Bicknell’s Thrush, Piping Plover Get a Boost from the Nova Scotia
Species At Risk Conservation Fund
21
December 2007 – Nova Scotia’s new fund for conservation of
Species At Risk has committed to $13,000 in funding to Bird Studies
Canada’s Atlantic Region programs, including the High Elevation Landbird
Program and the Nova Scotia Piping Plover Conservation Program. With its
share of the funding,
the Nova Scotia Piping Plover Conservation Program will develop
a Landowner Beach Stewardship Guide.
The High Elevation Landbird
Program monitors Bicknell’s Thrush and other birds breeding at high
elevations in Nova Scotia. Funding from the Species At Risk fund will
help BSC to produce a Best Conservation and Stewardship Practices guide
for Bicknell’s Thrush in Nova Scotia, and to conduct high elevation bird
surveys in June 2008. For more information on the Bicknell’s Thrush,
visit BSC’s
High Elevation Landbird Program site as well as the website of
the newly formed
International Bicknell’s Thrush Conservation Group.
The Piping Plover and Bicknell’s
Thrush are both federally and provincially listed Species At Risk.
Select this link
for more information on the Nova Scotia Species At Risk fund.
Long
Point Bird Observatory Wraps up its 48th Season
Photo: Hilde Johansen
21
December 2007 – The Long Point Bird Observatory (LPBO) closed
its nets on November 15, completing the 48th 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. Two
Latin American trainees joined us shortly thereafter for most of the
season, one from Argentina and the other from Paraguay. Over 75
dedicated LPBO volunteers helped to deliver a spectacular year with over
32,000 birds banded: 16,782 in the spring and 15,535 in the fall,
bringing LPBO’s total birds banded to nearly 750,000. The spring was
chock-full of rarities, including Long Point’s first ever Pacific Loon
on May 19, and our second Cassin’s Sparrow captured at the Tip on May
30. The fall added another first for Long Point, a Western Grebe at the
Tip on November 1. Long Point’s second Western Tanager was found at Old
Cut on November 2. 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 Naturalists’ and Bird Studies Canada’s Thunder Cape Bird
Observatory (TCBO) also completed its 16th year, banding
11,076 birds – 3257 in the spring and 7819 in the fall. These fall
totals included TCBO’s first ever Bell’s Vireo and its first five
Cackling Geese!
For information on migration
monitoring programs across the country please visit
the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network website.
LPWWRF
Tracks Sandhill Cranes
19
December 2007 – The Long Point Waterfowl and Wetlands
Research Fund (LPWWRF) is conducting a study of Sandhill Crane (Grus
canadensis) funded by the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters.
Sandhill Cranes were nearly extirpated from the Great Lakes region by
the early 20th century. Their recovery into central Ontario
began in the 1960s, and the highest concentrations now exist in the area
just east of Sault Ste. Marie, where LPWWRF is currently conducting
research. The number of cranes using this area has increased to
5000-10,000 birds.
Cranes increased their time
spent feeding over the month of August, to acquire fat reserves needed
for migration. Cranes preferred to feed in harvested grain fields, but
were also observed in early and mid-August feeding in standing grain
fields, resulting in crop damage. Satellite transmitters were attached
to four cranes in early October to track migration routes and identify
wintering and nesting areas. All cranes spent varying lengths of time on
staging grounds in Michigan, Indiana, and Tennessee, and have now
arrived on their wintering grounds in Georgia and Florida. With any
luck, transmitters will last long enough to monitor crane movement for
up to four years. You can follow the migrations of these birds on the
Crane Tracker.
Cook’s Petrel Visits Lillooet, BC
10
December 2007 – Earlier this month, a Cook’s Petrel was found
in Lillooet, BC, about 300 kilometres east of the nearest shearwater or
albatross habitat. This is a first record for Canada.
Cook’s Petrels nest on islands
around New Zealand, dispersing to the North Pacific during non-breeding
periods. They are very hard to find on the Pacific coast of North
America, and had never before been seen in BC waters, let alone inland.
On December 3, a very strong
southwesterly flow brought high winds off the Pacific in a stream
extending straight from Hawaii. The bird was found in Lillooet the night
of December 4. Photos and measurements were taken, and local birders and
other experts collaborated to confirm the identification of this extreme
rarity.
The now-famous petrel ate well
for a couple of days but unfortunately it died on December 6, before
plans to transfer it to the nearest suitable wildlife rehabilitation
facility in Vancouver could be implemented.
Visit eBird
Canada to read the full story and view a photo.
Return to Top of Page
