Last week I was in one of our large Calgary parks, and there was a pair of Swainson’s Hawks. There was a stiff wind from the south, so I was able to get pictures as they soared almost motionless over my head. One of the birds is an intermediate to dark adult, and the other is a light hawk that looks like it is just coming into its adult plumage.

There was a little corvid harassment...

Buff-breasted Sandpiper added to COSEWIC. Photo Tim Lenz

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) held their spring species assessment meeting last week in the Kananaskis Valley of Alberta.  The committee considered the status of 35 wildlife species, including five birds.

Buff-breasted SandpiperTryngites subruficollis  

Range YT NT NU BC AB SK MB ON QC
The Canadian Arctic supports about 87% of the North American breeding range of this shorebird, and about 75% of its global population. The species was once common and perhaps even abundant historically, but it suffered severe declines stemming from intensive market hunting in the late 1800s and early 1900s. By the 1920s, it was thought to be at the brink of extinction. Its population has grown since hunting was banned in North America, but numbers remain much lower than those before hunting began. There is evidence for population decline in recent decades, and many conservation organizations consider the species to be of concern throughout its range. However, this species is difficult to monitor effectively, and data necessary to estimate population trends are currently lacking. Outside the breeding period, loss and degradation of its specialized grassland habitat, both on its wintering grounds in South America and along its migration routes, are believed to pose the most significant threats.

• Designated Special Concern in May 2012.

Marbled Murrelet Brachyramphus marmoratus

Range BC
This small seabird is largely dependent on old growth coastal forests in British Columbia for nesting. Habitat loss has been estimated at over 20% for the past three generations. Future threats including ongoing habitat loss, coupled with increased threats from proposed shipping routes in the core of the species’ range, increased fragmentation from a variety of proposed and recently initiated developments, fisheries bycatch and changing at sea conditions have resulted in projected population losses exceeding 30% over the next three generations

• Designated Threatened in April 1990. Status re-examined and confirmed in November 2000 and May 2012.

Western Screech-Owl kennicottii subspecies

Range BC
This small owl has shown serious declines in the southern part of its range in Metro Vancouver, Victoria and the Gulf Islands areas, where it has nearly disappeared over the last 10 to 15 years. Based on observed declines reported in Alaska, it has likely also declined in the northern part of its range, but the magnitude of the decline is unknown. The population is thought to be relatively small (less than 10,000 adults) and the owls face ongoing threats including predation from newly established populations of Barred Owls, and the removal of dead trees and snags, which serve as nest sites and roosts.

• Species considered in April 1995 and placed in the Data Deficient category. It was split according to subspecies in May 2002. The kennicottii subspecies was designated Special Concern in May 2002. Status re-examined and designated Threatened in May 2012.

Western Screech-Owl macfarlanei subspecies

Range BC
The Canadian population of this owl is small, numbering between 350 and 500 adults, but is larger than previously estimated based on recent survey effort and has a much wider range in southern British Columbia than previously thought. The population has been apparently stable over the last 10 years, but faces ongoing threats especially from the loss of mature trees needed for nesting and roost sites. The loss of these trees is associated with urban and agricultural developments and degradation of riparian woodlands.

• Species considered in April 1995 and placed in the Data Deficient category. It was split according to subspecies in May 2002. The macfarlanei subspecies was designated Endangered in May 2002. Status re-examined and designated Threatened in May 2012.

Baird’s Sparrow Ammodramus bairdii

Range AB SK MB
Canada supports about 60% of the breeding population of this prairie songbird. The species was common and perhaps even abundant historically. It suffered declines stemming from agricultural conversion of its native prairie habitat across the Great Plains. There is good evidence for population declines in recent decades, but the species is difficult to monitor effectively, and information on short-term population trends is relatively weak. Loss and degradation of its specialized grassland habitat, on both its breeding and wintering grounds, are believed to pose the most significant threats. Evidence of long-term population declines, coupled with ongoing threats to habitat, are the primary reasons for elevating the status of this species from Not at Risk to Special Concern.

• Designated Threatened in April 1989. Status re-examined and designated Not at Risk in April 1996. Status re-examined and designated Special Concern in May 2012.

Hooded WarblerSetophaga citrina  
Range ON
In Canada, the range and abundance of this forest-nesting species have increased substantially since the species was last assessed. The species has also experienced a significant long-term increase in abundance in the core of its range in the United States, so there is an outside source for rescue. However, habitat degradation at breeding sites and habitat loss and degradation at migration stopover sites and on the wintering grounds are potential threats.

• Designated Threatened in April 1994. Status re-examined and confirmed in November 2000. Status re-examined and designated Not at Risk in May 2012.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Known as Black Out Speak Out (or Silence, on parle, in French) the campaign will invite organizations, businesses and bloggers from across Canada to darken their websites on June 4, and speak out against the dismantling of Canada’s environmental laws.

Black Out Speak Out begins Monday May 7 with full-page ads in the Globe and Mail, La Presse and Ottawa’s Hill Times. It also includes websites www.blackoutspeakout.ca or www.silenceonparle.ca.

Silence is not an option for Canadians who care about the protection of nature and democratic discussion. Changes introduced in the federal government’s budget act (C-38) are placing the future of our land, water and climate at risk. The changes are making it easier to rush headlong into potentially damaging industrial projects, and harder for Canadians to have any say.

We’re asking you and other bloggers who care about nature and democracy to help us spread the word about our cause on your blog. For the next month, you can also speak out on Twitter using #blackoutspeakout, and share our facebook page at facebook.com/BlackOutSpeakOut. And, we invite you to join in our nationwide action, and darken your site on June 4.

Participating environmental organizations include CPAWS, David Suzuki Foundation, Ecojustice, Environmental Defence, Equiterre, Greenpeace, Nature Canada, Pembina Institute, Sierra Club of Canada, West Coast Environmental Law, and WWF Canada.

We hope you’ll participate in the campaign. More information in our press release at http://blackoutspeakout.ca/press_release.php.

Chris Sutton
Communications Director
Nature Canada

The site was built by University of Winnipeg student Richard Stecenko, as part of a practicum for a rhetoric course, with material provided by atlas staff and volunteers. Richard went over and above the call of duty in designing the site, and demonstrated another way of becoming involved in BSC’s regional programs. This site will augment the significant contributions of data relating to SAR that atlas volunteers have already made.

As a birder-blogger-internet marketer who does not live in Manitoba, I am totally green with envy. Richard has designed a phenomenal website for endangered birds in that province which must have taken him several hundred hours. What a great country it would be if every province had a similar site for their own SAR birds!

]]> http://www.birdcanada.com/2012/04/new-online-manitoba-species-at-risk-website/feed/ 0 http://www.birdcanada.com/2012/04/so-you-think-youre-a-dancer/ http://www.birdcanada.com/2012/04/so-you-think-youre-a-dancer/#comments Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:12:00 +0000 Pat http://www.birdcanada.com/?p=5674 Guest Post by Madeline Wilson of the Alberta Wilderness Association

Spring appears to be arriving a little early in Alberta this year, and as the snow begins to melt (well I guess the snow never really came this year, did it?), prairie birders will begin to head out in the early mornings with the hope of witnessing the impressive courtship dances of our prairie grouse. The charismatic Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus ) is recognized among naturalists for many reasons, but is perhaps best known for the spectacular courtship displays that occur on mating grounds (lek sites) each spring.

Male greater sage grouse. © C Olson

The greater sage-grouse is the largest of all North American grouse, and both males and females camouflage well in prairie grasses thanks to finely marked brown, black, and white feathers. Male sage-grouse can be distinguished by the presence of an arched yellow comb above the eye, long feathers behind the back of the neck, and a large white breast patch within which two large air sacs are concealed. The survival of the sage-grouse is intrinsically reliant upon the presence and abundance of silver sagebrush (Artemisia cana) flats, found in the Dry Mixedgrass subregion of the Grasslands natural region. This succulent shrub provides the bird’s food, shelter and cover from predators.

Each year, usually beginning in late March, hopeful male sage-grouse head to traditional lek sites where they may spend up to several weeks displaying for female hens. During this lively and intricate performance, males inflate and compress their air sacs producing loud popping sounds. This auditory experience, combined with the stunning visual of raised tail feathers and majestic strutting is indeed one to remember- or so I hear that is. And unfortunately, hearing tales and watching videos may be as close as many Albertans ever get to experiencing sage-grouse mating displays first hand.

Throughout the last decade, the reputation of the sage-grouse has grown for reasons besides being the Casanova of Alberta’s grasslands; the greater sage-grouse is also the most endangered species in Alberta. The sage-grouse was designated an At Riskspecies in Alberta in 1996 (downgraded to Endangered in 2000), and was recognized by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) as a federally Endangered species in 1998. Yet, it is now 2012 and neither provincial nor federal governments have taken any meaningful action to protect the sage-grouse or the habitat upon which its survival depends. Last spring, only 13 male sage-grouse were recorded on leks in Alberta. In neighbouring Saskatchewan, the only other Canadian province in which sage-grouse exist, populations are only slightly higher. These dismal counts represent an almost 90 percent population decline in Canada between 1988 and 2006.

It is clear that, like with most threatened and endangered species worldwide, this rapid decline can be attributed to habitat destruction and fragmentation. Degradation of native grasslands in southern Alberta due to urban expansion, cultivation, livestock grazing, and oil and gas exploration have left only approximately 43% of our grasslands remaining. Although 70% of the species at risk in the province reside in the grasslands, less than 1% is currently protected. In Alberta, sage-grouse can now be found only in the extreme southeast corner of the province, primarily surrounding the town of Manyberries, Alberta.

Sage-grouse are notoriously sensitive to disturbance, and studies have shown that, when confronted with oil and gas development, sage-grouse will abandon or avoid leks essential to their survival. Extensive energy development in southern Alberta has essentially impacted all remaining sage-grouse habitat.

Oil & gas development in sage grouse territory. © C Olson

Currently provincial species at risk are, sloppily, handled under the Alberta Wildlife Act. This piece of legislation does not require any mandatory actions to protect species at risk, besides the production of a provincial recovery plan. Since the Alberta Greater Sage-Grouse Recovery Plan was produced in 2005, populations have only continued to plummet. In light of this, we are relying upon provisions within the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA) that state the federal Environment Minister has a mandatory duty to make recommendations to protect a species facing imminent threat of extinction. The environmental law group Ecojustice is currently representing Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA), and several other conservation groups as we pursue legal action against Environment Minister Peter Kent over his continued failure to protect Canada’s endangered greater sage-grouse. In order to prevent the imminent extinction of this prairie icon, the critical habitat necessary to sage-grouse survival and recovery must be protected through legislation. Sage-grouse require a buffer of at least 1.9 km around all nesting, brood-rearing and winter habitat, and a 6.4 km buffer around all lek sites. Within this buffer zone all industrial activity must be prohibited, and existing industrial infrastructure must be removed.

Perhaps the single most frustrating, but also encouraging, piece of the sage-grouse puzzle is that the bird’s ecology and habitat requirements are well-understood. If we want to recover healthy sage-grouse populations in Alberta, it is entirely possible. But what we are obviously still missing is the desire and the political will to take the necessary steps before it is too late.

So I hope to leave you not with a bleak perspective on the state of species at risk in Alberta, but with an awareness of a truly remarkable species, and the desire to seek action from both federal and provincial levels of government to ensure the native grasslands of southern Alberta have not witnessed the sage-grouse’s last dance. For more information on what you can do to help protect sage-grouse, please visit www.albertawilderness.ca

-Madeline Wilson, AWA conservation specialist

Click here to view the embedded video.

Evening Grosbeaks are avian firecrackers. Everyone notices them, and most people adore them. They are colorful, noisy, gregarious, and conspicuous. When they’re around, you know it. Their brash behavior is winning rather than wearing, except perhaps for the inflated sunflower seed bill that often accompanies their visits. Most of us would gladly pay the price for such scintillating company.

This species is an excellent choice for the ABA to spotlight for many reasons: its disconcerting decline in various regions; its beauty; its embodiment of both the exotic and the familiar; and its great appeal to both neophyte and veteran birders. We at the ABA have been drawn most
to the Evening Grosbeak because of its ability to generate excitement and spark new birders.

There’s something else. The more we thought about Evening Grosbeaks, the more we realized the species is a fitting totem for the ABA we are working to create. The ABA Bird of the Year program is all about birders being more conspicuous, and drawing attention to the excitement of birding and the fellowship of birders.

ABA members enjoy acting as leaders of the flock, sounding the cries that bring our community together, making it bigger, stronger, and more effective. We believe Evening Grosbeaks are perfect emblems for the ABA in 2012.

Evening Grosbeaks are featured on the cover of the March 2012 issue of Birding, the flagship publication of the ABA. The amazing artwork is by author, naturalist, musician, and artist Julie Zickefoose. Her artwork is also featured on the official 2012 Bird of the Year logo, which you will see in the form of stickers on binoculars of enthusiastic ABA members and as a badge on websites and blogs of ABA supporters.

For interesting facts about Evening Grosbeaks and a list of activities, please visit the 2012 Bird of the Year website.

We invite everyone interested in birds, nature, and wildlife to come celebrate the Evening Grosbeak with us. Please join the American Birding Association. Contact: Robert Mortensen – ABA Bird of the Year Coordinator boy@aba.org 801-390-7555

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One of our Bird Canada contributors posts about birds in the boreal forest. Janet Plante gets to live with these large, vocal finches year round. Here are just a few of her photos.

* George C. Reifel Bird Sanctuary, Vancouver , British Columbia . An area of coastal marsh where more than 240 species have been spotted, and where up to 80,000 Snow geese spend the winter. Other notable species include the Saw-Whet owl, Ospreys, large numbers of Western sandpipers, Red throated Loons, Golden Eagles and Sandhill cranes.

* Churchill, Manitoba. Unique opportunity to see some Arctic specialities including the rare Ross’ Gull, Three-toed Woodpecker and Smith’s Longspur.

* Point Pelee and Long Point, Ontario. Jutting into Lake Erie from its northwest shore, Point Pelee and Long Point are two of North America ‘s primary bird migratory locations. Each spring and fall thousands of migrants pass along these two headlands and over 350 species are recorded annually.

* Niagara Falls (surprisingly), Ontario. The Niagara River and falls are acknowledged as one of the best places to watch gulls in the fall and winter. Up to 19 species have been recorded here.

* The Gaspe Peninsula, Quebec. Noted as a shelter for many duck species, migrant birds and other rare creatures including lynx and Snowshoe hares.

* Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba has many easy to reach birding sites. Species include Broadwinged and Cooper’s hawks, eagles, geese, ducks and Black-billed cuckoo.

* Machais Seal Island and Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick. Located in the lower Bay of Fundy this area boasts hundreds of species including cranes, herons, eagles, puffins and terns.

* Witless Bay Ecological Reserve and Cape St. Mary’s Ecological Reserve, Newfoundland. Largest Atlantic Puffin colony in North America and the second largest colony of Leach’s Petrels in the world.

* The Cabot Trail, Nova Scotia. Lots of nesting boreal birds and if the wind is blowing in the right direction, sea bird viewing can be excellent with Puffins, Razorbills, Black Legged Kittiwakes and Ruddy Turnstones all present in summer.

* Beaverhill Lake, Alberta. At the intersection of two ‘flyways’, this area is ‘alive’ with birds during migration. Of special note are the 100,000+ Snow Geese that pass through in spring and fall, along with Sandhill cranes and trumpeter swans.

Source: http://www.wildlifeextra.com

The variety within the different species of birds we see in our neck of the woods never ceases to amaze me. Take woodpeckers for instance. We regularly see Downys which is wonderful; however their larger cousins the Hairy Woodpeckers are not quite as welcome as they use our cedar house as part of their search for food. It is sometimes hard to tell the difference between the two but the Downy is smaller 15-18 cm (6 to 7 inches) and has a smaller beak, while the Hairy is 19-24 cm (7 ½ to 9 ½ inches).

It is a much rarer occurrence when we see the Pileated Woodpecker but it still happens on occasion. Because a pair of breeding Pileated Woodpeckers generally requires more than 40 hectares (almost 100 acres) of mature forest to forage, our sightings are uncommon. I was quite excited when I saw this one and immediately grabbed my camera and ran outside in sock feet. These are pretty large birds 41-48 cm (16 to 19 inches) and it was thrilling to see one so close.

Another visitor that we have mixed feelings about is the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Not nearly as big at 18-20 cm (7 to 8 inches) they are impressive none the less. They too believe that good things come from pecking away at the cedar on our house. Obviously they haven’t yet discovered the absence of sap required to trap the insects they are mining for.

The one woodpecker that is the most welcome at our place is the Northern Flicker. These birds spend most of their time on the ground feeding on ants and other insects. Our ant population is more than enough to attract and maintain a large number of Northern Flickers so we would like to see more of them. We host two forms of the Northern Flicker in Alberta but the one we have up here is the Yellow-shafted Flicker.

Living so close to the Boreal Forest Janet has an opportunity to photograph a variety of different bird species but this is not her only passion. Check out Janet’s Inspirational Pictures & Quotes to see more of her photography.

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