2002 News Archive

Index

Alberta Nocturnal Owl Survey Receives Funding

17 December 2002 - The Alberta Nocturnal Owl Survey, a BSC citizen science program, has received $9200 from TD Friends of the Environment. This funding will help provide volunteer support, education, and development in the 2003 program. It’s great to welcome TD Friends of the Environment as a Survey partner!

Article on Black Oystercatchers appears in Wilson Bulletin

December 2002 - Former BC Coastal Waterbird Survey Coordinator, Stephanie Hazlitt has published a paper on the relationship between territory quality and reproductive success in BC’s Black Oystercatchers in the December 2001 issue of the Wilson Bulletin (Vol. 113, pp 404-409). Stephanie found that oystercatchers hatched and produced more young on shallow sloping intertidal shorelines than on steep-sloped islets and shorelines. She also found that oystercatchers breeding near Glaucous-winged Gulls had smaller first clutches than pairs free of neighbouring gulls. Since completing this work, Stephanie has moved on from BSC and is conducting her Ph.D. research in Australia on Rock Wallabies (we call them bird wannabes). We wish Stephanie good luck in her studies.

Christmas Birds Observed throughout the U.S. Found to Depend on Canada's Boreal Forest

19 December 2002 – Tennessee Warbler, Connecticut Warbler, Philadelphia Vireo, Cape May Warbler, Nashville Warbler all sound like birds that would live in the U.S. "In fact, over 80% of the global population of these songbirds depends on Canada's Northern Boreal Forest to nest and raise their young each summer," said Marilyn Heiman the Director of the Boreal Songbird Initiative.
   A report released today, Importance of Canada's Boreal Forest to Landbirds by Bird Studies Canada, estimates that as many as 3 - 5 billion landbirds migrate south from their breeding grounds in the Boreal Forest each year. Approximately one billion of those birds winter in the U.S. making it the biggest beneficiary of the birds produced in the Boreal Forest. In parts of the southern U.S., up to 1/3 of the birds present in the winter are Boreal Birds. "These include several species Americans will be looking at in their bird feeders this winter or searching for during the National Audubon Society's Annual Christmas Bird Count," said Bob Perciasepe, Vice President for Policy, National Audubon Society.
   Michael Bradstreet, the CEO and Director of Bird Studies Canada said, "This is the first report ever to assess the importance of this little known Canadian northern forest to U.S. bird populations." For the complete press release, click here. For the report's Executive Summary (250k), click here. The complete report (900k) is available here.

America’s Cup yacht teams support Save the Albatross campaign

19 December 2002 – Representatives of America’s Cup syndicates, Whitbread Round the World Race and Volvo Ocean Race teams pledged their support today for BirdLife International’s Save the Albatross campaign. This is part of BirdLife’s global initiative to save the world’s threatened species of albatross and petrel from the threat of extinction posed by longline fishing. Each year an estimated 300,000 seabirds drown on longlines around the world, of which more than 100,000 are albatrosses. The albatross has long been an important symbol for yachtsmen and mariners and it was fitting that this announcement came from the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand’s press conference during the Louis Vuitton Cup in Auckland, New Zealand. Read the release here

Maritimes Consultation Meeting Minutes

18 December 2002 – Bird Studies Canada held a Maritimes Consultation at which presentations on BSC's Atlantic Region programs were well-received and productive discussions ensued, primarily concerning ways in which to improve communication amongst bird and nature organizations in the region. To download minutes of the meeting click here (English) or ici (Francais).

New Feature added to Updated Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas Maps

17 December 2002 – Almost all of the data from year two of the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas have been entered in the Atlas database and have been mapped on the Atlas web page . The updated maps also include a new feature: squares in which a species’ range is potentially contracting have been flagged. This allows users to quickly ascertain whether a species’ range is apparently contracting, remaining the same, or expanding, relative to the first Atlas conducted from 1981-1985. Range contractions are, of course, preliminary at this time, as three more years remain on the Atlas project.

Migratory Water Bird Die Offs featured on CBC’s As It Happens

16 December 2002 – Jon McCracken, BSC’s Ontario Program Manager, discussed Type E botulism poisoning of migratory water birds with Mary Lou Finley on the Canadian Broadcast Corporation’s national radio news forum, As It Happens. Media attention to this issue has been high since the dissemination of the BSC media release, Migratory water birds predicted to die in unprecedented numbers in 2003. The Canadian Press, The Windsor Star, The Toronto Star, The Toronto Sun, the London Free Press, and CBC French Radio have also picked up the story.

Paper Published Using Data from Long Point Bird Observatory

15 December 2002 – Data from 30 species of birds during spring migration at Long Point Bird Observatory (1960-1996) have recently been used to show that size differences and difference in arrival dates between males and females are consistent with the hypothesis that selection for survival promotes sexual size dimorphism, rather than the opposite, which is the conventional view. The paper, written by K.J. Kissner, P.J. Weatherhead and C.M. Francis was published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology. A full copy of the paper can be obtained by clicking here.

Surveys of Forest Birds Leads to Site Protection

14 December 2002 – 1n 2002, Bird Studies Canada employees surveyed breeding birds in selected forest tracts managed by the Long Point Region Conservation Authority, in Norfolk County, ON. 16 sites were visited at least once and 81 bird species were detected during the surveys, of which 76 were considered at least as possible breeders. These data, among others, were used by the Authority in designating 20% of its forest land as 'no-cut,' which means that the designated tracts will be protected for the biodiversity associated with older growth seral stages. To download a copy of the report, click here.

Species at Risk Act receives Royal Assent

12 December 2002 – The Species at Risk Act (SARA) received Royal Assent today, bringing to a close a nine-year legislative process to protect Canada's species at risk and their critical habitat. The species at risk legislation ensures that species are assessed under a rigorous and independent scientific process that operates at arm's length from the federal government. It also requires the development of recovery action plans for species that are found to be most at risk, and recognizes the essential role of Aboriginal peoples in the conservation of wildlife by requiring the establishment of a National Aboriginal Council on Species at Risk. SARA will come into force by an order in council in 2003. In the period leading up to the order in council, the Government of Canada will develop the regulations required under the Act, including regulations on compensation. For further information please click here.

Latest News on Loggerhead Shrike Releases in Ontario

11 December 2002 – With fewer than 50 pairs of Loggerhead Shrikes remaining in Eastern Canada, the recovery team led by the Canadian Wildlife Service is working towards developing necessary propagation and release "technology". Initiated in 1997-98 when the Eastern Loggerhead Shrike Recovery Team took 43 nestling shrikes into captive facilities at the Toronto Zoo and McGill University, the primary and most urgent aim was to preserve their genetic material. A secondary goal was to develop a small-scale captive breeding program, in part to provide birds for experimental wild release in Ontario. This year, 21 young shrikes were released into the wild within the species’ historic range in the Smith’s Falls area. More information is available at Loggerhead Shrike Experimental Releases: 2000-03.

BSC receives software grant from Environmental Systems Research Institute

10 December 2002 – Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) has just awarded BSC a substantial grant of software and support to maintain Basic’s GIS implementation, consisting of ArcGIS software and extensions, and Internet Map Server software. This generous donation will allow BSC to continue to engage in leading edge conservation geography projects in support of bird biodiversity in Canada and elsewhere. For more information on ESRI software, click here to visit their web site.

Environmental Fund grant for National Nocturnal Owl Program

10 December 2002 – Mountain Equipment Co-op recently awarded an Environmental Fund grant to Bird Studies Canada for the National Nocturnal Owl Program in the amount of $4730. The money will be used to help support outreach by the national coordinator, print a brochure for the program, and provide field equipment that volunteers may borrow.

Prestige update from SEO/BirdLife

9 December 2002 – The latest numbers of birds recovered affected by the Prestige oil spill from SEO/BirdLife are as follows (as of 8th Dec): 866 recovered oiled and dead, >700 recovered oiled but still alive. Approximately 40-60 oiled live birds and 60-80 dead oiled birds are being recovered per day. The spill is now coming ashore in the south of Galicia - SEO/Birdlife report that the recently created Atlantic Islands National Park has been heavily oiled along the coast. SEO/Birdlife now plan to carry out an analysis of the data and to issue an updated estimate of the total number of birds killed to coincide with 13 December, exactly one month after the Prestige oil spill occurred.

BSC Receives $200,000 Grant for Wetland Restoration

8 December 2002 – Thanks to the John David and Signy Eaton Foundation for its generous support of wetland restoration and maintenance at Long Point. For over 40 years, BSC staff and volunteers have operate Long Point Bird Observatory's Breakwater Field Station on Long Point Company property at Courtright Ridge. BSC is looking forward to working with the Eaton Foundation and Company staff to undertake this wetland restoration work over the next 2 years.

Bird Studies Canada hosts World Wildlife Fund workshop on State of the Birds in Canada

4 December 2002 – Bird Studies Canada hosted a workshop at its headquarters in Port Rowan to assess the current and historical presence, range, and abundance of more than 450 birds known to regularly occur in Canada. In addition to BSC staff, several well-known experts attended the workshop, which spanned a two-day period. The workshop was in support of a ‘Nature Audit’ of Canada’s biodiversity that World Wildlife Fund Canada is conducting and which will appear in Maclean’s magazine in the spring. While WWF-Canada’s Nature Audit encompasses mammals, insects, amphibians, and other wildlife, BSC was approached to provide expertise on Canada’s birds because of its growing reputation for excellence in this area.

Important Bird Areas in the Americas get funding boost

4 December 2002 – Six successful applicants will receive funding for site conservation at key Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in the Americas as a result of BirdLife International, who secured financial support for the project from the Dutch government. The recipients are: Otamendi, Argentina; Serra das Lontras, Brazil; Jaragua, Dominican Republic; Dry Forest Region, Ecuador-Peru frontier; Panama Bay, Panama; and San Rafael, Paraguay. Each site is a potential or designated IBA and the funding will allow efforts to be targeted at a range of different activities including public education, ecotourism promotion, IBA delineation, community engagement, strategic planning, and land purchase and management.

Birds of Québec Online Checklist now available

3 December 2002 – A new version of the Electronic EPOQ Bird Checklist is now available on the web site Birds of Québec . This checklist is based on the latest web database technologies and includes many new features. Additional features will be added over the coming months to summarize and display data interactively.

Études des populations d'oiseaux du Québec

3 décembre 2002 – Une nouvelle version électronique du feuillet ÉPOQ est maintenant disponible sur le site Les Oiseaux du Québec. Cette version a été créée avec les plus récentes technologies Internet et inclut plusieurs nouvelles options. De nouvelles options seront ajoutées au cours des prochains mois afin de résumer et présenter les données de façon interactive.

Cruz to update bird banding software

3 December 2002 – BSC is pleased to welcome Fernando Cruz to the team. His expertise will be put to good use working with the Band Manager Program. Band Manager is software used by bird banding stations across North America to manage information about banding and recaptures. Fernando is currently working on upgrading the software to a new version. Fernando has been a Computer Programmer and Database Administrator for more than 10 years and brings not only his experience but his enthusiasm to BSC.

Club des ornithologues de Québec

10 December 2002 - Project NestWatch coordinator, Catherine Poussart, will be the speaker of the next conference organized by the Club des ornithologues de Québec. Catherine will be presenting some of BSC's programs, including the Christmas Bird Count. The event will be held on 13 December at the Domaine Maizeret, in Québec City, at 19:30. The public is invited to attend; a small fee is required.

10 décembre 2002 - Catherine Poussart, coordonnatrice du Programme de suivi des oiseaux nicheurs, est l'invitée spéciale de la conférence du Club des ornithologues de Québec. Catherine présentera divers programmes d'Études d'Oiseaux Canada, dont le Recensement des oiseaux de Noël. L'activité se déroule le 13 décembre au Domaine Maizeret, à Québec, et débute à 19h30. Le public est invité à y assiter; une petite contribution financière est exigée.

Migratory water birds predicted to die in unprecedented numbers in 2003

10 December 2002 – Scientists at Bird Studies Canada (BSC) are predicting that thousands of migratory water birds will perish on Lake Erie in 2003, poisoned by Type E botulism. "2002 is the fourth consecutive year in which we've seen dramatic increases in the numbers of deaths," said Jon McCracken, BSC's Ontario Program Manager. "If conditions don't change there is every reason to believe that even more birds will die of botulism." Studies are badly needed to assess the role that changes in climate, water temperature, lake water levels, and invasive species are playing in the development of massive outbreaks of Type E botulism. For the complete media release click here.

Le nombre d’oiseaux aquatiques migrateurs qui mourront des suites du botulisme pourrait atteindre des proportions jamais égalées en 2003

18 décembre 2002 – Les chercheurs d’Études d’Oiseaux Canada (ÉOC) prévoient que des milliers d’oiseaux aquatiques migrateurs qui fréquentent le lac Érié mourront des suites du botulisme de type E en 2003. «En 2002, et pour la quatrième année consécutive, le nombre de mortalités relié au botulisme chez les oiseaux aquatiques s’est accru de façon dramatique», a indiqué M. Jon McCracken, coordonnateur des programmes d’Études d’Oiseaux Canada en Ontario. «Si les conditions demeurent inchangées, il y a de bonnes raisons de croire qu’un nombre encore plus important d’oiseaux mourront des suites de cette maladie l’année prochaine.» Il est essentiel que des études soient entreprises afin de connaître le rôle que jouent les changements climatiques, les changements au niveau de la température de l’eau ainsi que du niveau des lacs et la présence d’espèces invasives dans l’apparition et la propagation du botulisme de type E. Pour le communiqué de presse complet, (cliquez ici).

Christmas gift ideas "for the birds"

9 December 2002 - Instead of a partridge in a pear tree this holiday season, why not aim for a downy woodpecker on bird pudding, or a pine siskin on a niger seed feeder? Christmas isn’t just for people. Participants in Project FeederWatch (PFW), a North-American wide program aimed at monitoring backyard birds through the dreary winter months, provide special treats for the birds over the holidays. Bird Studies Canada promotes and organizes the Canadian event each year. More information is available on PFW by clicking here. The complete media release is available by clicking here.

Club de naturalistes de la Péninsule acadienne

4 December 2002 - BSC Atlantic staff Léa Olsen will be making a presentation to the Club de naturalistes de la Péninsule acadienne. Léa’s presentation will discuss BSC in general, as well as the four Atlantic region programs of BSC.

Latest Ontario Atlas Newsletter online

2 December 2002 - The autumn edition of the Atlas Newsletter is now online. If you’re an atlasser you’ll definitely want to log on. This issue features news on: Atlassing adventures in the remote north; Bluebird, a tool for song identification for atlassers; Early Atlassing Calendar and many more tidbits and updates. The purpose of the Atlas project is to map the distribution and relative abundance breeding bird populations of Ontario. The newsletter is great reading! Check it out by clicking here.

10,000 - 15,000 birds estimated dead in Prestige oil spill; Guillemot may be extirpated in Spain as a result

1 December 2002, Cambridge, England - BirdLife International has announced that it estimates the number of birds killed to date by the Prestige oil spill to be 10,000 to 15,000, and warned that the indications are that the second wave of oil now being washed ashore will be worse than the first. The overall estimate of birds killed is based on extrapolation of the latest data available which show the number of oiled birds recovered alive to be 508 and the number of dead birds examined to be 320."The Spanish population of Guillemot has been hardest hit by the Prestige oil spill ", said Alejandro Sanchez, Director of the Spanish Ornithological Society (SEO/BirdLife). "We predict the Guillemot is now very likely to become extinct as a breeding bird in Spain. If this happens the Prestige oil spill will be remembered as a tragedy for Spain's wildlife as well as its people."

Importance of Grassland Birds

1 December 2002 - Bird Studies Canada has received a $15,000 contract from the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation to provide estimates to gauge the importance of the central grasslands of North America for birds. The project will focus on five Bird Conservation Regions that comprise the central short-grass / mixed-grass prairie ecosystem ranging from Canada to Mexico.

Winter Birding Identification Course

28 November 2002 - Lisa Priestley (Prairie Program Manager) will be teaching a bird identification course as part of the Edmonton Natural History Club's programs for winter birding in the Edmonton region and Christmas Bird Count. A field trip will be run on 30 November.

Isabel Grace McLaughlin

26 November 2002 - It is with sadness that we announce the passing of Isabel Grace McLaughlin, longtime supporter and Patron of Bird Studies Canada, at her home in Toronto, ON on 26 November 2002. Miss McLaughlin’s father, the late Colonel R. Samuel McLaughlin was deeply involved in waterfowl conservation at Long Point and was a member of the Long Point Company for more than 60 years. Miss McLaughlin’s love of the natural world is strongly reflected in her paintings which can be seen in The National Gallery, The Art Gallery of Ontario and of course The Robert McLaughlin Gallery in her hometown of Oshawa, Ontario.

Developing the Marsh Monitoring Program in Alberta

26 November 2002 - BSC's Prairie Program Manager participated in the 6th annual Alberta Amphibians and Reptile meeting in Red Deer, Alberta. Lisa Priestley outlined BSC's fit with programs that are in place, and some of the results from the Marsh Monitoring Program pilot work that was conducted in Alberta in the spring of 2002.

N.S. Court Gives Record Fine for Oil

25 November 2002 - CBC news reports that a shipping company has been fined $125,000 for dumping about 92 litres of oil off the coast of Nova Scotia last March. $50,000 of this record fine will be going to the Environmental Damages Fund.

Catalysts for Conservation

23 November 2002 – International Migratory Bird Day’s 2003 theme explores how birds have been the inspiration for some of the most significant conservation action in the Americas. IMBD 2003 materials can be ordered at www.birdday.org or by calling 1-866-334-3330. For general information email IMBD@fws.gov.

Shell Environmental Fund latest supporter of Nocturnal Owl Monitoring

21 November 2002 - Lisa Priestley, BSC’s Prairie Program Manager, has announced that the Nocturnal Owl Monitoring Program welcomed it’s newest supporter, the Shell Environmental Fund this month. The Fund’s contribution of $5000 is a terrific signal of support for this important program.

Extra – Volunteers mobilized to Spanish Coastline

24 November 2002 – SEO/BirdLife have been mobilizing volunteers to help with surveys of the coastline. 340 birds have now been taken to rescue centres. On 23 November more than 100 volunteers helped with the surveys but SEO/BirdLife thinks that at least 150 are needed on a daily basis to adequately cover the coastline affected by the oil spill. SEO/BirdLife is looking for more volunteers to help with the surveys and clean up. SEO/BirdLife is also looking for funds to help with this work - online. Donations can be made by clicking here, as well as at the BirdLife International website.

Prestige Oil Spill – Keep up to date through Birdlife International

November 2002 –One of seven Important Bird Areas (IBAs) on the Spanish Galician coast is now covered with oil and three more coastal IBAs face a similar fate as oil continues to be washed ashore. The latest data from 21 November showed that 260 oiled birds have been collected and sent for cleaning so far. Twenty-nine more have been found dead. This is in addition to the 250 birds of 18 species recorded oiled on the coast by SEO/BirdLife volunteers earlier this week. Visit BirdLife International’s website for current information.

Making Christmas Count for the Birds!

19 November 2002 – This year over 55,000 volunteers from every Canadian province and territory, all 50 states, parts of Central and South America, Bermuda, the West Indies, and Pacific Islands will take part in the 103^rd annual Christmas Bird Count. Two years ago, Bird Studies Canada became the Canadian partner in this huge project. Last year, about 52 million individual birds were counted - a record high of 1,936 individual counts was completed, over 300 of them in Canada. Each individual count group completes a census of the birds found during one 24-hour period between 14 December and 5 January in a designated circle 24 kilometres in diameter – about 458 square kilometers. Click here to read the full release.

Camisea Project threatens pristine tropical rain forests in Peru

20 November 2002 – An international energy consortia began work earlier this year on a $1.6 billion (U.S.) project in the southeastern part of Peru’s Amazon basin. Washington Post staff writer James V. Grimaldi has written a feature length story outlining the project backer’s quest for financial support from U.S. development banks. Among the many interesting facts in the story, it states that an independent review commissioned by project developers have noted numerous problems, including fuel spills, unauthorized pipeline route diversions and destructive erosion and landslides. This month, Peru’s energy ministry fined the pipeline consortium $1 million for clearing too much land, including parts of a protected nature preserve, and building unauthorized access roads. The companies have appealed. Read the text at www.washingtonpost.com

Canadian Species At Risk Act revived in the Senate

20 November 2002 - The Species at Risk Act (SARA), which died on the order paper when Parliament began a new session last month, has now been referred directly back to the Senate. An amendment by the Canadian Alliance party to return all bills to their previous point in the legislative process, except SARA and legislation to update the criminal code with respect to animal cruelty, was defeated on October 7th. SARA, now with a new bill number C-1, will soon be considered by a Senate Committee.

Colombia has designated its first IBA

19 November 2002 – The Ecoparque Los Besotes was designated as the first Important Bird Area in Colombia during a ceremony in Valledupar (north of the country in Cesar Department) on 8 November. There are more than 150 species of birds in the area with outstanding examples such as a wild population of Andean Condors (there are only about 50 left in the country), Blue-billed Curassow, Military Macaw, and the White-lored Warbler – all threatened in the country. Check out www.humboldt.org.co for more information.

Focus On: Atlantic Region Programs

16 November 2002 - Bird Studies Canada held a Maritimes Consultation at which presentations on BSC's Atlantic Region programs were well-received and productive discussions ensued, primarily concerning ways in which to improve communication amongst bird and nature organizations in the region. Approximately 60 people from across the region, with a common interest in bird research and conservation, attended the event that was held in Sackville, NB.

BSC presents at federal workshop

21 November 2002 - BSC's Atlantic Canada Program Manager, Becky Whittam, will be speaking on "Avian interactions with wind turbine structures" at the federal Environmental Assessment Practitioners Workshop in Gatineau, QC, on Thursday 21 November.

Innovative way to fund a Christmas Bird Count!

19 November 2002 - BSC is pleased to report that the Fredericton, NB Christmas Bird Count will be submitting their data to BSC and Audubon in 2002, thanks to the hard work of compiler Don Gibson. Don has been raising the money to cover the $5 per participant fee in an innovative way; Don approached a birdseed vendor in Fredericton and asked if they could donate a bag of sunflower seed to be raffled off at each meeting of the Fredericton Nature Club. In turn, Don offered to do an in-store talk on winter bird feeding, which was eagerly accepted. So far, revenues from the raffles have exceeded expectations and about 40 people attended Don’s talk on a snowy November night.

Focus On: Citizen Scientists

20 November 2002 - Jeanne Roy, BC Program Manager, will be presenting a talk at the Seaduck Conservation Meeting, hosted by the Canadian Wildlife Service, 29 November 2002. The talk, 'The Value of Volunteer Censuses', will be presented during the 'Trends in Seaduck Numbers' section of the meeting. Call Jeanne at 604-940-4696 or send her an email at Jeanne.Roy@ec.gc.ca

Audrey Heagy joins the BSC Team

Audrey Hagey has joined BSC as the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network’s Development Coordinator. A life-long naturalist, Audrey first visited Long Point as a young ornithologist. Her bio can be read in the staff section of the People of BSC.

BSC to host American Birding Association Workshop in June 2003

BSC’s Long Point Bird Observatory will play host to a five day American Birding Association workshop in June 2003. "Birding by Ear/Citizen Scientist" is the event’s working title. Jon McCracken and Keith Larson are working on the participant fact sheet and daily schedule of activities. Watch the BSC website for more information in the new year.

Dr. Davison Ankney Honoured

25-26 October 2002 - Long Point Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Fund/Bird Studies Canada hosted a weekend honouring Dave Ankney's substantial contributions to waterfowl biology, wildlife management, and human biology with a retirement party, scientific symposium and banquet. Approximately 100 people attended Friday night's ‘wild game’ BBQ. On Saturday, a series of "commissioned reviews" were presented on topics to which Dave has had significant input over the years, both on the scientific front and in his role as wildlife advocate. Close to 70 people attended Saturdays’ symposium and evening banquet. The papers were bound and are available to anyone who would like a copy - call Kerrie Wilcox at 519-586-3531 or e-mail kwilcox@bsc-eoc.org To view a group photo of the attendees click here.

Alberta Owl Survey Grant

Lisa Takats-Priestley, BSC’s Prairie Program Coordinator, has announced that the Alberta Ecotrust Foundation will be granting $5000 towards the Alberta Nocturnal Owl Survey. For more information on BSC’s research, visit the Nocturnal Owl Monitoring Program on the BSC website.

Advance Notice - BSC Prairie Program Meeting

17 December 2002 – The BSC Prairie Program Meeting will be held at the Canadian Wildlife Service Office in Edmonton from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Mark your calendars. For more information call Lisa Takats- Priestley at 780-951-8901 or email at Lisa.Priestley@ec.gc.ca

BC-Yukon Nocturnal Owl Survey Newsletter Available Online

October 2002 – Dick Cannings, Survey Coordinator, has released the latest update on the BC-Yukon Nocturnal Survey with its October newsletter. Read about Northern Saw-Whet Owl migration discovered at Rocky Point, three-year trends in owl populations, news and notes and more. To access the newsletter visit click here.

8 November 2002 – Darwin’s finches – made famous by Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution – are facing a new and for some species, potentially major threat from parasitic fly larvae which feed on nesting birds in the islands of the Galapagos archipelago, Ecuador. The release, distributed by Birdlife International, has received great attention in the United Kingdom. The release and photographs are available at the BirdLife International website

November 2002 – BSC is pleased to announce that it has received a $5000 grant from the Canadian Wildlife Service- Latin American Program (CWS-LAP) in support of its on-site training program of 3 Jamaican field biologists (plus a Mexican and a Venezuelan) at Long Point Bird Observatory for a month this fall. The CWS-LAP program has been a strong supporter of BSC’s Latin American Training Program for about 15 years. The training program is a collaborative project of BirdLife International partners in Canada (Bird Studies Canada and the Canadian Nature Federation), the Canadian Wildlife Service, and BirdLife International partners in Latin America and the Caribbean.

14-15 November 2002 – Bird Studies Canada is sponsoring the 27^th conference of the "Association des Biologists du Québec" in Rimouski, Québec. Three hundred fifty biologists from across the province are expected to attend. Conference details can be found at: www.abq.qc.ca/congres2002.htm

11 November 2002 – "Martha – A Tribute to the Last Passenger Pigeon" is back. Jon McCracken, BSC’s Program Manager, will be presenting his popular multi-media talk on the history of the Passenger Pigeon’s untimely demise and its relevance to current conservation-thinking at the Hamilton Field Naturalists’ Club meeting on the evening of 11 November in Burlington, Ontario. For meeting details, contact Glenda Slessor at curry.slessor@sympatico.ca

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9 November 2002 – 2002-2003 Project FeederWatch season begins! FeederWatchers filling out paper data booklets with last names A-Z, or anyone entering their data online, can begin counting this weekend. Happy counting!

7 November 2002 – BSC Staff to participate in National Seabird Working Group meeting. Becky Whittam, BSC's Atlantic Canada program manager, will be participating in a National Seabird Working Group meeting by conference call. The meeting will deal primarily with issues related to seabird bycatch in Canada.

4 November 2002 – Updated breeding evidence and summary statistics maps for the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas are available by clicking here . The maps represent both last year’s data and data submitted from this breeding season as of 1 November.

3 November 2002 - George Clulow, of BSC's National Council, was a featured presenter at the Canada Taiwan Bird Fair held at the Vancouver Public Library, 3 November. His presentation focussed on BSC's national and regional programs, with some emphasis on BC birds. The event was organized by Simon Liao, President of the Wild Bird Federation of Taiwan. In addition the Fair presented an exhibition of award-winning sculptures in paper-relief, together with photographs of wild birds in Taiwan. For more information visit Canada Taiwan Bird Fair.

2- 10 November 2002 – Jon McCracken, BSC’s Program Manager, is attending an international workshop on bird population monitoring, conservation and educational programs at Pico Bonito National Park, Honduras from 2-10 November. The workshop is hosted by the U.S. National Park Service as part of its "Park Flight" program, which is a collaborative project of the U.S. Federal Government (through Partners in Flight), Mexico, and Central American countries, and supported in part by a generous grant from American Airlines. Over 35 biologists from across the U.S., Mexico and Central America, and representing a broad array of government and non-government organizations, are taking part. Jon will be presenting talks on BSC’s partnership experiences in developing volunteer-based, monitoring programs in Canada, the Latin American Training Program, the development of the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network.

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2 November 2002 – BSC’s prairie program coordinator led a trip jointly with the Edmonton Natural History Club and Beaverhill Bird Observatory in search of late fall migrating and overwintering raptors. The trip was a good one as the rough-legged hawks, gyrfalcon, and eagles showed up in the last two weeks.

1 November 2002 – The IBA site summaries are now available on the web in French (as well as in English) for all sites in the province of Québec and New Brunswick. To access the IBA site directory, go to www.bsc-eoc.org/iba/IBAsites.html

1 Novembre 2002 – Les résumés des sites ZICO dans les provinces du Québec et du Nouveau-Brunswick sont maintenant tous disponibles en français (de même qu’en anglais) sur le site Internet des ZICO. Pour accéder au site Internet des ZICO, cliquez sur www.bsc-eoc.org/iba/sitesZICO.html

1 November 2002 – The latest population trends calculated from data collected at member stations of the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network (CMMN) have just been posted on the Internet. You can view the trends and the graphs of annual population indices at www.bsc-eoc.org/national/migmain.jsp

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1 November 2002 – BSC staff member Jon McCracken helped organize a Carolinian Canada ceremony, sponsored by BSC and other groups, marking the ecological significance of a Norfolk County, Ontario forest tract known as the Big Creek - South Walsingham Sand Ridges ANSI. BSC was represented at the event by staff members Steve Wilcox and Andrew Couturier. BSC has played a major scientific role at the South Walsingham site in the past, mainly through the study and monitoring of the forest’s bird life, and more recently through the development of a management strategy for the forest. This strategy document is available for downloading from BSC’s website at www.bsc-eoc.org/swalsreport.html

Click here for more information on Carolinian Canada’s community marking project.

29-30 October – BSC's Atlantic Canada Program Manager Becky Whittam is attending a planning meeting for BCR (Bird Conservation Region) 14, Atlantic Northern Forest, in Charlottetown, PE. The purpose of this meeting is to begin the process of integrated bird conservation in the Atlantic Northern Forest by providing Canadian partners the opportunity to discuss and establish bird and habitat priorities for the Canadian portion of BCR14. This information will then be used to develop bird conservation goals and priorities at a joint Canada/United States BCR14 meeting scheduled for the first week of December, 2002.

29 October 2002 – Birdlife International is warning that continued over-exploitation of Europe’s fragile mountain ecosystems poses a threat to the future of more than half the region’s mountain birds. Birdlife International is promoting better protection of mountains through the establishment of mountain reserves and the promotion of environmentally sustainable development such as eco-agriculture, eco-forestry and eco-tourism with the involvement of local communities. Along with partner organizations in Europe, they have produced a special web presentation for the International Year of the Mountain that can be viewed at http:www.birdlife.net/Europe/mountains/ Read the BBC’s Alex Kirby’s account at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2372815.stm

23 October 2002 – Alex Kirby, BBC News Online environment correspondent, reported that the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) says developed countries must start working urgently towards massive cuts in emissions of greenhouse gases. The call was made by RSPB on the opening day of a climate conference in the Indian capital Delhi. The conference brings together countries which have signed the Kyoto Protocol, the international agreement on tackling climate change. The RSPB says emissions cuts of 60% must be implemented by the middle of the 21st Century to slow down global warming. Read the article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2349289.stm

23 October 2002 – BSC's Atlantic Canada Program Manager Becky Whittam is attending the annual meeting of the Atlantic Canada Tern Working Group (ACTWoG) in Sackville, NB. The purpose of this meeting is to disseminate information about current tern research and conservation in Atlantic Canada and to discuss techniques and methods for tern conservation and research in this region.

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23 October 2002 – When most people think of West Nile Virus, they think of its effects on people. Despite the publicity surrounding its human impact, the virus is primarily one that affects birds. And just what kind of effect is it having on birds? Researchers at Bird Studies Canada invite bird-feeding enthusiasts to help them find out. To read the latest press release, click here.

17 October 2002 – Bird Studies Canada in conjunction with the Norfolk Field Naturalists, Long Point World Biosphere & the Long Point Region Conservation Authority presented a lecture concerning water-related issues by Dr. David Schindler. Close to 100 people attended the event. Dr. Schindler is an international authority on aquatic ecosystem health, with a special interest in eutrophication, acid range, and climatic change and variability.

21 October 2002 -- Bird Studies Canada's Marsh Monitoring Program (MMP), in partnership with Great lakes United, has received approved funding in the amount of $150,000 from the United States Environmental Protection Agency- Great Lakes National Program Office. These funds will be used to continue critical research work undertaken by the MMP team and to develop marsh birds and amphibians as Great Lakes Ecosystem indicators. For more information about the MMP and its research, click here.

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21 October 2002 – Updated breeding evidence and summary statistics maps for the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas are available by clicking here. The maps represent both last year's data and data submitted from this breeding season as of 18 October.

21 October 2002 – Jeanne Roy, BC Program Manager for BSC, will attend a one-day symposium on Pacific Coast Species at Risk. Topics include an update on the Species at Risk Act, the role of public education in species recovery, an overview of funding support for species at risk research, as well as numerous accounts on the status of pacific coast species at risk.

15 October 2002 -- New data has recently been added to the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas online database. Atlas data forms that were submitted on scannable forms are currently being processed and will continue to be added to the Internet on a regular basis. To access the online summaries click here.

11 October 2002 – Bratislava, Slovakia: 94% of rare forest bird sites lack protection in the EU accession countries of Central and Eastern Europe, making species such as the globally threatened Imperial Eagle, Black Stork, Lesser Spotted Eagle and Middle-spotted Woodpecker more vulnerable, participants heard at a Birdlife International seminar in the Slovak city of Bratislava. The EU accession countries of Central and Eastern Europe are: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. For more information, visit www.birdlife.net

October 2002 – The Americas Regional Office of Birdlife International has published its second issue of its e-newsletter, “Birdlife in the Americas.” This issue features news of the last results of the Seabird Program of Birdlife International, a summary of the new observation on the Fuertes’s Parrot in Columbia and the reintroduction of the White-winged Guan in Peru. In addition, you can find a section summary with the updates on the Important Bird Areas Program (IBAs) in the Americas, information on funding and the next meetings related with conservation and birds, web pages of interest and training opportunities. To receive this e-newsletter, send your email to birdlife@birdlife.org.ec

12 October 2002 -- Becky Whittam, BSC's Atlantic Canada Program manager and contract biologist Andrea Kingsley will be attending a conference on Avian Interactions with Wind Power Structures on 16-17 October in Jackson Hole, WY. The conference includes sessions on offshore wind energy, legal versus ecological implications, and quantitative methodologies for assessing avian impacts. Thanks to Environment Canada and Natural Resources Canada for funding Becky and Andrea's travel!

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12 October 2002 -- BSC's Executive Director, Michael Bradstreet, will be attending the Global Council meetings of BirdLife International in Nigeria from 24-26 October. The agenda includes approval of a long-term strategy for the conservation of Important Bird Areas, review of BirdLife programs in Indonesia and Brazil, and planning for the World Bird Conservation Conference to be held in Durban, South Africa from 9-15 February 2004.

12 October 2002 -- BSC is pleased to host meetings of the Canadian Council of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative, from 21-23 October. About 55 representatives from provincial and federal wildlife departments and national non-government organizations will meet at BSC's headquarters and national research centre in Port Rowan, ON. BSC is hosting a wine and cheese reception on 22 October.

12 October 2002 -- BSC staff members Steve Timmermans, Aquatic Surveys Scientist, and Rhonda Donley, Aquatic Surveys Assistant, will attend the State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference from 16-18 October in Cleveland, OH, and present an update on the Great Lakes Marsh Monitoring Program.

12 October 2002 -- BSC's Prairie Program Manager, Lisa Priestley-Takats, will present a seminar to Canadian Wildlife Service staff in Edmonton, AB, on 16 October (Bev Burns Boardroom, 2nd floor, Twin Atria, 12-1 pm) on BSC's volunteer-based owl surveys. In 2001, 678 participants recorded owls in NS, NB, ON, MB, AB and BC.

10 October 2002 -- BSC welcomes Ryan Zimmerling to its headquarters staff as Boreal Bird Scientist. For a photo and brief biography of Ryan, click here. BSC also welcomes Dr. Bill Montevecchi to its National Council of scientific advisors. For a photo and brief biography of Bill, click here.

9 October 2002 -- Thanks to Human Resources Development Canada, which has approved BSC's Job Creation Partnership proposal for a data entry assistant for 52 weeks.

9 October 2002 -- Becky Whittam, BSC's Atlantic Canada Program Manager, will be speaking to the Fredericton Nature Club tonight. Her talk, called For the Birds: Citizen Science in New Brunswick will focus on BSC's regional programs in New Brunswick, including the NB Nocturnal Owl Survey, the NB Forest Hawk and Spring Woodpecker Survey, and the High Elevation Landbird Program.

8 October 2002 -- 2002 was a banner year for Great Lakes Piping Plovers. A record total of 51 breeding pairs was recorded, a truly remarkable 59% increase above the 32 pairs recorded in 2001. The population also expanded to new breeding locations, including sites at Ludington and Alpena, as well as the long awaited return of nesting piping plovers to Tawas State Park in Michigan. We eagerly await the return of nesting Piping Plovers to the Canadian side of the Great Lakes. To download a 1-page newsletter on 2002 results, click here.

8 October 2002 -- Volunteers and staff spent from 3-8 October renovating the Tree Swallow cabin at the Tip station of Long Point Bird Observatory. The cabin was re-roofed, new entrance doors, re-located windows, new fridge and kitchen counters were installed, and the deck was enlarged. Thanks to volunteer Jim Matthews for leading this work party.

4 October 2002 -- BSC staff members Jon McCracken and Debbie Badzinski attended a project team meeting with Canadian Wildlife Service, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Canadian Peregrine Foundation personnel today, in Burlington, ON, to plan for the installation of at least 3 satellite transmitters on nestling Bald Eagles next summer, using funds already secured by BSC through Ontario Power Generation.

4 October 2002 -- Updated breeding evidence and summary statistics maps for the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas are available by clicking here. The maps represent both last year’s data and data submitted from this breeding season as of 4 October.

3 October 2002 -- Catherine Poussart, BSC's Project NestWatch coordinator, will present an overview of BSC and its programs to Canadian Wildlife Service staff in Québec City today.

2 October 2002 -- Four BSC staff members attended a Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee meeting for the Marsh Monitoring Program in Burlington, ON, today.

1 October 2002 -- BSC staff appeared on CBC Radio in Winnipeg, Regina and Calgary to promote Project FeederWatch. Staff encouraged listeners to get involved, and presented some of the findings from data that have been collected across the Prairies.

1 October 2002 -- BSC staff Michael Bradstreet and Peter Blancher attended the Partners in Flight (PIF) national working group meeting in Ottawa, ON, today. Partners In Flight is the landbird conservation initiative of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI). The PIF Continental Plan was a main item of discussion - and decisions were made about how to ensure Canada’s participation. CWS Research Scientist, Erica Dunn, and BSC's Peter Blancher were endorsed as technical representatives of PIF-Canada to the PIF Technical Committee, and Steve Wendt (CWS), Art Martel (NABCI) Coordinator and BSC's Michael Bradstreet were endorsed to provide advice on strategic and management issues.

30 September 2002 -- A new session of Parliament opened today. This means that the Species at Risk Act (SARA) has died a third death (all legislation from a previous session that is in the House or Senate dies on the order paper), but can be brought back at the same point in its journey through Parliament by unanimous consent by each party.

29 September 2002 -- The fall issue of BirdWatch Canada has been mailed. It features articles on the Fraser River Important Bird Area, the state of Nova Scotia's loons, the 2001-02 Project FeederWatch annual report, and an update on population trends of Great Lakes marsh birds and amphibians.

28 September 2002 -- Recent updates to BSC's web site include updates to Project FeederWatch (click here), Canadian Lakes Loon Survey (click here) and BC Beached Birds pages (click here). 2002 Birdathon prize winners winners have also been posted (click here).

27 September 2002 -- Catherine Poussart, BSC staff in Québec, participated in a meeting to address the implementation of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) in Québec. The one-day meeting was hosted by the Canadian Wildlife Service, Québec region, and attended by 23 participants from 8 different organizations.

26 September 2002 -- BSC's Atlantic Program Manager, Becky Whittam, will be attending the NB Federation of Naturalists board meeting and strategic planning session on 29-30 September in Fredericton, NB.

26 September 2002 -- BSC's Canadian co-partner in the Important Bird Areas program, the Canadian Nature Federation, recently issued a report on Canada's forgotten wild spaces. For a copy of the media release, click here, and to download the report (62 pages) click here (requires Adobe Acrobat). Release of the report has received attention on the British Broadcasting Corporation's web site, one of the most highly visited web sites in Europe. To access the BBC article, click here.

26 September 2002 -- As a group, grasslands birds are acknowledged as being the ones in most serious decline across North America. BSC staff have had a long and strong involvement in grassland bird research, conservation, and recovery planning in Ontario, with a special focus on Henslow’s Sparrows, Loggerhead Shrikes and Barn Owls. As such, BSC is pleased to host a 2-day, international, conference on grassland bird conservation issues in eastern North America at its headquarters on 26-27 September 2002. About 30 biologists and grasslands conservationists from across eastern Canada and the U.S., representing a variety of regional, state, provincial, and national government and non-government agencies, will be participating in the “Grassroots for Grassland Birds” conference. The conference is being organized by the Ontario Barn Owl Recovery Team.

26 September 2002 -- BSC staff members Dick Cannings and Peter Blancher will be attending the Partners in Flight Western Working Group meetings in Whitehorse, Yukon, from 6-9 October. Blancher will present two papers, one on "Population estimates and objectives for landbirds, continentally and in the northwest" as a introduction to breakout sessions, the other entitled "Landbirds in northwestern forests: perspectives on continental importance, and wintering grounds."

25 September 2002 -- Coordinated by the the Canadian Wildlife Service’s National Wildlife Research Centre in Ottawa, BSC has joined a national project team that is working on a research program designed to help define “critical habitat” for a selection of endangered species in Canada. The species under study are Acadian Flycatcher, Hooded Warbler, Prothonotary Warbler, Whooping Crane, Yellow-breasted Chat (British Columbia population), and Banff Springs Snail. One of the research emphases is to use existing detailed information on the habitat needs and known locations of the species and then apply state-of-the-art GIS technology (e.g. overlays of forest cover, size and type, soils, wetlands, climate, topography), to broadly map zones of “critical habitat.” Under Canada’s new Species At Risk Act (SARA), “critical habitat” needs to be defined and delineated for all threatened and endangered species. This project is considered to be a major test of the capacity for GIS technology to reliably determine and predict where critical habitat occurs. If successful, it will also help inform Recovery Teams of the locations of habitats that are likely to be useful for future endangered species recovery work, and ultimately the de-listing of endangered species.

24 September 2002 -- Scientists from Bird Studies Canada’s National Research Centre have released a study which reveals a severe decline of breeding Black Terns along the Great Lakes shoreline. The study compared data from 1991 and 2001 in coastal areas of the Canadian portions of Lake Huron, Lake St. Clair, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, St. Clair River, Detroit River and Niagara River. The data showed an apparent overall decline of about 35% over the 11-year period. Click on the following items to download: press release, backgrounder on Black Terns, fact sheet on BSC.

24 September 2002 -- BSC staff members Denis Lepage and Andrew Couturier are participating in two workshops related to the bird biodiversity web portal that BSC is developing as part of the Canadian Information System for the Environment (CISE). The bird component of CISE is being implemented at both the national and regional scales. BSC is responsible for creating the national component of the portal. The workshops, held in Vancouver and Hull, are designed to elicit input from bird conservation practitioners, planners, and scientists (mostly those people involved in the North American Bird Conservation Initiative), as to the specific functionality, data, and analytical services that they would like to see built in to the portal.

23 September 2002 -- Pictures and brief bios of newly-elected BSC Board members are now available online. To meet the new Board members, click on the following names: John Pratt, Diane Griffin, Tom Taylor, Patricia Hayes and John Spearn.

23 September 2002 -- Year 4 of the BC Coastal Waterbird Survey commenced in early September. In the last 3 years, surveys have been conducted at 235 sites in five regions along the coastline. In all, 50,371 waterbirds from 137 species have been recorded. Thanks to all participants!

22 September 2002 -- The Atlantic Region office of Bird Studies Canada is pleased to welcome Léa Olsen to the High Elevation Landbird Project. Léa's background in geography as well as piping plover monitoring and conservation will be put to good use as she works on a GIS-based analysis of Bicknell's Thrush habitat in Atlantic Canada.

22 September 2002 -- BirdLife International reports that a campaign to save the world's albatrosses and petrels from becoming entangled and killed on fishing hooks was given a boost today when the Prince of Wales issued a plea to nations attending an international wildlife conference to back a key treaty designed to protect these ocean wanderers. For a copy of BirdLife's press release on this issue, click here.

21 September 2002 -- BSC is pleased to announce that the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Species at Risk Program has contributed $40,000 in support of year 2 of the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas.

20 September 2002 -- BSC has received $900,000 in funding from the Living Legacy Trust and the George Cedric Metcalf Charitable Foundation to study the effects of logging on bird populations in forested landscapes in northern and central Ontario. The funding is supporting an extensive field project with data collection from Algonquin Park to the Manitoba border. The project includes data collection using the atlas field methodology, so the data will be fully compatible with the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas project, and will considerably increase atlas coverage in this part of the province. Field work began in 2002 and will continue through 2003.

Work in 2002 focused on Algonquin Park and north-eastern Ontario in an area from Sudbury to Lake Abitibi and west to Lake Superior Provincial Park. Three crews of 4-5 people worked from late May through mid-July. A total of 72 atlas squares were fully covered for both breeding evidence and point counts, and substantial coverage was undertaken in an additional 26 squares. There were numerous highlights, but the large number of confirmed Northern Hawk Owl records was perhaps the biggest surprise. Work in 2003 will be in north-central and north-western Ontario. Thanks to Domtar, Tembec, Abitibi-Consolidated and Ontario Parks for logistical assistance.
19 September 2002 -- Introduced mammalian predators are responsible for over 40% of bird extinctions around the world. Over the last 6 years, Island Conservation at the University of Santa Cruz, CA, has worked with Mexican partners to remove mammals from 24 islands off northwest Mexico, eliminating the only short-term extinction threat for 69% of the region's breeding seabirds and one endemic landbird, the Clarion Wren. To learn more about the hands-on conservation work of this organization, click here.
18 September 2002 -- Tourists on board vessels operated by the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO) in the 2001/2002 season contributed US$5,500 for BirdLife International's Save the Albatross Campaign. For more information, click here.

17 September 2002 -- Fall migration at Canada's northernmost bird observatory at Lesser Slave Lake, AB, has been the busiest ever. Since 13 July, over 3200 birds have been banded, with record numbers of Yellow-rumped and Tennessee warblers. An irruption of Black-capped Chickadees has just begun. For regular updates on migration through central Alberta, check out Lesser Slave Bird Observatory's web page by clicking here.

16 September 2002 -- A study by BSC's Long Point Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Fund has identified high levels of selenium in adult female Lesser and Greater Scaup collected from lakes Ontario, Erie and St. Clair. Selenium burdens may be high enough to affect reproduction or survival of these birds. BSC has issued a news release (click here), backgrounder (click here) and fact sheet on the Fund (click here) on this issue that were picked up in the Toronto Star, Hamilton Spectator, London Free Press, KW Record, Simcoe Reformer, Le Devoir, an Erie PA newspaper, and on CBC Montreal. For a preliminary scientific report click here.

15 September 2002 -- BSC's Annual Members Meeting was held in Port Rowan today with a grand total of 423 people attending.  John Pratt (St. John's NF), Tom Taylor (Markham, ON), Patricia Hayes (Vancouver, BC) Diane Griffin (Charlottetown, PE) and John Spearn (Kitchener, ON) have been elected to the Board for 3-year terms. Audited financial statements approved at the meeting, show a $700,000 increase in endowed assets. For a scrapbook of on line photos from the meeting, click here.

14 September 2002 -- BSC's Prairie Program Manager Lisa Takats Priestley will be attending a Steaks and Saw-whets night at Beaverhill Bird Observatory, AB, today where she will promote BSC's volunteer nocturnal owl surveys to those that come to see migration monitoring for saw-whet owls.

14 September 2002 -- BSC staff member Dick Cannings will chair the COSEWIC (Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada) Bird Species Committee meetings to be held in Calgary on September 15th and 16th. While in Calgary he will visit the Calgary Bird Banding Society's migration monitoring station at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary.

13 September 2002 -- The Canadian Wildlife Service and BSC's Long Point Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Fund conducted a lower Great Lakes Mute Swan survey in late August of 2002. Coastal regions from the Quebec border to the mouth of the St. Clair River were surveyed and 1373 Mute Swans were counted, with greatest numbers in the Detroit River (550) from Toronto to Hamilton (318) and in Lake St. Clair (196).

12 September 2002 -- The American Bird Conservancy and US National Wildlife Foundation have produced a joint report entitled The Birdwatcher's Guide to Global Warming, which can be downloaded by clicking here and then clicking on the Download button (Acrobat required). The booklet draws attention to the fact that the ranges of some birds have already changed (the Baltimore Oriole now longer breeds in Baltimore!) and migration times are changing.

11 September 2002 -- In BC, birds are starting to move through Vaseux Lake migration monitoring station. Things were very slow in the first week of September, with only 5-9 birds banded per day, but have picked up since then. Catbird and Willow Flycatcher numbers are dropping while Orange-crowned Warblers and Common Yellowthroats, Lincoln's and White-crowned Sparrows are starting to pick up. Other BC stations at Revelstoke and Mackenzie are having record-breaking seasons (perhaps due to high water levels at both sites--they're both located on Hydro reservoirs), while Vaseux and Rocky Point are comparatively quiet. A Blackpoll Warbler was netted at Vaseux on 26 August --the third record for the Okanagan. This species is common in the northern 2/3 of BC, but they all migrate east, not south. Belted Kingfishers used to be one of the trademarks of the Vaseux banding lists, with about 20 netted each year until the site was moved about a kilometre north. Although kingfishers are seen daily in good numbers, one hadn't been caught at the new site until yesterday, when one ran into the top panel on our most "woodland" net--deep in the bushes and away from the water. What the kingfisher was doing there is a mystery.

10 September 2002 -- BC Program Manager, Jeanne Roy, will speak to the Malaspina Naturalists tomorrow on 'how seabirds can be used to monitor environmental change,' On 12 September Jeanne will be participating in a Coastal Waterbird Survey count with a group in Powell River.

9 September 2002 -- BSC's Partners In Flight scientist Peter Blancher and Executive Director Michael Bradstreet attended a meeting in Peterborough with representatives of the Canadian Wildlife Service, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Nature Conservancy of Canada. The purpose of the meeting was to devise a prospectus for the completion of landbird conservation plans in each of Ontario's 4 bird conservation regions.

7 September 2002 -- Like to surf the net? Bird Links to the World has been updated to include 15,077 links to bird-related web pages, and over 500 checklists from jurisdictions and sites around the world. Check it out by clicking here.

6 September 2002 -- Bird Studies Canada (Atlantic Region) will be holding a public consultation meeting for all interested members, volunteers, clubs, and organizations in the Maritimes region. The meeting will take place on Saturday 16 November in Sackville, New Brunswick. For more information, please download the announcement by clicking here or contact Becky Whittam, Atlantic Canada Program Manager (by clicking here).

5 September 2002 -- Updated breeding evidence and summary statistics maps for the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas are available by clicking here. The maps represent both last year’s data and data submitted electronically from this breeding season as of 27 August.

4 September 2002 -- BSC's Ontario Programs Manager, Jon McCracken, has been called as an expert witness before the Ontario Municipal Board, over a proponent's plan to develop a golf course in potential habitat for Prothonotary Warblers, an endangered species in Canada.

3 September 2002 -- BSC conducted surveys of Black Tern and Forster’s Tern in 1991 and 2001 in coastal areas of the Canadian portions of Lake Huron, Lake St. Clair, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, St. Clair River, Detroit River and Niagara River. Both surveys utilized a combination of volunteer field assistance and a paid field crew. Eighty-nine volunteers participated in the 2001 survey.

In total, 1647 Forster’s Terns were detected at 22 colonies in the 2001 survey, whereas 1176 were detected at 24 colonies during the 1991 survey. Both the 1991 and 2001 survey data showed that about 95% of Ontario’s known population of Forster’s Terns breed in the wetlands of Lake St. Clair.

Overall, Black Tern numbers were considerably lower in Lakes St. Clair (-56%) and Erie (-78%) in 2001 than they were in 1991. Smaller declines were also recorded for Lake Huron (-18%) and Lake Ontario (-5%). In the 2001 survey, 717 Black Terns were observed at 40 colonies, while the 1991 survey estimated a total of 1168 birds distributed among 73 colonies. This yields an apparent overall decline of about 35% over the 11-year period.

To download a copy of the report, click here.

3 September 2002 -- BSC welcomes Laura Thompson as our new Communications Manager, effective today. For a picture and short bio of Laura, click here. BSC also welcomes Laura Talbot-Allan to the Board of Directors. For a picture and short bio of Laura, click here.

2 September 2002 -- BSC welcomes Susan Koenig, Ryan Love and Christopher Samuels who arrived from Jamaica on 2 September to participate in BSC's month-long advanced ornithological training program at the Long Point Bird Observatory. This training is being completed within the framework of a joint BSC - BirdLife Jamaica project to Enhance Capacity Development for Long-term Conservation of Jamaican Important Bird Areas. This project is being undertaken with financial support of the Government of Canada provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

1 September 2002 -- BSC's 2001-02 audited financial statements can be downloaded by clicking here. Fund balances increased from $3.8 million to $5.2 million over the 12-month period ending 31 March 2002.

1 September 2002 -- BSC has just published a newsletter for participants in the new Alberta Nocturnal Owl Survey. To download en electronic version, click here.

30 August 2002 -- BSC was pleased to host the opening ceremonies for Bayfest, the Port Rowan, ON community's annual special event where Approximately 150 people attended a wine and cheese at BSC's headquarters.

30 August 2002 -- Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday 30th August, 2002 -- As the world's Heads of Government arrive in Johannesburg, the next three days are make or break time for the Earth Summit. The three negotiating blocks are the European Union (EU), the JUSCANZ Group (US, Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) and the G-77 (developing countries). The EU is holding out for a strong text with targets and timetables. Its determination is commendable. But it is politically isolated with both JUSCANZ (except maybe New Zealand) and some G-77 countries aligned against it. Political pressure for a weak text is overwhelming. The problem all along has been that the US has wanted to maintain the status quo and the EU has wanted real change, but without many bargaining chips to get it. This is a recipe for failure because it is easy to maintain the status quo and hard to effect real change. For BirdLife International's recommendations for a practical way forward, click here.

29 August 2002 -- Bird Studies Canada and the Canadian Nature Federation have concluded a new agreement and workplan as BirdLife Canada Co-partners. Highlights of the Agreement include an equal partnership between CNF and BSC; a commitment to clear, open and transparent communication; a strong commitment to the Canadian Important Bird Areas program and the Americas Regional Program; and regular reporting to BirdLife and partner boards. On 28-29 August both organizations completed a workplan to guide our activities until 2004. We are confident that our new agreement will strengthen us as co-partners in the BirdLife partnership, will further the objectives of BirdLife and will foster the bird conservation initiatives of both organizations.

28 August 2002 -- Bird Studies Canada is very grateful for a $90,000 grant recently awarded from the Government of Canada’s Habitat Stewardship Program for Species at Risk. The grant will be used to support a variety of stewardship-based projects being conducted in aid of forest birds at risk in southern Ontario. Working in concert with local landowners and land managers, community-based, multi-species conservation plans will be designed and initiated for several important forest complexes in the Carolinian zone. The project will also provide updated site-location information on the status of Acadian Flycatchers, Hooded Warblers, Prothonotary Warblers and other forest bird species at risk, and provide relevant information on their management and conservation to landowners.

23 August 2002 -- Becky Whittam, BSC's Atlantic Canada Program Manager will be spending the next week on Bon Portage Island, off southern Nova Scotia, one of 15 stations in the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network. Becky will be assisting Atlantic Bird Observatory staff in training students from Acadia University in bird monitoring techniques.

22 August 2002 -- Last April, Steve Wilcox, BSC's Administration and Development Manager attended a workshop on implementing the Important Bird Areas program in the Bahamas. The Bahamas National Trust has published a newsletter article on the workshop. To download a pdf file of the newsletter article, click here, and go to page 7. You will need Adobe Acrobat to view the file. Acrobat Reader can be freely downloaded over the Internet by clicking here.

21 August 2002 -- Indigo-winged Parrots, considered one of the world's rarest birds, have been rediscovered in central Colombia this July by a team of young ornithologists who won a Gold Award in this year's BP Conservation Programme - a partnership of BP, BirdLife International and Fauna and Flora International. For a news release and a photo, click here.

20 August 2002 -- BSC staff recently completed field studies on various wetland dependent species within the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve's wetland complex. BSC's research team is one of several engaged in the Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands Consortium to test a range of monitoring techniques to evaluate coastal wetland quality and the effects of various human-induced sources of wetland degradation. BSC's focus is to determine how well Marsh Monitoring Program derived bird and amphibian data can contribute to such an evaluation. The ultimate objective of the Consortium is to develop a coastal wetland monitoring program that can be applied affordably and effectively throughout the Great Lakes basin, for the purposes of evaluating coastal wetland health at both large (basin-wide) and small (local and regional) scales.

19 August 2002 -- BSC has been engaged by the Canadian Council of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative to a) identify threats to Canadian neotropical migrants that are most reliant on Mexican wintering grounds, b) continue efforts to harmonize the assessment of species status across all groups of birds, c) provide recommendations on possible realignment of Canadian bird conservation regions, and to d) improve data for northern Canadian bird species held in continental data bases. This work will be performed by Dr. Peter Blancher, BSC's Partners In Flight Scientist.

18 August 2002 -- Environment Canada is supporting BSC's efforts to create a pilot website that maps information on Canadian birds in a national portal for the North American Bird Conservation Initiative. In the pilot phase, BSC will link information on nest records, loon productivity and winter bird populations to a selection of Important Bird Areas across the country. Then, BSC will work with partners to use this portal to facilitate the development and the evaluation of bird conservation plans.

17 August 2002 -- BSC staff have just wrapped up another successful season of Hooded Warbler research in St. Williams Forest, near Long Point, Ontario. St. Williams supports the largest population of Hooded Warblers (a nationally Threatened species) in Canada. In 2002, there were 52 territorial males present, and 37 nests were located and monitored. In addition, 12 adult colour banded birds were re-sighted and 20 new adults, and 46 chicks were colour banded. Nest predation and parasitism rates were on the rise this year - 18 nests failed, and 11 were parasitized by Brown-headed Cowbirds.

This year, one of the research objectives was to determine Hooded Warbler territory size through playback of the male's call. A total of 18 territories were mapped, and we were amazed at the size of the territories. Some males seem to be defending half the forest! Once the data are complied and analyzed, results of the 2002 field season will be posted on our website. A special thanks to Jessie and Jody Allair for all their help with the Hooded Warbler project.

16 August 2002 -- Mike Russell of BSC Atlantic Region recently completed data entry for the first year of the New Brunswick Forest Hawk and Woodpecker Survey. Of 37 routes run by volunteers on crown and private land across the province, 32 had at least one woodpecker, and 17 had at least one hawk. The most common species of hawk detected was Broad-winged (26% of observations), while the most common species of woodpecker was the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (29% of observations). A detailed report will be written this fall and posted on BSC's web site. Thanks to all the volunteers who collected the data!

15 August 2002 -- BSC's new BC Beached Bird Survey has officially been launched. Participants will be conducting their first surveys along 58 beaches during the last week of August. If you live along the coast of British Columbia and would like to participate, please contact Jeanne Roy, BSC's BC Program manager, by clicking here.

13 August 2002 -- Updated breeding evidence and summary statistics maps for the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas are available by clicking here. The maps represent both last year's data and data submitted from this breeding season as of 9 August.

12 August 2002 -- Andrew Couturier, BSC's GIS Analyst, has obtained a grant of software and training from ESRI Canada. The software will be used to support the development of dynamic, Internet mapping applications for BSC programs such as the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas.

11 August 2002 -- BSC's volunteer Tip Warden, Matt Hindle (click here for bio), has arrived back from England and opened the Long Point Bird Observatory Tip station. Matt's participation in LPBO programs is supported by the British Trust for Ornithology.

10 August 2002 -- The Baillie Fund section of BSC's web page has been updated to include a listing of all projects funded by the Baillie Fund in 2002. For details, click here.

9 August 2002 -- The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has listed the first 20 species under its new Endangered Species Act. For details, click here.

9 August 2002 -- BSC welcomes bird banders from across Ontario to the Ontario Bird Banding Workshop being held at the Old Cut Field Station and Visitor Centre. The workshop, co-hosted by the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS), the Ontario Bird Banding Association and BSC, is being attended by 22 participants, and workshop facilitators Brenda Dale (CWS, Edmonton), and Ken Burton (California). The workshop will focus on moults and plumages of Canadian landbirds. Participants are from Long Point, Haldimand, Innis Point, Holiday Beach, Prince Edward Point, and Thunder Cape bird observatories; CWS, the Guelph and Temiskaming banding groups, and York and Trent universities. Special thanks to Eric and Lorna Machell for hosting a barbecue for participants on Saturday evening.

9 August 2002 -- BSC has received a $40,000 contribution from Environment Canada's Environmental Conservation Branch, Ontario Region, in support of the Great Lakes Marsh Monitoring Program.

8 August 2002 -- BSC bids adieu to the 5 keen (very keen) teenage participants in this year's Doug Tarry Young Ornithologists Workshop. For the past week, Russell Cannings (Naramata BC), Jesse Pakkala (St. Thomas, ON), Alex Parker (South River, ON), Simon Turland (Teeswater, ON) and Tony Wilson (Long Point, ON) have learned how to band birds, make field sketches and keep field notes, and prepare ornithological study skins. In their competitive big day of birding, the YOWs split into teams and recorded 110 and 111 species, a very respectful total for this time of year.  BSC's Landbird Programs Coordinator, Keith Larson, and 1995 YOW graduate Stu Mackenzie provided great leadership for this year's cohort.

8 August 2002 -- The Partners in Flight (PIF) Database Committee will meet in Brighton, Colorado this weekend and early next week to complete a revision of landbird global scores in the PIF species assessment database. Canadian members of this Committee are Peter Blancher (BSC's PIF Scientist) and Erica Dunn (CWS Research Scientist). Discussion will focus on how best to use the assessment data in a Continental Plan for Landbird Conservation.

7 August 2002 -- There are now TWO reports of movements of previously colour banded birds in the Ontario Loggerhead Shrike population moving from the Carden Plain east to the Napanee Plain and ONE report of a bird moving west in the opposite direction. Gene flow is flowing! In addition, a keen participant in the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas called to report fledged young in his atlas square near Lake Simcoe. Though the site isn’t new to us (historically occupied about 10 years ago), biologists followed up on the report and it turns out that one of the adults was originally banded as a nestling on the Carden Plain in 2001.

7 August 2002 -- Ontario Power Generation has granted BSC $25,000 to place satellite transmitters on several fledgling Bald Eagles in 2003. While eagle populations in the Great lakes basin are increasing, adult longevity is still low, and little is known about the distribution and ecology of young birds after they leave the nest and before they breed, usually at 4-5 years of age. The satellite study will reveal where the young birds spend the winter and summer seasons as juveniles, and may indicate where pollutants are being acquired. It is thought that toxic chemical loads are reducing the longevity of adult birds.

The Canadian Wildlife Service has also supported our volunteer monitoring of eagle nesting in southern Ontario with a $6,000 grant. BSC biologist, Ian Richards, is completing this year's monitoring report, which will be posted on BSC's website in September.

5 August 2002 -- BSC welcomed 2 new staff members to our headquarters this past week. For photos and short bios of our new staff, click on the following names: Rhonda Donley (Aquatic Surveys Assistant) and Susan Debreceni (Volunteer Projects Research Asst).

4 August 2002 -- BSC has installed a new feature on Bird Links to the World. For each regional (continental) page, you can obtain a complete bird checklist list in your preferred taxonomic classification (Sibley & Monroe, Clements, Howard and Moore, AOU and the French Commission Internationale pour les noms français d'oiseaux.). And form continental pages you can access more than 500 checklists currently available, including those for all countries, US states, Canadian provinces, and many endemic regions (islands, etc). This should prove a very popular tool with birdwatchers from around the world. Have a look at Bird Links to the World by clicking here and have fun!!!

1 August 2002 -- BSC's report on "The State of Nova Scotia's Loons," has had quite a bit of response from the media in NS, including two interviews for BSC's volunteer Loon Ambassadors, and an article in the Halifax Daily News. The report can be downloaded as a PDF file by clicking here.

30 July 2002 -- Under contract to the Canadian Wildlife Service National Wildlife Research Centre (NWRC), BSC has posted digital maps of Ontario Breeding Bird Survey Routes on the Internet. The maps portray the location of Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) routes relative to various topographic features. During the next couple of years (including this past breeding season), ON BBS surveyors will use the maps to identify their stop locations. BSC and NWRC hope to use the stop location information to, among other things, analyse habitat-population relationships. The ON PDF map files can be accessed by clicking here. Eventually, CWS and BSC hope to post such maps for all regions of the country.

29 July 2002 -- The Vaseux Lake, BC, station of the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network station has opened for the fall with Gabriel David as bander in charge. It has been pretty quiet this year--only 52 birds netted yesterday and 34 today. Nothing unusual in the nets so far; Catbirds are in the lead as usual. The best bird yesterday was a Double-crested Cormorant (very rare in the BC interior) flying up the Okanagan River. We're clearly dealing with mainly resident birds, though an Orange-crowned Warbler netted today (a recap from 23 August last year) was obviously an immigrant from somewhere, if only the adjacent plateaus. Todd Hunter (last year's bander in charge) helped out for the first couple of days, a valuable bit of transition.

25 July 2002 -- Lisa Takats Priestley, BSC's Prairie Program Coordinator, is attending a training workshop for bird banders at Last Mountain Bird Observatory, SK, this weekend. The workshop, hosted by the Canadian Wildlife Service and LMBO focused on advanced ageing and sexing techniques.

24 July 2002 -- Thanks to volunteer Heather Bryan, who has finished entering data from the 2002 BC Nocturnal Owl Survey as well as filling in a few gaps of associated data from last year. Participants can expect to receive this year's newsletter in September.

23 July 2002 -- Dick Cannings, BSC's Christmas Bird Count Coordinator, attended a technical meeting of the Canadian Intermountain Joint Venture today in Vancouver, BC.

22 July 2002 -- Data from the Alantic Canada Nocturnal Owl Survey are rolling in! So far, 83 data sheets have been received from NB, 43 from NS, 19 from PEI and 5 from Newfoundland and Labrador. Thanks to all the volunteers who collected valuable data for this program.

21 July 2002 -- Peter Blancher, BSC's PIF Scientist, has been invited by the Mexican government and NABCI-Mexico to participate in a workshop assessing the status of Mexican Birds, July 21-24 in Tepoztlan. The meeting will bring together Mexican experts and a few scientists from the U.S. and Canada to review current data and plan future evaluation work. One objective is to coordinate similar activities and databases in all three countries, to the extent feasible. The meeting is sponsored by NAFTA's Commission for Environment Cooperation.

20 July 2002 -- UPM Kymmene, a forestry company based out of Miramichi, NB, is providing $5,000 in support for the New Brunswick Forest Hawk and Woodpecker Survey. The survey, which was launched this spring, is also supported by the New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources and Energy (NB-DNRE). So far, data from nearly 30 volunteer-run routes have been returned to BSC's Atlantic Canada office. BSC thanks all volunteers, as well as UPM Kymmene and the NB-DNRE for their help with this project.

19 July 2002 -- Bird Studies Canada and the Canadian Wildlife Service have published a pamphlet on conserving habitat for Acadian Flycatchers and Hooded Warblers, migratory birds that share essential breeding habitat in the forests of Ontario’s Carolinian Zone. Both species prefer large, mature woodlands for nesting. In Ontario’s Carolinian Zone, the preferred habitat of these birds has diminished by as much as 90 percent since European settlement. Acadian Flycatchers are listed as an endangered species in Canada, with only 35 to 50 nesting pairs occurring annually. Hooded Warblers are a nationally threatened species, with just 150 to 210 nesting pairs each year. Preserving these populations in Canada is contingent on conserving the remaining Carolinian forests in Ontario.

The publication is designed to inform interested parties about the species and their habitat requirements and provide landowners with forest management guidelines designed to maintain and enhance Carolinian forest habitat. To download a complete copy of the brochure, click here. Hard copies of the publication are available from BSC headquarters by calling 1-888-448-2873.

18 July 2002 -- The summer issue of BirdWatch Canada is in the mail. The newsletter contains feature articles on the numbers of landbirds breeding in Canada, BSC's conservation and development work in Jamaica, nominees for positions on the BSC Board, and the annual Christmas Bird Count report.

17 July 2002 -- BSC senior scientist Denis Lepage and Program NestWatch coordinator Catherine Poussart met with Albin Tremblay and Raymond Sarazin, from the Canadian Wildlife Service - Québec Region, on July 17 in Québec City. The meeting was a follow-up to the recent signing of a partnership agreement signed between Bird Studies Canada and the Canadian Wildlife Service-Québec Region for the development of a Québec program office by BSC.

16 July 2002 -- BSC staff member, Dick Cannings, attended the Sage Thrasher Recovery Team meeting in Penticton, BC today.

15 July 2002 -- BSC's Christmas Bird Count Coordinator, Dick Cannings, has accepted a Board position with the BC Field Ornithologists. BCFO has been a strong supporter of BSC over the past few years.

14 July 2002 -- BSC Atlantic has received $15,000 in support of the New Brunswick Nocturnal Owl Survey from the New Brunswick Environmental Trust Fund (ETF), along with $10,000 in support of "Citizen Science in New Brunswick: monitoring bird populations through volunteers" from the New Brunswick Wildlife Trust Fund (WTF). The latter will support the Owl Survey, Hawk and Woodpecker Survey, and the High Elevation Landbird Program (HELP) in New Brunswick. We are grateful for the continued support of both of these agencies.

13 July 2002 -- Lisa Takats represented BSC at the Bluebird Festival at Ellis Bird Farm near Lacombe, Alberta today. Lisa gave a talk to the public about BSC and its programs and asked for volunteers to participate in the Alberta owl monitoring program.

12 July 2002 -- Scott Petrie, Research Director of BSC's Long Point Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Fund, gave a talk at the Delta Waterfowl and Wetland Research Stations summer symposium today on the population dynamics and problems associated with Mute Swans on the lower Great Lakes.

11 July 2002 -- BSC has an immediate opening for a Development Coordinator for the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network. The Coordinator is responsible for building capacity (personnel and funding) on behalf of the Network, both in terms of helping individual stations become more self-sufficient and in terms of helping BSC achieve its mandate to provide scientific support.   For the complete job posting, click here.

10 July 2002 -- BirdLife International today applauded the European Commission’s proposed green reforms to the Common Agriculture Policy, hailing them as signalling an end to “farming for subsidies”. For a complete copy of the news release, click here.

9 July 2002 -- BSC has an immediate opening for a Communications Manager. The Communications Manage writes, and supervises the writing, editing and production of, materials required for BSC's volunteer and member communications and fundraising efforts.   For the complete job posting, click here.

8 July 2002. The Northern Bald Ibis, thought to be extinct since 1989 has been rediscovered breeding in Syria. For the full BirdLife International press release, and a photo of the bird, click here.

30 June 2002 -- The Hon. Gene Zwozdesky, Minister of Community Development in AB, has announced a $5,000 grant to BSC in support of the development of a Marsh Monitoring Program in Alberta. Lisa Takats, BSC's Prairie Program Coordinator, has been working this summer to develop and evaluate a protocol for marsh birds and amphibians in the prairie pothole region.

28 June 2002 -- BSC volunteers have completed bird surveys on four of 15 Breeding Bird Census plots at Long Point, ON. Vegetation surveys of all plots will be completed from 29 June -14 July. The bird and vegetation surveys are undertaken to gauge the recovery of Long Point from over-browsing by white-tailed deer. BSC conducts this work with the support of the Canadian Wildlife Service.

27 June 2002 -- BSC welcomes Keith Larson as the new Landbird Program Coordinator for BSC’s programs at Long Point Bird Observatory. Keith is replacing Jody Allair in this position.

Keith Larson has many years of experience in bird banding, migration monitoring and bird population assessment for a variety of government and non-government organizations. Much of his time in recent years has been spent working on ornithological projects in Alaska, California, and Hawaii. Among his other accomplishments, he has written a detailed technical manual on ageing and sexing the birds of Alaska. Keith has a keen interest in ornithology, particularly migration ecology, and is looking forward to working at one of the world’s premiere migration monitoring field stations at Long Point. His wife, Anja, who will also be joining us this summer as a volunteer field biologist, is currently completing a degree in botany and restoration ecology at the University of Hawaii.

Returning to his beloved roots in Ontario’s north country, Jody Allair is leaving Long Point to coordinate the Thunder Cape Bird Observatory migration monitoring program