Bird Canada

After some initial delays, results of the 112^th Christmas Bird Count are now pouring into the program’s new data entry system, and it’s shaping up to be a record-breaking tally. With 13 new counts reporting, we are poised to exceed 400 counts for Canada. This is a huge achievement when you consider that only 257 counts were participating when Bird Studies Canada took over Canadian coordination of the count 11 years ago. Congratulations and thanks to all of the enthusiasts and participants.

It has been an exciting winter for birds, too. The big irruption of Snowy Owls made headlines across the country, and mild temperatures allowed many birds to linger farther north than usual. Visit the Audubon website to look at the results by count or by species.

The Audubon website is a mine of information. You can search by your province, and even drill down to see what was reported in your own count area.

Although they offer the option of searching by country (region), Canada is regrettably not listed as an option. You can find the Northern Mariana Islands count, but no Canadian information. Someone  might want to work on that…

Source: Bird Studies Canada

Vancouver Avian Research Centre
Vancouver, BC, Canada
www.birdvancouver.com <http://www.birdvancouver.com>

In addition to being known for their intelligence, members of the Corvid Family – ravens, crows, jays and magpies – are appreciated by birders for their behaviour when confronted with a predator.

Their loud, raucous squawks combined with hopping and jabbing motions generally mean they have spotted an owl or hawk roosting in a tree.  They continue their actions until the potential threat has been driven away. If you ever see a flock of corvids concentrating on a certain spot, look for the owl.

I was standing in my kitchen the other evening when out of the corner of my eye I saw a huge bird fly into one of my spruce trees. Whipping over to the window I discovered it was a raven, and it was loud! Just finishing up a phone call, I nearly threw the phone on the floor in my haste to get to my binoculars.

The raven kept up his loud cries and was soon joined by a nosy black-billed magpie who came to see what the fuss was about. And then – nothing.

They left. No owl sighting, no hawk sighting.

I have two possible theories for this behaviour. The first is that the predator was on the side of the tree away from me and the raven chased it off. The second is that the raven was just playing, to see if he could get the corvid fanatic in the house to spend half an hour walking around and around a spruce tree, looking for a bird that wasn’t there. Both are equally likely.

The Great Backyard Bird Count, which takes place annually in February, is a great way for people to get involved in the citizen science aspect of birding. I’m always keeping an eye on the birds in my yard anyway, so for the GBBC I just count the numbers of little feathered heads, and send in my findings.

The Friday count this year had the normal numbers of the usual suspects – house finches, downy woodpeckers, northern flickers, black-capped chickadees, common redpolls, red breasted nuthatches, house sparrows.

The second day of the count, I looked out of my back window and there was not a bird to be seen. A little perplexed by the lack of activity, I scanned the yard more carefully.

Oh. No wonder all the little birds had flown the coop.

I watched this sharp-shinned hawk gulp down his lunch for 25 minutes. Initially I thought he had captured one of my little birds, but as I watched, I realized his meal was too big to be a little finch or chickadee. Then I began to wonder about my overwintering and highly spoiled mourning doves.

As I continued to watch his frantic feeding behavior though, I started to see bright blue feathers flying through the air. I know accipiters are very quick, but I was doubly impressed that this bird could catch a clever blue jay. I haven’t seen any jays in my yard for months, and I may have discovered the reason why.

If you put bird feeders in your yard, you will eventually attract crowds of smaller birds. Those small birds will likely come to the notice of the larger predators. Rather than getting upset when the hawk gets a meal, just observe the miracle of nature playing out in your backyard. Appreciate the sight of a magnificent, successful hunter doing what he was born to do.

The last week of February means our Canadian winter is on the way out, and there’s no better way to mark the occasion than with this absolutely stunning video of northern owls from Canada Wild.

Andrew Manske’s slow motion owl footage. Snowy owl, great gray owl and hawk owls hunting in winter. Northern Alberta, Canada. High Speed 500 fps 16mm film cinematography.

A new report by the Raptor Population Index (RPI) Project shows that the majority of the 26 species of migratory raptors across North America are either recovering or in stable condition. RPI is a cooperative partnership among four leading raptor and conservation organizations: Bird Studies Canada, Hawk Migration Association of North America,
HawkWatch International, and Hawk Mountain Sanctuary.

Osprey

Migratory raptors include hawks, falcons, kites, ospreys, harriers, eagles and vultures. The latest analysis examined datasets from 48 raptor migration watchsites from across North America. Results published include conservation status reports and an online resource for scientists, educators and wildlife enthusiasts featuring easy-to-read maps of population trends for each species.

How are raptors doing?

Most North American species are doing well. A stark exception is the tiny American Kestrel. Unfortunately this colorful falcon continues to raise alarm among conservationists. The new RPI analysis shows kestrels continuing the long-term decline reported in previous RPI analyses. “Conservation concern remains high for this species” says Laurie Goodrich, Senior Monitoring Biologist at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, “and warrants increased efforts to monitor populations and identify causes of the decline.”

The good news is that the majority of raptor populations are stable or increasing. Bald Eagle numbers are stabilizing following long-term and widespread increases in populations documented by previous RPI analyses. Peregrine Falcon populations, once threatened with extinction, may also be stabilizing after a long period of steady growth. Likewise, the long-term upward trend for Merlin suggests their steady increase since the 1980s may have stabilized as well.

Swainson's Hawk

Many species show similar regional results. In the West, Swainson’s Hawks increased during the 1980s and 1990s and in the most recent decade shows stable levels. In the East, Broad-winged Hawk, whose spectacular, massive September flights attract large crowds of hawkwatchers, also shows stable numbers at most sites throughout the east.

Uniformity across the continent is, however, more the exception than the rule. Some species, such as the Golden Eagle show trends that differ regionally. During the past decade numbers seem to be stable or increasing in eastern and central regions, but show evidence of widespread declines at western monitoring sites.

Maintaining a continent-wide tracking system

The RPI system includes over 200 independent raptor migration sites across North America forming the world’s largest bird migration monitoring network. These sites are operated by highly skilled, mainly volunteer citizen scientists who use standardized protocols and submit their migration count data through an electronic database, HawkCount.org.

Launched in 2004 to mobilize the observations of thousands of hawkwatchers, RPI’s central aim is to produce and regularly update continental-scale assessments of the population trends and the conservation status of migratory raptors.

Merlin

RPI’s first publication, The State of North America’s Birds of Prey, a 466-page book released in 2008, is regarded as a keystone in our understanding of migratory raptor populations and their conservation in North America. To increase accessibility, RPI will now deliver results online and update them annually. Once again, RPI has shown that the dedicated efforts of hawkwatchers across Canada, United States and Mexico can make an important contribution to raptor conservation.

Raptors are recovering from historic lows in their populations in the 1950s and 1960s (likely a combination of the post World War II “DDT era,” and increased pressures due to habitat lost and direct persecution). Does this mean we no longer need to be concerned about these birds? Definitely not. As Rosalie Edge, founder of Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Pennsylvania said in 1934 “the time to protect a species is while it is still common.”

For more information on recent RPI results and population status updates for each raptor species, trend graphs and maps, visit the RPI website

Regional Population Trend Summaries – 2011

Source: Bird Studies Canada Press Release

The deadline for Canadians to comment on the federal government’s massive wolf-kill caribou recovery strategy is February 22, 2012. For most Alberta boreal woodland caribou herds, the wolf-kill strategy would allow 95% of their habitat to be destroyed. Tar sands and other oil-gas activities in those herds’ ranges would not be disturbed. Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA) is inviting Canadians to ask Environment Minister Peter Kent to protect the habitat caribou require for long-term survival and recovery, rather than encouraging decades-long poisoning and shooting of many thousands of wolves.

“Because of ongoing mismanagement of caribou habitat, Environment Canada’s data shows Alberta’s herds are by far the most vulnerable to being wiped out in all of Canada,” says Carolyn Campbell, AWA conservation specialist. “This proposal will allow 95% habitat loss and many decades of massive scale wolf kills, for most Alberta herds. This is an absurd and deeply unethical strategy that sacrifices both wolves and caribou to unmanaged energy industry growth.”

In the name of caribou recovery, hundreds of wolves have already been poisoned and shot from helicopters in northwestern Alberta. The federal government’s draft caribou recovery strategy is now calling for a massive expansion of this approach. “There is no reason to think that killing wolves will recover caribou,” says Campbell. “Only protecting caribou habitat will achieve that.”

In healthy forests, wolf predation does not significantly affect caribou, points out Campbell. “These caribou are spread thinly across the landscape and do not support wolf populations in themselves,” she says. Industrial development upsets this fine balance, bringing in larger numbers of other prey such as deer and moose and creating easy access corridors for wolves, resulting in more caribou being killed by wolves. Scientific studies agree that the only long-term solution for caribou is to have enough intact habitat to allow them to remain separated from deer, moose and wolves.

AWA asks Canadians to call on Environment Minister Kent to set sensible limits on forest disturbance in caribou ranges, and restore necessary habitat, as the first focus of the recovery strategy, rather than encourage massive wolf kills.

For more information:
Carolyn Campbell, conservation specialist, Alberta Wilderness Association (403) 283-2025

Local nature photographer Duane Starr has taken a series of outstanding pictures of a magnificent Golden Eagle. He says he came across a bird sitting on a rock on a small hill next to the road. Just as he stopped, it took off and flew towards him about 100′ in the air and continued to circle right over top of him for about 6 or 7 large circles. He was able to get about 250 shots before the bird flew away.

Click here to see more pics, then click on Slideshow on the top right hand side. The detail on these photos is incredible, and I can’t stop watching the show.

If I had been in his position, I would have abandoned the camera for the sheer joy of watching this eagle float over my head, proving that I’m definitely more of a birder than a photographer.

Thanks for sharing, Duane!

There is a great post on Birdchick’s blog today – Documenting Bad Behavior of Birders and Photographers.

She’s making a point about birders and photographers who disturb the birds to get ‘that perfect shot.’ Should we be documenting their actions and publicizing them?

I say YES! Put the video or photo on every social media outlet you can access. Contact the TV stations and ask them to run it. Let’s put the  spotlight on these morons, and make everyone aware of just how disgusting and harmful their actions are.

This video is up on YouTube – take it, make it yours, spread it to every outlet you can find.

Photographers ignore signs, trample habitat, and chase Snowy Owls in a protected wildlife area on Boundary Bay, British Columbia, Canada. Feb 3, 2012.

Hundreds of people flock here to watch the Snowy Owls during winter irruptions. Over 20 owls could be seen at one time in a relatively small area this year. Many were roosting within a few meters of the hiking trail and were enjoyed by onlookers without causing any apparent stress. An amazing spectacle!

Most people stay on the dike and keep a reasonable distance as posted signs suggest, but some photographers choose to leave the trail and repeatedly approach owls to the point they become alert and fly off. Not only does this change individual owl’s behavior and possibly threaten their livelihood, but also enrages respectable birders and photographers who are viewing them from the trail. There are even reports of someone throwing objects at owls to make them fly for the best photo!!

This is simply wrong and unethical behavior that has grown out of control at this location. Unfortunately, local wildlife managers are doing little to police the situation. I urge all visitors who are frustrated or disgusted with this scene to contact officials and ask them to address the issue. This is one of the best locations in the world to view Snowy Owls during irruption years, let’s keep it that way… PROTECT WILDLIFE AND IT’S HABITAT!