Archives

Bird Studies
Canada Main Page

BSC's Online Store Special!
Peterson Field Guides: Warblers
by Jon Dunn and Kimball Garrett

$17.50 (while supplies last)

Check it out at
www.bsc-eoc.org/shopping/shop.jsp
 

1 December 2006 
Download a Printable PDF Version  

 

Cambodia Announces Protection of Bengal Florican Habitat

Photo: BirdLife International - ©Allan Michaud

22-11-2006 – Birdlife International – The Government of Cambodia has made a significant step towards protecting important habitat for the Bengal Florican Eupodotis bengalensis. In an effort to save this endangered flagship species from extinction, over 100 miles of grassland habitat will be set aside as part of Cambodia’s Integrated Farming and Biodiversity Areas (IFBAs). Restricted to tiny fragments of grassland scattered across Cambodia, Nepal and India, the Bengal Florican — the world’s rarest bustard — has become increasingly threatened by land conversion for intensive agriculture, particularly from dry-season rice production. Cambodia, estimated to have fewer than 1000 individuals, holds the world’s largest population of floricans.
  The surveys were undertaken by BirdLife International, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the University of East Anglia (UK), the Wildlife Protection Office, and the Department of Nature Conservation and Parks. The surveys highlighted the importance of traditional agricultural practices – grazing, burning, and scrub-clearance – in ensuring populations of floricans are sustained. Jonathan Eames, BirdLife Indochina Programme Manager, said that "by incorporating and promoting suitable agricultural techniques, we have a sustainable option for ensuring the Bengal Florican can still exist in this region.” The decision to set up the IFBAs has come from Nam Thum, the Provincial Governor of Cambodia’s Kampong Thom Province, near Phnom Penh. The area will cover over 30,000 hectares near the Tonle Sap Lake.

Diving Duck Resurfaces in Madagascar

Photo: BirdLife International © Lily-Arison Rene de Roland The Peregrine Fund

20-11-2006 – Birdlife International – The Madagascar Pochard, a diving duck last sighted in 1991 and feared extinct, has been rediscovered during a survey in remote northern Madagascar.
Conservationists from The Peregrine Fund Madagascar Project discovered nine adults and four recently hatched young on a remote lake and have since revisited the site for further observations and data.
“This is an exciting discovery that strengthens our conviction that putting well-trained biologists into the field to learn about species is critical for conservation success,” said Rick Watson, International Programs Director for The Peregrine Fund. The Madagascar Pochard Aythya innotata was until recently listed as Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct). The last pochard sighting was on Lake Alaotra in the Central Plateau of Madagascar in 1991 when a male was captured and kept in Antananarivo Zoological and Botanical Gardens until its death one year later. The last record of multiple birds dates back to June 1960 when 20 birds were sighted on Lake Alaotra. The decline of the Madagascar Pochard is thought to have started in the mid-20th century and has been linked with degrading lake and marshland habitat from introduced plant and fish species, conversion to rice paddies, and burning. Little is known about the pochard, an extremely secretive and often solitary bird that prefers shallow and marshy habitat.

Return to Top of Page

        NATIONAL

 

Reminder of Upcoming Baillie Fund Grant Deadlines

1 December 2006 – Bird Studies Canada’s Baillie Fund program provides grants for research, education, and conservation projects that advance the understanding, appreciation, and conservation of Canadian birds. Does your club or organization have a project that fits these guidelines? The deadline for Regular Grant applications is fast approaching – 15 December 2006. The deadline for the Small Grant Program, which is open to individuals and organizations, is 15 January 2007. Applications and additional information are available by clicking here, or by contacting Audrey Heagy, aheagy@bsc-eoc.org, 1-888-448-2472, ext. 243.

Return to Top of Page

 

Long Point Bird Observatory Wraps up its 47th Season.

1 December 2006 – The Long Point Bird Observatory (LPBO) folded its nets on November 15, completing the 47th year of migration monitoring at Long Point, Ontario. The fall season kicked off at the beginning of August with a Young Ornithologists Workshop. This was followed by the Young Ornithologist Internship in mid-August when two Latin American trainees, one from Mexico and the other from Peru, joined LPBO for part of the season. Over 50 dedicated LPBO volunteers helped to deliver a spectacular season with over 25, 000 birds banded: 12,620 in the spring and 13,130 in the fall. The spring was chock-full of rarities, and LPBO added its 273rd species to the banding list; a Varied Thrush banded on October 25th. You may learn all about these and other sightings from this year’s migration on the LPBO Sightings Board.
  In addition, the Thunder Bay Field Naturalist's and Bird Studies Canada’s Thunder Cape Bird Observatory also completed an excellent year banding 6804 birds; 1883 in the spring and 4921 in the fall. There were a number of amazing rarities over the course of the year including an Ash-throated Flycatcher and Green-tailed Towhee.
  For information on migration monitoring programs across the country please visit the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network website.

Well-Traveled Northern Saw-whet Owl

1 December 2006 – Northern Saw-whet Owls are commonly banded in eastern and central Canada where several of the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network stations have long-term owl monitoring projects. The species’ movement in that part of the country is becoming well documented. In the west, however, this is not the case. It is only in the last few years that banders have begun targeting Northern Saw-whet Owls. In 2002, Vancouver Island’s Rocky Point Bird Observatory initiated a fall owl monitoring project that now bands 200 to 400 Northern Saw-whet Owls annually. The Rocky Point Project has had a handful of recoveries in Washington State, all of which were within 150 kilometers of the banding site.
  Elsewhere, Dan Zazelenchuk has been banding Northern Saw-whet Owls on his farm near Kyle, Saskatchewan since 2003, and he has worked as a volunteer on Last Mountain Bird Observatory’s Saw-whet Owl Monitoring Project. On October 23, Dan made an interesting discovery in his owl nets – a Northern Saw-whet Owl that had been banded September 27, 2003 at Rocky Point Bird Observatory, over 1150 kilometers to the west of his current location. Rocky Point Bird Observatory’s Paul Levesque could not believe it. "This is an amazing recovery. In the past three years this owl flew over open ocean to leave Vancouver Island, crossed the Rockies, and was crossing the Great Plains when Dan recaptured it. Band recoveries like this show how little we know about the movement patterns of owls."

Scaup Migration Peaks on the Great Lakes

1 December 2006 – Lesser and Greater scaup implanted with satellite transmitters by the Long Point Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Fund (LPWWRF) earlier this spring on the lower Great Lakes are well into their autumn migration. LPWWRF biologists recently counted over 60,000 scaup at Long Point, Lake Erie, Ontario, which indicates that near peak numbers of birds are now at this important stopover site. Many of the satellite-marked scaup are still staging at mid-latitude stopover sites, and most remain on the Great Lakes or St. Lawrence River. One female Lesser Scaup, however, did not return to the Great Lakes region, but rather departed from northern Minnesota and currently is at Lake Ponchartrain, Louisiana in the United States. Lake Ponchartrain is a major wintering area for Lesser Scaup in the Mississippi Flyway. Be sure to check “Scaup Tracker” often over the next few weeks to see where the other scaup will spend the winter.

Lesser and Greater Scaup Diet Paper Published

1 December 2006 – Dr. Shannon Badzinski (LPWWRF Scientist) and Dr. Scott Petrie (LPWWRF Research Director) recently published a study in the fall 2006 edition of the Wildlife Society Bulletin 34(3):664-674 titled “Diets of Lesser and Greater Scaup During Autumn and Spring on the Lower Great Lakes.” If you would like to read about scaup food habits on the lower Great Lakes, email sbadzinski@bsc-eoc.org for a PDF of this article. Click on the following link to learn more about LPWWRF’s Scaup Research Programs.
 

 Return to Top of Page

This email was sent by BirdStudiesCanada@bsc-eoc.org.  If you receive duplicates of this email, or if you do not wish to receive it, please contact us.
Ce courriel a été envoyé depuis l'adresse BirdStudiesCanada@bsc-eoc.org. Si vous recevez plus d'une copie de ce message, ou si vous voulez que l'on retire votre nom de la liste d'envoi, veuillez communiquer avec nous. Nous nous excusons du fait que ce message ne soit pas disponible en français.