Conservation
Organizations Celebrate
Decision to Protect
Ontario’s Boreal Forest

Bird Atlas
Symposium
and Workshop
to be Featured
at Upcoming
Conference

New Map Features
Alaska IBAs

Partners in Flight
Meeting Addresses
Enhanced Continental
Landbird Conservation

Archives

Bird Studies
Canada Main Page

25 July 2008 
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Conservation Organizations Celebrate
Decision to Protect Ontario’s Boreal Forest

25 July 2008 – The Ontario government has announced it will permanently protect one half of the province’s Far North Boreal region from mining and resource development projects, limiting activity on these lands to tourism and traditional aboriginal uses. The region is one of the world’s largest intact ecosystems, and makes up 43% of Ontario’s landmass. The Canadian Boreal Forest is essential to the survival of half of North America’s birds, providing nesting grounds and habitat for billions of migratory songbirds and waterfowl each year.
   The government plans to protect over 225,000 square kilometres in an interconnected network of conservation lands. Some key elements of the initiative include reforming Ontario’s Mining Act, and collaborating with scientists, First Nation and Métis communities, and all northern communities and resource industries to create a sustainable development plan. Details are available on the website of the Premier of Ontario.
   Bird Studies Canada congratulates the government of Ontario on its visionary plan to protect the Boreal, and we thank our members, supporters, and partners for their involvement in influencing this important decision.

Bird Atlas Symposium and Workshop
to be Featured at Upcoming Conference

23 July 2008 – More than 900 people, including several BSC staff members, are expected to attend an international ornithological conference in Portland, Oregon in two weeks. Charles Francis (Environment Canada) and Andrew Couturier (BSC) will co-chair a symposium in the scientific sessions as well as a full-day workshop of NORAC (North American Atlas Committee). The symposium, entitled Using Breeding Bird Atlases to Enhance Conservation, will present examples of how atlas data are being used to enhance bird conservation. Drawing on the experiences of several atlas projects, the symposium will explore some of the statistical and analytic challenges of working with atlas data, and will highlight some recommendations for future development of atlases. Six presentations from atlases in Canada and the United States will be featured.
   The NORAC website hosted by BSC has been substantially revised and updated in conjunction with the NORAC meeting. The website offers additional details concerning the meeting agenda, along with a variety of information concerning atlases in North America. Ongoing updates are planned, so check back frequently.

New Map Features Alaska IBAs

21 July 2008, BirdLife International – With 145 officially designated Important Bird Areas (IBAs), Alaska has more globally significant IBAs than any other U.S. state, and is home to almost half of all globally significant IBAs identified in the United States. Alaska has the world’s largest population of nesting Red-legged Kittiwake (a Vulnerable species) and Kittlitz’s Murrelet (Critically Endangered). The state’s IBAs also include coastal nesting grounds for about 90% of the world population of Emperor Geese, staging areas for tens of thousands of Bar-tailed Godwits, and at-sea wintering grounds for many of the world’s Spectacled Eiders. Audubon Alaska has produced a poster-sized map that highlights the state’s IBAs, as well as some potential sites that will likely meet official listing criteria soon. Visit the BirdLife International website to learn more and to view the poster.

Partners in Flight Meeting Addresses
Enhanced Continental Landbird Conservation

6 July 2008 – Twenty-four members of the Partners in Flight Science Committee met recently to begin work on an update to the 2004 PIF North American Landbird Conservation Plan. The meeting took place at the “Estación de Biología Chamela” in west Mexico, about three hours south of Puerto Vallarta. BSC was heavily involved in producing the first Plan in 2004 and is actively engaged in the current initiative, a major goal of which is to include Mexican birds and priorities in a true continental vision for bird conservation for North America. BSC was represented at the meeting by Andrew Couturier, whose involvement in PIF reaches back more than eight years. Several other BSC staff are expected to contribute to the writing and review of the document, which will be completed in late 2009. To learn more, visit the Partners in Flight website.

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For Our Birds 2008 Conference & Workshop: Save the Date!

23 July 2008 – Join bird enthusiasts and scientists on November 15-16, 2008 in Halifax, NS for a conference and workshop organized by Bird Studies Canada, Dalhousie University, Ecology Action Centre, and the NS Bird Society. “For Our Birds 2008: Sharing science, conservation, and education about birds in Nova Scotia” has three main objectives: to increase communication about the science and conservation of birds; to engage new people in bird conservation; and to increase public awareness and action for birds. Seating is limited, so register soon!
   The conference will be held at Dalhousie University and will begin with a keynote address by Janis Dickinson, Director of Citizen Science at Cornell University. On Saturday, scientists, birders, and government representatives will present talks on a variety of Nova Scotia-based bird science and conservation topics. A Sunday workshop to identify gaps, priorities, and actions for bird conservation in Nova Scotia will offer excellent opportunities for participants to interact, discuss, and learn. On Saturday evening from 4:30 to 6:30 there will be snacks, refreshments, and an opportunity for students and researchers to share research and projects during a poster session. Visit the For Our Birds 2008 website to learn more, register, and submit a poster.

Protect Our Birds: Help Clean Up Canada’s Waterways

11 July 2008 – Litter such as plastic bags and fishing nets can kill birds, especially in marine environments, where birds may become entangled in refuse, or mistake garbage for food. Through the TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, volunteers across the country work together to clean up Canada’s rivers, lakes, streams, and ocean shorelines. This year’s national cleanup week will take place from September 20-28. To register to organize a cleanup in your area, and to receive free cleanup supplies, instructions, and educational materials, select this link or email shorelinecleanup@vanaqua.org.

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Successful Hatch of a Translocated Piping Plover Nest in Nova Scotia

23 July 2008 – Sometimes bold actions are needed to successfully recover Species at Risk, such as Endangered Piping Plovers. Flooding from high tides and storms is one of the main causes of Piping Plover nest failure on Nova Scotia’s South Shore beaches. Over the past two years, Bird Studies Canada biologists and volunteers have successfully used sandbags to protect nests from flooding, but sandbags are not always enough to keep the rising sea at bay. This summer, a late-nesting plover pair placed their nest perilously close to the high tide mark on a beach near Cole Harbour, NS. It was clear that sandbagging alone was not going to eliminate the risk of flooding, so Bird Studies Canada and Environment Canada-Canadian Wildlife Service biologists employed techniques used in the mid-western U.S. to translocate the nest and four eggs to a safer site on the beach. We’re thrilled to report that on July 23 the nest hatched. BSC and its volunteers will monitor the plover chicks for another month until they are able to fly.
   To learn more about the Nova Scotia Piping Plover Conservation Program, please contact the Program Coordinator, Sue Abbott, at (902) 426-4055 or nsplovers@gmail.com.

Banded Bicknell’s Thrush Relocated One Year Later in New Brunswick

21 July 2008 – Emily MacKinnon and Kevin Fraser, Master’s and Ph.D. candidates, respectively, at the University of New Brunswick, have had a successful second field season studying the Bicknell’s Thrush in northern New Brunswick. As of mid-July, Emily, Kevin, and their field crew had found seven active nests, including one belonging to a female Bicknell’s Thrush that was caught and banded last summer. The site where her 2007 nest was located was pre-commercially thinned in late July 2007. In 2008, she was found directly across the logging road from the thinned stand, in a tiny parcel of dense forest. Her 2008 nest successfully fledged four healthy young – more, in fact, than any of the other nests found this year.

EnviroZine Features Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas

16 July 2008 – The Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Ontario, published earlier this year by Bird Studies Canada, Environment Canada, Ontario Field Ornithologists, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and Ontario Nature, documents the most comprehensive wildlife study in Ontario’s history – and one of the largest and most detailed bird surveys ever undertaken in North America. A new article in EnviroZine, Environment Canada’s online newsmagazine, features some of the highlights of this ground-breaking study on the state of Ontario’s birds. Select this link to read the EnviroZine article, which provides an overview of the project, including details of some population declines and increases over the last 20 years. Copies of this extraordinary book are still available through the Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Ontario website or by calling 1-800-440-2366 (within Canada) or 416-444-8419 ext. 230 (from Toronto or outside Canada).

Wildlife Habitat Canada Supports Prairie & Parkland MMP

15 July 2008 – Bird Studies Canada is pleased to announce that we will receive a $25,000 grant from Wildlife Habitat Canada for the Prairie & Parkland Marsh Monitoring Program in the 2008-09 fiscal year. This funding will support the development of a planning and evaluation tool that will improve decision-making by Prairie Habitat Joint Venture partners with regard to guiding the securement and management of specific wetland areas for the benefit of waterbirds.
   Wildlife Habitat Canada is a national, non-profit, conservation organization established in 1984 by Environment Canada, provincial wildlife agencies, and conservation organizations. We are grateful to WHC for their support, and we look forward to a successful project and partnership. 

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