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15 April 2005 
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BSC to Attend Trinational Biodiversity Workshop

13 April 2005 - BSC's Senior Scientist, Denis Lepage, will attend the 1st North American Workshop on Capacity Building for Biodiversity Conservation, held at La Primavera, Jalisco, México from 18-22 April 2005. The focus of the workshop will be monitoring of species, spaces, and common threats, and will be an opportunity for conservation biologists from Canada, the United States, and Mexico to share their experiences with biodiversity monitoring.

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Register Online for Baillie Birdathon

Common Loon by Chris Bacon

14 April 2005 - Registering for the Baillie Birdathon just got easier. Now you can register and order your exclusive Birdathon t-shirt online at the Birdathon web page by clicking here. 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 to Costa Rica, Arizona, 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 EagleOptics.ca, an OptioSV 5.0 megapixel digital camera (with 5X optical zoom), courtesy of Pentax Canada, the stunning framed print "Common Loon," courtesy of artist Chris Bacon, and much more. For more information, click here.

BSC Recognizes National Volunteer Week

14 April 2005 - "The gift of time is priceless" - anonymous. The week of 17-23 April marks National Volunteer Week in Canada, a special week set aside to recognize the 6.5 million Canadians who donate their time and energy each year to support causes in communities across our country. Bird Studies Canada is very fortunate to have about 18,000 volunteer Citizen Scientists, who participate year after year in a multitude of bird monitoring programs. From banding landbirds, to counting backyard birds, to monitoring nesting loons, to surveying nocturnal owls, Bird Studies Canada volunteers are a generous and dedicated group. While they may differ in their particular interests, they share a common goal of advancing bird conservation in Canada. Thank you for all that you do! If you’d like to find out more about volunteer projects in your area, please contact Susan Debreceni, Volunteer Projects Research Assistant at sdebreceni@bsc-eoc.org.

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BC Coastal Waterbird Survey Completes 5-year Report

15 April 2005 - Bird Studies Canada recently completed a report using five years of volunteer-collected data on coastal and marine birds wintering in British Columbia. The report, written by Bird Studies Canada (Shannon Badzinski, Richard Cannings, and Tasha Smith) and Canadian Wildlife Service (Jason Komaromi) biologists, was titled British Columbia Coastal Waterbird Survey - An Evaluation of Survey Power and Species Trends after Five Years of Monitoring. This report presents species accounts and waterbird abundances for British Columbia Coastal Waterbird Survey (BCCWS) sites across the entire coast of the province and provides seasonal count indices and 5-year linear trends for waterbirds within the Georgia Basin. The report also contains current and projected sample sizes (number of BCCWS sites) and analyses showing the statistical power of the survey, that is, the ability of the BCCWS to detect annual and longer-term changes in waterbird abundances within the Georgia Basin. To view the entire report, click here.
  This report will be included as a technical paper within the "Coast and Marine Environment Project," which is a larger collaborative effort between provincial and federal ministries and universities, aimed at monitoring and preserving the biological integrity of BC coastal ecosystems. Funding for the writing of the report was provided by Environment Canada through the Georgia Basin Action Plan. Additional program funding was provided by Environment Canada (Canadian Wildlife Service), Ducks Unlimited, and the British Columbia Field Ornithologists. Bird Studies Canada would like to acknowledge the dedicated efforts of all the skilled and enthusiastic volunteers who have contributed data for this report.

Fraser River Delta to be International Hemisphere Reserve

14 April 2005 - The Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) will be celebrating the international "Hemisphere Reserve" designation of the Fraser River Delta in British Columbia. The Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network is a collection of communities and governmental and non-governmental organizations that work together to conserve vital shorebird stopover areas along the migration chain throughout the western hemisphere. The Fraser River Estuary, officially designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International and Bird Studies Canada in October 2001, is the top rated IBA of 597 sites in Canada. The designation will take place at the Surrey Arts Centre, Studio Theatre, 18750 88 Avenue, Surrey, British Columbia, on 29 April at 7:00 p.m. The event's Master of Ceremonies will be BSC Board Member George Clulow. BSC President, George Finney, and BC Program Manager, Dick Cannings, and BC Programs Coordinator, Tasha Smith, will also be in attendance. Guest speakers will include WHSRN Director, Charles Duncan, Dr. Rob Butler of the Canadian Wildlife Service, and Anne Murray of Nature Canada. For more information on the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve, click here.

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Kenn Kaufman to Attend Meadowlark Festival

14 April 2005 - Renowned birder and author Kenn Kaufman will be the guest speaker at the 8th annual Meadowlark Festival in Penticton, BC, on 19-23 May 2005. Kenn will also lead a birding tour of the south Okanagan Valley on 21 May with BSC's Dick Cannings. On 22 May, both Kenn and Dick will take part in the Okanagan Big Day Challenge, a fundraising event that is run as a Baillie Birdathon. For more information about the Festival and the Challenge, click here; for more information about Kenn Kaufman, you can visit his website by clicking here. For more information about the Okanagan Big Day Challenge, go to the Meadowlark Festival site or contact Dick Cannings at dickcannings@shaw.ca.

Management Recommendations for Bicknell's Thrush Online

13 April 2005 - An information document on the Bicknell's Thrush titled Bicknell's Thrush in New Brunswick Forests is now available online by clicking here. The document was presented in February to both the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources and to major forestry companies in both provinces.

Un document d'information sur la grive de Bicknell intitulé "La grive de Bicknell dans les Forêts du Nouveau-Brunswick" est maintenant disponible en français à www.bsc-eoc.org/download/BITHNBforests2005FR.pdf. Le document a été présenté aux Ministères des Ressources Naturelles du Nouveau-Brunswick et de la Nouvelle-Écosse et aux principales compagnies forestières dans les deux provinces en Février.

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Québec Birders Called to the Marsh

14 April 2005 - Migration is well underway and marsh birds have started to arrive in Québec. For a second year, birders in "la belle province" can participate in the Québec Marsh Monitoring Program by surveying birds inhabiting marshes. At the moment, the Montréal region is well covered but many marshes in other areas such as the Outaouais and the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean have not yet been assigned to surveyors. People who have the ability to recognize marsh birds by sight and sound, and are interested in joining the program, can contact coordinator Catherine Poussart at 418-649-6062 or Catherine.poussart@ec.gc.ca. Before the survey period, each participant will receive a participant kit, which consists of an instruction manual, field sheets, and two CDs (training and broadcast). Surveys are to be conducted during two evenings, at least 10 days apart, between 27 May and 12 July. For more details, click here.

La migration des oiseaux est bien amorcée et les oiseaux de marais commencent tranquillement à arriver au Québec. Pour une deuxième année, les ornithologues de « la belle province » peuvent participer au Programme de surveillance des marais au Québec (PSMQ) en recensant les oiseaux dans les marais. La région de Montréal est actuellement bien couverte mais plusieurs marais dans d’autres régions, dont l’Outaouais et le Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, n’ont pas encore été attribués à un participant. Les personnes ayant l’habileté à reconnaître les oiseaux de marais au chant et à la vue, et qui sont intéressées à joindre le programme peuvent communiquer avec Catherine Poussart par téléphone au (418) 649-6062 ou par courriel à Catherine.poussart@ec.gc.ca. Avant la période d'inventaires, chaque participant inscrit recevra une trousse comprenant le manuel d’instructions, les feuilles de données à compléter et deux disques compactes (de formation et de diffusion). Les inventaires doivent être effectués lors de deux visites en soirées espacées d’au moins dix jours, entre le 27 mai et le 12 juillet.

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Ontario Atlas Event Maps Out Road Ahead

12 April 2005 - The Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas hosted an open house on the weekend to celebrate accomplishments to date and to map out a strategy for completing its coverage objectives in 2005. Overall, the Atlas is in great shape heading into its fifth and final field season, with more than 120,000 hours of volunteer effort logged, breeding evidence documented for 292 species, and more than 50,000 point counts conducted. However, Atlas coordinator, Mike Cadman, illustrated that some notable gaps in coverage remain to be addressed this year. The open house attracted an impressive 125 attendees including regional coordinators, advisory committee members, and volunteer participants. BSC, a major partner in the Atlas project, was represented at the event by Jon McCracken, Andrew Couturier, and Gregor Beck. It’s not too late to get involved! To learn more about this exciting project, click here. Birders who are vacationing here from outside Ontario are more than welcome to take part. The welcome mat is definitely out!

MMP Volunteers Describe Marsh Habitat Well

12 April 2005 - In 2003, Marsh Monitoring Program staff conducted a one-day workshop to determine how accurately volunteer surveyors estimate marsh habitat cover. From this workshop, we learned that, yes!, volunteers do describe habitat well. However, improvements can always be made, and recommendations for improvement, along with the results from this workshop, are now available online in the final report titled Marsh Monitoring Program: 2003 Volunteer Habitat Workshop Summary. To view this report, click here, The Marsh Monitoring Program thanks all of the volunteers that participated in the workshop, and made this study possible.

BC Program Review Planned

12 April 2005 - Bird Studies Canada will hold it's annual British Columbia programs review at the Canadian Wildlife Service offices in Delta, on 29 April at 1p.m. Reviewed programs will include the BC Coastal Waterbird Survey, the BC Beached Bird Survey and the BC Nocturnal Owl Survey. Please contact BC Programs Coordinator, Tasha Smith, for more information (tasha.smith@ec.gc.ca).

Red-Shouldered Hawk Reminder

8 April 2005 – A friendly reminder that 17 April marks the start of the survey window for the Red-shouldered Hawk and Spring Woodpecker Survey in Ontario. Participants may run their survey during a single morning any day between 17 April and 7 May. Be sure to return data forms to Bird Studies Canada by 15 May. All data collected, regardless of the number of raptors and woodpeckers observed, is important to the survey. For details on past results of this survey and to view the 2004 Final Report, click here. For more information on the survey, contact Susan Debreceni (sdebreceni@bsc-eoc.org).

 

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