During the heat of the summer, a common pastime for community members looking to cool off is to take to the beautiful Roseau River that runs through the tall-grass prairie natural area. While gliding down the river on a canoe, raft, or tube, you’ll be rewarded with a diverse landscape and views of the wildlife that call the river home. One of the most impressive displays on the river is watching a colony of bank swallows as they tirelessly swoop in and out of their burrows. As a birding enthusiast, it is an event I marvel at every time I witness it.

The bank swallow is Manitoba’s smallest swallow, between the size of a sparrow and a robin. They have grey to brown upperparts (back and back of the head) and a more lightly coloured breast with an obvious dark collar. In flight, the bank swallow has a somewhat erratic flight pattern.

Bank swallows are often found near water sources such as rivers, marshes, or ponds, where they nest in cavities in the banks. In more recent times, they have been making use of man-made gravel piles or road cutoffs to nest in as well. The male will create the cavity by digging a hole using his beak, feet, and even wings. The females will watch the males hard at work and use this as an indicator of which male to breed with. Once a male and cavity are chosen, the female will construct the nest using various vegetative materials.

Bank swallow nest in colonies, and if you have been fortunate enough to see one, you would agree that they can be very impressive. Bank swallows will nest in groups of anywhere from ten individuals to many thousands! Watching these colonies is mesmerizing, as you see the swallows darting around in and out of the cavities, completing their daily routines.

Witnessing the natural phenomenon of a bank swallow colony is something that has become increasingly rare to see over the last half of a century. It is estimated that Canadian bank swallow populations have declined by as much as 98%! Although it is hard to pinpoint exact causes of the drastic decline, it is thought that threats such as habitat changes in nesting, migration, and overwintering sites have key influences on the health of the population.

The bank swallow will not disappear completely any time soon since they can be found on every continent except for Australia and Antarctica and have a population in the tens of millions; however, this is somewhat of a false comfort. I would hope that we have learned from the history of species such as the passenger pigeon that big changes can happen very quickly, and if the behaviours that are causing these changes do not get altered, then history will repeat itself. Through decades-long surveys, it is known that bank swallow populations are in steep decline, and it is up to us to aid in the recovery of this species at risk. I want to admire these charismatic birds as I drift down the Roseau River for many hot summer days to come.

For bird-watching enthusiasts, there is no better month to spend outside than May. The spring migration brings hundreds of species to Manitoba, with millions of birds either passing through on their way north or settling down in their chosen corner of Manitoban prairie, wetlands, or forest to carve out a nesting area. The Canada warbler is one of many species that chooses to spend its summer in southeastern Manitoba, and if you are lucky enough to see one hopping throughout the foliage, it can be a highlight of a birding season.

You don’t have to be a bird watcher to appreciate the beauty of a Canada warbler. The bright yellow plumage throughout the breast and onto the neck pairs well with the mottled black necklace and slate grey back. Although this is most noticeable in breeding males, females and juveniles will have a similar appearance. There are many different species in the warbler family throughout Manitoba, so making a proper identification can be tricky. I find warblers to be very active birds, never staying still for very long, which I think adds to the fun of watching them.

If you have your heart set on trying to find a Canada warbler over the next few months, then you should focus your search on their preferred habitat. Canada warblers prefer mixed woodlands with a dense understory and an abundance of insect prey. Survey the understory for quick movements and get familiar with the call of the Canada warbler, as learning bird calls can really aid in making a proper identification.

Ironically, the Canada warbler doesn’t spend a whole lot of time in Canada compared to other species of birds that nest here. They are generally some of the last birds to appear and the first to leave. Perhaps they received the name “Canada” due to having eighty percent of their breeding range in Canada.

The Canada warbler migration route can take them as far south as the Andes Mountain range in South America, where they spend their winters on the forested slopes. A threat the Canada warbler is dealing with is the rapid deforestation on this overwintering ground. As a long-distance migrator, there are many obstacles to avoid, such as predation and striking man-made objects like buildings and vehicles, and there is always the chance to have to deal with inclement weather conditions.

When we welcome back migratory birds to the tall-grass prairie, it can be easy to forget the incredible journey a species like the Canada warbler undertakes. They are a species to admire and to enjoy spending time with year after year. Canada warblers add a bright spot to the landscape and are a species at risk that I hope you get the opportunity to get to know.

Adventures with Nature Norm

Celebrate World Migratory Bird Day with Nature Norm! Join me for a morning of birdwatching on May 11th, with two departures at 8 a.m.–10 a.m. and 10 a.m.–12 p.m., starting at the Agassiz Interpretive Trail 7 km west of Vita off Highway 201. Whether you are an avid bird watcher or a beginner, please join us to learn about all the new migrants seen on the trip, with a focus on the species at risk in the tall-grass prairie. Please contact Norm at info@sharedlegacymb.ca for more details. I hope to see you there!

This program has been sponsored by Southern Health-Sante Sud Public Health, Healthy Living and Healthy Together Now funding.

This program has been sponsored by Southern Health-Sante Sud Public Health, Healthy Living and Healthy Together Now funding.

With April bringing warmer weather, we are starting to see the first signs of spring. Some of the biggest changes we notice in the tall-grass prairie are with the arrival of various bird species. They are starting to fly north to find breeding and nesting areas, and many choose southeastern Manitoba to do so. Although some species of birds are a common sight, we are lucky to live in an area that plays host to some more elusive birds, such as the least bittern.

The least bittern is North America’s smallest member of the heron family, with a wingspan of 45 cm and a weight of only eighty grams. The least bittern has a dark crown extending along its back, a warm brown tail, and pale underparts with pale brown stripes. Breeding males appear darker on the upperparts. As with all herons, least bitterns have a hunched appearance, long legs, and a long, pointed yellow bill.

Least bitterns are found in swamps, marshes, and small bodies of water where aquatic food sources are plentiful and dense vegetation grows. Least bittern uses vegetation such as reeds and cattails to hide amongst when threatened. When alarmed, this small heron will point its beak up in the air and sway back and forth, mimicking the dense vegetation around it as it blows in the wind.

When you combine this unique camouflage technique with the fact that the least bittern is very shy, it is no wonder they are seldom seen. The main reason that the least bittern is seldom seen in our area is likely due to a very small population. Although it can be hard to estimate populations, it is thought that there are only a few thousand least bitterns throughout Canada.

Being an elusive bird with a small Canadian population, there is much that we don’t know about the least bittern. Most naturalists think that if a body of water can provide a suitable place for the least bittern to nest and raise a brood, then it is most likely a healthy body of water. This sort of species can be known as an indicator species.

When we don’t see a species regularly, it can cause us to forget the importance that the species may have throughout its ecosystem. It is important to keep the biodiversity of an ecosystem high. The least bittern is part of that diversity.

Adventures with Nature Norm

The Shared Legacy Partnership, with sponsorship from Southern Health, is leading a new monthly program, “Adventures with Nature Norm.” Hosted by yours truly, the point of the program is to get more community members outdoors and involved in nature. Free binoculars and walking poles are provided. The first day out will be Saturday, April 20th, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Agassiz Trail seven kilometers west of Vita. Each walk will have a theme; for the inaugural walk, we are “welcoming back spring,”.

For more information on least bittern and Adventures with Nature Norm events in the tall-grass prairie natural area, please visit www.sharedlegacymb.ca or contact me at info@sharedlegacymb.ca.

In the tall-grass prairie, there is no other species at risk that we live more closely with than the barn swallow. It is fairly common in a rural setting to have a pair of barn swallows nesting in your yard and even to watch them raise their young throughout the summer. So, when people find out that barn swallows are a species at risk, they are usually surprised. Although populations across Canada number in the millions and in some areas are considered stable, there is some concern that if long-term threats worsen, barn swallow numbers may become unstable.

Barn swallows are fairly easy to distinguish from other swallows in the area. They are larger than a sparrow in size with a deeply forked tail, which shows white markings in flight. Barn swallows have metallic blue upperparts with light to rust-coloured underparts rising to a darker rusty throat patch stretching onto the forehead.

Barn swallows are the most widespread swallows in the world. They can be found on every continent but Antarctica. Due to this geographical distribution, their habitat may vary, although there are some key preferences. Barn swallows prefer to live in grasslands, wetlands, and agricultural lands that hold an abundance of insect prey. They are an adaptable bird, switching from nesting in caves and crevices to nesting in man-made structures such as under the eaves of buildings, especially older agricultural buildings.

I enjoy having barn swallows’ nest in my yard, as I find them very entertaining to watch as they hunt nuisance insects in the yard. To some, the nest can be unaesthetically pleasing, especially as the young are being fledged. Although it may be easier to knock down a nest, I urge homeowners to leave nests be. You may consider building a shelf under the nest or even buying nest boxes to allow the swallows into areas that you would rather them be in. It should be noted that under the Migratory Birds Convention Act, barn swallows, their eggs, and nests are all protected.

In the last five decades, barn swallow populations have had an approximate decline of almost 69% across Canada, according to Breeding Bird Survey data. The biggest declines were from a period of about two decades beginning in the mid-1980s. However, over the last decade, population trends have stabilized. It should be noted that population trends vary widely across Canada; for example, in the barn swallows more eastern range, trends suggest a greater population decline compared to prairie populations.

With such a broad range, more research is needed to get a better understanding of the threats that affect the barn swallow population. Habitat loss, prey decrease, and commercial development could all negatively affect barn swallow. As a species that has a substantial migration, sometimes flying as far as South America, the barn swallow faces many challenges on the journey and on their wintering grounds.

Although the first barn swallows are still a few months away from appearing, I always look forward to welcoming them back. To me, they have become a part of day-to-day summer living in the tall-grass prairie. They are a species that add to the greatness of living here.

Snowshoe Tour in the Tall-grass Prairie!

Have you ever wanted to try snowshoeing, or have you wondered what happens to all the tall-grass prairie species during our harsh winters? Join me on a free, guided snowshoe tour on February 17th from 10 am to 12 pm. Snowshoes are provided. Please contact me at info@sharedlegacymb.ca for more information.

Something that I appreciate more every day that I spend time in the tall-grass prairie natural area is the diversity of wildlife that we share the landscape with. We can sometimes grow accustomed to some of the wildlife that we see day to day, but every once in awhile we come across something that we haven’t seen before or even know lives here.

When I talk to community members about the yellow rail, almost all say that they had no idea that this species existed. There are a few reasons for this lack of knowledge on yellow rail, including being more active at night, rarely flushing during daylight hours, great camouflage, and living in a really hard-to-reach habitat.

Yellow rail are very seldom seen; more often, they are heard making a distinct “click-click” call that sounds as if two small stones are being tapped together. The yellow rail is comparable in size to a robin, with mottled, yellow, and brown plumage. The underparts and face are lighter yellow, and the stubby bill is a more noticeable yellow in breeding males. Yellow rail have a shape similar to that of a chicken, with proportionately long legs and a short head and neck.

Yellow rail live in shallow wetland habitats such as wet grasslands and sedge meadows. Changes to hydrology, such as draining of wetlands or damming, have big impacts on yellow rail as they do not tolerate higher water levels.

Yellow rail rely on wetlands for both feeding and nesting. They will be feeding on invertebrates such as aquatic insects and snails. They will also eat seeds from various marsh plants. The nest is usually built in raised areas just on the outskirts or even in the wetland habitat. Both sexes help to build a small ground nest made up of various sedges and other marsh plant material. On average, six to ten eggs are laid, and when they hatch, the young leave the nest, usually within a day or two, and use a separate nest for brooding constructed by the parents. Short grasses, or sedges, are needed to camouflage from potential predators.

Being such a secretive species, the yellow rail is a hard bird to study. It is thought that they have a small breeding population throughout Canada and that populations are in decline due to many factors, a major one being habitat loss. Even though yellow rail may not be a species that we see on a regular basis, it is still important that we work towards keeping them from disappearing. By having a healthy wetland habitat for yellow rail, we in turn provide many benefits for ourselves, including having a natural pollution filtration system. This then provides better habitat for countless other species found in our area, which in turn gives back to the ecosystem in many different ways.

You may not have known that we live among species like the yellow rail, but going forward, I hope we can work towards sustaining the population we do have and, in turn, be good stewards for the place we all call home.

If you have any questions about yellow rail, please contact me at info@sharedlegacymb.ca.

When I talk to community members about the unique species we live amongst in the tall-grass prairie natural area, there are usually comments on the amount of bird diversity we have. Fourteen of the twenty-eight species at risk in the tall-grass prairie are birds, and they range in many ways, including appearance, habitat preference, and how likely you are to be able to observe them on a day-to-day basis. A bird that you may have seen but were not sure what it was is the common nighthawk.

When folks see the two members of the nightjar family in our area, the eastern whip-poor-will and the common nighthawk, they are surprised to learn that these two birds are two separate species. There are a few ways to correctly identify the two nightjars. Most nightjars are nocturnal, whereas the common nighthawk is crepuscular, meaning it is most active at dawn and dusk. If you have seen a nightjar while there is daylight, what you have thought to be the more well-known nightjar, the eastern whip-poor-will, is most likely a common nighthawk. Other features to look out for are the white bars on the wings, forked tail, and a distinct “peent” call. The eastern whip-poor-will’s call is its unmistakable namesake. The common nighthawk is a medium-sized bird that is well camouflaged due to its grey and brown mottled plumage.

Common nighthawks prefer open areas near mixed woodlands but can adapt to urban habitats. They will hunt around artificial light when it is available. As an insectivore, healthy insect populations are critical. The common nighthawk has even picked up the nickname “mosquito hawk” due to their ability to eat over five hundred mosquitoes and various other insects in a single night.

I cannot say that I love the name common nighthawk. We have already learned that they are crepuscular, so “night” does not really fit. And how common are they? Well, the population seems fairly high throughout Canada, with two hundred seventy thousand breeding adults, according to the Boreal Avian Modelling Project. These numbers can be seen as unreliable due to the common nighthawk’s inactivity during the day, paired with their great camouflage making it hard to conduct surveys on them. What is concerning is that we do know that, like most aerial insectivores (birds that eat insects on the wing), populations are declining, and in the case of the common nighthawk, declining quite steeply at over one percent population decline per year. It would be a real shame for such a unique bird to disappear from the tall-grass prairie natural area. A great way for community members to help the common nighthawk is to take part in Birds Canada’s Canadian Nightjar Survey. By volunteering only a few hours of your time per year, you can provide some very useful data regarding nightjar population trends. For more information on these surveys or to learn more about the common nighthawk, please connect with me at info@sharedlegacymb.ca

Over time, many avid birdwatchers develop favorite species to track down and spend time with. Although you may think it is easiest to be attracted to some of the many colourful species we have in the tall-grass prairie, I find that I enjoy a bird that has character. You may ask, “How can one bird have more character than the next?” I think if you spend some time watching members of the flycatcher family, you will understand what I mean. They tirelessly work, catching insects one after the next, often using a rural backyard as hunting grounds. They are like sentinels on their perch until they make that quick movement towards their prey. They may not be flashy, but they are entertaining to watch! If you are a flycatcher fanatic like I am, over the years you may have noticed a decline in sightings. Indeed, some species population numbers have been declining, including the olive-sided flycatcher, which is now designated a species at risk.

The olive-sided flycatcher is a medium-sized bird, dark grey in colour with sooty flanks and a contrasting white strip down the breast and on the throat. The bill is large, and the plumage on the rear of the head is peaked. In Manitoba, our flycatchers have the same general look to them, so using other variables can help to differentiate one species from the other. One thing to consider is where the flycatcher is perching. If it is on a high, conspicuous perch, like the top of a tree in an open area, that could be a sign that it is olive-sided. Another way to distinguish this species from other flycatchers is by their distinct call, which has been said to sound like “quick, three beers.”

Olive-sided flycatchers tend to breed in patchy networks of conifer woods in openings or on edges in meadows, muskegs, and waterways, as well as those created by partial logging and natural wildfires. Fires also leave behind dead standing trees, which are ideal for olive-sided flycatchers to use not only as hunting platforms but also as singing perches. This vocalization is crucial, especially for the males, as it helps identify their home territory to competing flycatchers. Each home territory can be over one hundred acres in size! The olive-sided flycatcher constructs nests on conifer trees, sometimes using a dead or burned tree. Nests are usually built towards the end of a limb and constructed of a mixture of twigs, grasses, and lichens. When the eggs hatch (usually three to four), the parents will stay with the young until migration. The olive-sided has the longest migration of any Canadian flycatcher and can overwinter as far south as Brazil.

What I love most about flycatchers is watching them hunt insects. Sadly, the drop in insect numbers is arguably the biggest reason for declining flycatcher populations. It is estimated by the North America Breeding Bird Survey that in the last five-plus decades we have seen a decline of over eighty percent in the olive-sided flycatcher population. Habitat loss on wintering and breeding grounds also plays a role in the declining population.

It is important to take note of these changes in the natural world around us and ask ourselves if we want to aid recovery efforts or let these species disappear. If you are interested in learning how you can help species at risk in our community, please contact me at info@sharedlegacymb.ca.

As summer nears its end on the tall-grass prairie, we begin to slowly notice changes in the surrounding environment. The weather cools and the colours in our trees and grasses begin to change shades, and if you pay attention to the sky, there is a noticeable increase in bird movement. In our area, the most noticeable flying migrants may be the Canada geese or sandhill cranes, but there are dozens of smaller species flying south every day. The golden-winged warbler is one of these many migrants that may be hard to spot, but if you are lucky enough to see this showy songbird, it could be a highlight of your autumn birding season!

There are many species of warblers in Manitoba, so correctly identifying them can take some practice. Compared to other Manitoban warblers, the golden-winged has gold wing patches and a golden crown, the latter of which is most distinguishable in males. Both sexes are grey in colour and have long tails, slender bodies, and pointed bills. Males have a distinct black bib on their throat and a black eye patch, while the throat and eye patch of females appear lighter in colour.

The process of identifying the golden-winged warbler can be further confused as they do interbreed with another species, the closely named blue-winged warbler, and give birth to hybridized offspring. These offspring, named Lawrence’s warbler and Brewster’s warbler, were thought to be completely separate species until relatively recently. This interbreeding of the golden-winged and blue-winged is a major reason why, over the last few decades, the golden-winged warbler’s Canadian population has decreased by approximately eighty percent! The blue-winged warbler’s historic breeding range is more southerly compared to the golden-winged; however, over the years, they have slowly made their way north. Interestingly enough, it is thought that the Manitoban population of golden-winged warblers is the most genetically pure in the world.

Habitat loss, prey insect decline, and direct competition for resources from blue-winged warblers also play a part in the declining golden-winged warbler population. Important to note is that where brown-headed cowbirds are present, they may parasitize up to one-third of the local golden-winged warbler nests. The female brown-headed cowbird will observe nests in the area and will sneak in and lay an egg when the occupants are away. They lay a single egg in dozens of nests throughout the summer and are not picky when it comes to what species of bird will play host to their young. The brown-headed cowbird egg hatches quickly, and the chick grows rapidly and will outcompete the other chicks for food that is brought to the nest by the parents. This is a clever strategy for the brown-headed cowbird, with unfortunate outcomes for the host species, including the golden-winged warbler.

The golden-winged warbler tends to nest near or on the ground in openings on the edge of forests. This transitional zone is usually in the first stages of regeneration. In well-concealed nests, generally three to six eggs are laid and only take a week and a half to hatch. After the nesting period, the family will move into more mature forests.

The golden-winged warbler is a species that many of us are not familiar with and may not have had many encounters with, but it is still an important part of our ecosystem. They may have some factors working against them, but I am hopeful that they will continue to be seen in the tall-grass prairie for years to come. For further information, please contact me at info@sharedlegacymb.ca.