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7 April 2006 
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The Latest News on Grassland Birds ... isn't Good!

6 April 2006 – Increasing attention and concern are being given to the loss of grassland habitats in North America and to the overall state of grassland bird populations. Jon McCracken, BSC's Ontario Program Manager, recently published an overview of the situation in a special issue of the journal Biodiversity. To find out more about the nature of this conservation challenge, you can download a reprint of the paper, entitled “Where the Bobolinks Roam: The Plight of North America's Grassland Birds,” by clicking here. [Note: The editors of Biodiversity have since printed corrections to some of the photo captions that were interchanged during the layout phase of the journal.]

Making Connections for Bird Conservation

6 April 2006 – Peter Blancher (former BSC Partners in Flight Scientist) and Andrew Couturier (BSC’s GIS Analyst) are featured as authors in a report just released by Partners in Flight. The report uses maps to summarize migratory connections between individual U.S. states, Canadian provinces and territories, and the regions that support the same birds at the other end of migration. The report emphasizes one critical point: the importance of looking beyond the borders of one’s own jurisdiction when crafting bird conservation plans. In doing so, decision-makers can explore partnerships and mechanisms that would help further conservation action outside their borders. As the Canadian co-partner in BirdLife International, Bird Studies Canada employs this approach in working towards improved understanding, appreciation, and conservation of "Canada’s" birds.

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Help Celebrate 30 Years by Joining the Baillie Birdathon

6 April 2006 - Helping the birds is as easy as picking up your binoculars ... almost. All you need to do is collect sponsors and spend a day in May birding. Why not join the thousands of Birdathon supporters across Canada in raising critical funds for bird conservation research by participating in the Baillie Birdathon?
  Preparations are in full swing for the 30th year of the Baillie Birdathon, including improved online support. You can register and order your exclusive Birdathon anniversary t-shirt online at the Birdathon web page by clicking here. And, to make fundraising efforts even easier, registered participants can direct their sponsors to an online donation page where donations can be made in the participant’s name. As Bird Studies Canada's most significant public fundraiser, the Baillie Birdathon is terrific reason to spend a day birding in May while raising money for the long-term monitoring needed to conserve Canada's birds.
  Participants are eligible to win some fantastic prizes, with one lucky fundraiser set to win an all-inclusive guided tour of Costa Rica, New Brunswick (including Grand Manan), or the high Arctic, courtesy of Eagle-Eye Tours. Also up for grabs is a Raven Spotting Scope (with 78mm objective lens and angled 20-60x zoom) and tripod and a pair of Ranger 8 x 42 "Platinum Class" binoculars, both courtesy of Eagle Optics.ca, an OptioS60 6.0 megapixel digital camera (with 3X optical zoom), courtesy of Pentax Canada, the stunning framed print "Storm-watch," courtesy of artist Chris Bacon, and much more. For more information, click here.

BSC’s Web Mapping Tools Profiled by ESRI Canada

6 April 2006 – Since 2001, BSC’s GIS Analyst Andrew Couturier has been steadily developing interactive web mapping applications for Bird Studies Canada’s programs. Originally conceived as tools for making bird databases available to the broader public in map format, the applications are now used for a wide variety of purposes, including volunteer recruitment and youth education. Craig Onafrychuk, GIS Analyst, K-12 Education Solutions, recently gave top billing to BSC’s conservation GIS applications in ESRI Canada’s Education Spotlight newsletter. States Craig, "This is a great conservation GIS site, with lots of interactive bird tracking maps including BirdMap Canada, Scaup Tracker, and Eagle Tracker." To explore the maps, visit BSC’s main page and look for appropriate links in the upper left corner. Bird Studies Canada thanks ESRI Canada for its continued support of GIS conservation applications.

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BC Beached Bird Survey Expands

6 April 2006 - A series of recruiting workshops along the west coast of Vancouver Island during the last week of March began a new phase of expansion of BSC’s Beached Bird Surveys in British Columbia. We extend a warm welcome to the new team of volunteers who will cover a series of new sites between Bamfield and Tofino, and conduct more frequent surveys at five existing survey sites. The data collected will assist in quantifying the threat posed by chronic oil pollution in BC’s waters, and improve our understanding of normal levels of bird mortality and the effects of climatic shifts and persistently high sea surface temperatures that can perpetuate seabird die-offs. To learn more about BC’s Beached Bird Surveys, click here.

LPBO Migration Monitoring Underway

5 April 2006 - The Long Point Bird Observatory (LPBO) began the spring 2006 season on 1 April at the Old Cut field station, Long Point, ON. The adjacent woods are already filling up with migrants and over 300 birds have been banded so far! The observatory's two remote stations, Breakwater and the Tip, should be up and running by mid-April. Weekly updates of banding totals, bird movements and highlights from Long Point and the surrounding areas will be made every Friday to the LPBO Sightings Board which can be viewed by clicking here. If you're in the area, be sure to plan a visit to Long Point and the Old Cut banding station. The friendly LPBO staff, volunteers, and Friends of LPBO are happy to answer those burning questions about Long Point and the birds. While you're there, check out the 'LPBO Shoppe' for bird-friendly gifts and apparel.

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