousands of terns staging
at eight different sites in Cape Cod.
These observations are critical
to improving the understanding of staging behaviour and migratory timing
of this Endangered seabird. They were presented at the joint meeting of
the U.S. and Canadian Roseate Tern Recovery Teams, October 7-8, in
Falmouth, Maine. Becky Whittam, Bird Studies Canada’s Atlantic Canada
Program Manager and co-chair of the Canadian Roseate Tern Recovery Team,
attended this meeting.
International Bicknell’s Thrush Conservation
Group Meeting
2 October 2009 – Bird Studies Canada’s Atlantic Canada Program
Manager Becky Whittam, Atlantic Project Biologist Greg Campbell, and
Québec Program Manager Andrew Coughlan joined partners from Canada and
the U.S. at the annual meeting of the
International Bicknell’s Thrush
Conservation Group Sept. 29-Oct. 1 in Québec
City. The group spent one day discussing the finalization of a
Conservation Action Plan for the Bicknell’s Thrush, and one day
discussing the implementation of a range-wide monitoring program for the
Bicknell’s Thrush and other high elevation landbirds. On the third day,
the group visited Massif du Sud, where Canadian Wildlife Service staff
have been studying the Bicknell’s Thrush for several years. The
highlight of the trip was the discovery of two lingering Bicknell’s
Thrushes that responded aggressively to playback of their calls and
songs despite the cold and snowy weather. This represents the latest
known Canadian record of this species on the breeding grounds.
La réunion du Groupe international pour la conservation de la Grive
de Bicknell
2 octobre 2009 – Becky Whittam, Gestionnaire de programmes Atlantique,
Greg Campbell, biologiste chargé de projets Atlantique, et Andrew
Coughlan, gestionnaire de programmes du Québec se sont joints à des
partenaires du Canada et des États-Unis pour la rencontre annuelle du
Groupe international pour la conservation de la Grive de Bicknell, qui a
eu lieu du 29 septembre au 1er octobre à Québec. Le groupe a passé une
journée à discuter la finalisation du plan d’action pour la conservation
de la Grive de Bicknell, et une deuxième journée à discuter la mise en
œuvre d’un programme de monitoring pour toute l’aire de distribution de
l’espèce. Pendant la troisième journée, le groupe a visité le Massif du
Sud, un endroit où le Service canadien de la faune étudie la Grive de
Bicknell pendant plusieurs années. Le fait saillant de la visite fut la
découverte de deux Grives de Bicknell, qui ont répondus aggressivement
au enregistrements de leur cri, malgré le temps froid et enneigé. Ceci
représente la mention le plus tard dans l’aire de reproduction
canadienne pour cette espèce.
Canada and U.S. Celebrate 20 Years of Wetlands Conservation
1 October 2009 – The North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA),
which provides funding for wetland habitat conservation projects to
support the goals of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP),
is celebrating 20 years of success. The NAWCA was enacted by the U.S. in
1989, and the NAWMP was signed by Canada, the U.S., and Mexico that same
year. Since then, the NAWCA program has allocated more than $1 billion
in grants from the U.S. government, which have been matched by more than
$2 billion from other sources. The program has conserved more than 25.4
million acres of wetlands and waterfowl habitat across North America
through more than 1900 projects on the ground.
In Canada, more than 2.9 million hectares of wetland and associated
upland habitat have been secured thanks to NAWCA funding and generous
support from partners over the past two decades. Wetlands provide
significant economic and environmental benefits, and are also essential
habitats for waterfowl, migratory birds, and other wildlife and plant
species, including species at risk.
Bird Studies Canada is a member of the NAWCA Canada Council, the
Eastern Habitat Joint Venture, the Prairie Habitat Joint Venture, and
the Seaduck Joint Venture.
Canadian Northern Wheatear Found in Iceland
Photo: David Hussell
29 September 2009 – The Northern Wheatear undertakes one of the most
remarkable migrations of any songbird. It is the only songbird that
breeds in North America and winters in Africa. Alaskan and Yukon
breeders migrate roughly southwest to winter in east Africa. The eastern
Arctic population, breeding from Ellesmere Island south to Labrador and
in Greenland, migrates southeast, crossing the Atlantic to winter in
western Africa south of the Sahara.
A breeding female, banded by Dr. David Hussell at Iqaluit, Baffin
Island, Nunavut, in July 2007 was found dead near Reykjavik, Iceland in
mid-May 2009, presumably en route back to Baffin Island. This is the
first North American-banded wheatear recovered anywhere, as well as the
first banded songbird from North America found in Iceland. It would have
been on at least its sixth Atlantic crossing when it died in Iceland.
The wheatear found in Iceland was one of 83 banded by Dr. Hussell in
the course of his research in 2007 and 2008. This year, he and his team
located 16 nests and at least two additional fledged broods during
nearly eight weeks of fieldwork. They added 44 to the number of
wheatears they have banded at Iqaluit, which at 127 is more than triple
the total banded in Canada in the preceding 50 years!
Dr. Hussell is continuing his research on wheatears at Iqaluit with
support from Bird Studies Canada, in collaboration with Dr. Ryan Norris,
University of Guelph, and Dr Franz Bairlein, Avian Research Institute,
Wilhelmshaven, Germany. The objectives of this research are to learn
more about the breeding of wheatears in Canada and their migrations to
and from Africa.
Bicknell’s Thrushes Fly South with Data-Collecting Backpacks
Photo: Hubert Askanas
25 September 2009 – Historically, linking the breeding and wintering
areas of migratory songbirds has been very difficult. A new technology
developed by the British Antarctic Survey, now lightweight enough to use
on large songbirds, is revolutionizing the study of bird migration.
Collaborators with the International Bicknell’s Thrush Conservation
Group caught 71 Bicknell’s Thrushes at seven different locations across
the species’ range in June-July 2009 and attached tiny data-collecting
devices called geolocators. These geolocators gather data for up to two
years on daily sunrise/sunset times, which can be converted to latitude
and longitude to provide an estimate of the bird’s location over time.
Birds need to be recaptured in order to retrieve the data, and plans are
in place for this work in Spring/Summer 2010.
This project is being conducted as part of a range-wide study to
examine migration patterns and wintering locations of this rare songbird
that breeds in high elevation forest in northeastern North America and
winters in the Greater Antilles. Personnel from Bird Studies Canada,
University of New Brunswick, and Environment Canada deployed four
geolocators in Nova Scotia and five in New Brunswick in June 2009. In
Québec, the Canadian Wildlife Service deployed 25 geolocators. An
additional 22 were deployed in New York and 15 in Vermont by American
collaborators with the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, the State
University of New York, the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, and the
British Antarctic Survey. For more information on geolocators, visit the
British Antarctic Survey website.
Northern Canada Report Now Includes Greenland
21 September 2009 – The Northern Canada regional report summarizing
seasonal bird observations and trends for the Yukon, Northwest
Territories, and Nunavut and published in the journal
North American
Birds has now been expanded to include Greenland.
This is a welcome addition since Greenland is ecologically and
culturally very much a part of Arctic Canada, and is a fundamental
factor in the global climate crisis. Greenland’s birds are our birds,
and efforts to better understand their migratory movements and breeding
populations are a key to better conservation. We invite all birdwatchers
who live in or travel to the north – whether it be the Yukon, Northwest
Territories, Nunavut, or Greenland – to help make the Northern Canada &
Greenland report an exciting, accurate, and informed synopsis of our
northern birdlife. To submit your observations, email Cameron Eckert at
cameron.eckert@gmail.com.
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