Grey-Bruce and Manitoulin: The Buffet is Open

  Grey-Bruce | May 11, 2012

The past month has seen huge changes in the wildlife present on the Peninsula and Manitoulin. First, the insects came – in particular, 2012 has seen what experts are calling an ‘invasion’ of Red Admiral butterflies in Ontario (see this article for more info). I’ve noticed how numerous and visible Red Admirals have been on local roads here in Grey-Bruce, but they’re not the only insect making its presence known – the blackflies and mosquitoes are definitely showing up at dusk, and caterpillar nests seem to be in every other tree.

Insects aren’t my favourite group of animals, but I’m happy they’re here, because it means the birds that eat them aren’t far behind. It seems like all of the long-distance migrants arrived overnight – just this morning, I saw an Upland Sandpiper, probably tired after a long commute from South America. Goldfinches, Eastern Kingbirds, and Bobolinks have popped up recently as well.

This recent influx of migrants may have brought with it some shrikes: in the past week, sightings have been reported on both the west and east coasts of the Peninsula. Going out to survey for shrikes has become more of a challenge, as there are so many distractions now: birds singing, trees with buds on them, grasses beginning to get taller, and flowers blooming.

 

Surveying near Kemble, ON

I’m amazed at how far birds, butterflies, bats, and many other animals migrate in order to get here every spring. It’s a powerful indicator of how resource-rich Grey-Bruce and Manitoulin are at this time of year – the plant and insect life here are kind of like an all-you-can-eat buffet that provide all kinds of animals with the energy needed for a successful breeding season. This year’s bumper crop of butterflies and other insects will benefit shrikes, providing food for nestlings as well as keeping adults in good condition.

And yes, it is that time of year again: I see young calves everywhere, swallows and bluebirds fighting over nest-boxes, and sparrows and meadowlarks singing to woo potential mates. Now the real work begins, right?

Young cows a.k.a. the three stooges near Arran, ON

Tree swallow claiming a nest box, Springmount, ON

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Creating Cosy Burrows for Owls

  Burrowing Owl Recovery Team | May 8, 2012

Burrowing owls lay their eggs in abandoned prairie dog and ground squirrel burrows throughout the prairies. In British Columbia, the Burrowing Owl Team has constructed artificial nest boxes to keep the owls and their offspring safe from predators. But, all good things come to an end and many of the nesting boxes at the Burrowing Owl Port Kells enclosure have come to the end of their useful life. Damp conditions have caused the box bottoms to decay and the owls are burrowing through the rotten wood into the soil underneath. When Megan and I bought our home, the entire kitchen had been panelled in tongue-and-groove cedar. That was the first room to be renovated but being a packrat, I refused to trash the cedar and stored it for future use.

More than 25 years later, in the first weeks of March this year I began to construct new nest boxes from the recycled wood. Each tongue-and-groove joint was caulked, panels were connected with counter-sunk screws and new 12x12x16 inch boxes were manufactured. By March 17, I had constructed five boxes, and after consulting with Monika Tolksdorf and Rosemarie Tirshman decided that the best use for three of the boxes would be in breeding pens five, six and seven which have only exterior nesting boxes and those had seen better
days.To ensure that the boxes might have a chance to survive the damp conditions at Port Kells, I filled the bottom of each excavation with drainage rock. In addition the bottom of each box was wrapped in vapour-barrier sheeting. During the next week I constructed a sixth nest box and on March 24 with the help of Rosemarie and Megan Stuart-Stubbs I replaced the triple box at the southern end of the west flyway. More boxes need to be replaced at Port Kells, but I am happy to report that breeding pairs in pens five and six have seen fit to lay eggs in the new boxes.  — Nick Murphy

 

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Spotted Frog Tadpoles

  Oregon Spotted Frog Program | May 7, 2012

I am progressing on rearing the tadpoles that were laid in captivity this year. I am comparing different genetic lines to ensure that the hybridization of two different populations produces fit individuals as was predicted from the genetic work done by the recovery team. I have also had the opportunity to speak at one of the local elementary schools about amphibian conservation as part of their Earth Week program. I was surprised when a grad 4 student knew what a herpetologist is!

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Love is in the Air in Carden

  Carden | May 4, 2012

Greetings from the Carden Captive Breeding Site.

  It was an exciting day for the Carden Crew when the Shrikes arrived to the site April 24th 2012. Unfortunately it was not the most pleasant day for birds to arrive as it was miserable weather, consisting of snow and rain. The birds all settled in nicely and spent the rest of the day trying to keep dry and warm by hiding out under the covered section of the enclosure.

The birds wasted no time the following day, and some of the birds began demonstrating courtship behaviors. The males began passing crickets, mealworms, and nesting material through the mesh of the shared wall to the female on the other side. Once courtship behavior was observed by the Carden staff, it was time to introduce the pair. The following day the door separating the pair was opened and the birds were now given access to each other and the entire enclosure. The birds got busy making their nests together using grass, twigs and the animal fur which we supplied.

Since the females don’t get much say in which male they are paired with, they were eager to determine just how “suitable” their arranged partner was. The females took the opportunity to “test out” their new male partners in order to determine how attentive they will be later on in the season while she is nesting; as it is the male’s responsibility to feed the female while she incubates her eggs. The females practiced their begging call for their male partner to bring them food and some of the males were faster and more obedient then others.

 To date there are two males from the captive population who have yet to courtship feed their females. One of the pairs is an older couple, and has bred together in the past. This particular male doesn’t seem to think it is necessary to “flirt” with his partner any more. This pair has been introduced and has begun to make their nest together, however the romance in their relationship has been lost. There is another pair which has not begun nest building yet but the female is very young and slightly on the shy side so I am convinced they will pull through and begin to show breeding behavior soon enough. All of the other pairs are in the process of nest building or laying eggs. We will be monitoring the pair closely during the egg incubation period and will be able to determine the clutch size before long.
Natalie Lazure, ELOSH Captive Technician

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Let the Turtle Games Begin!

  turtles | April 27, 2012

WPC Freshwater Turtle Project 2012

The first hoop traps have been set. The first site has been surveyed. The first frogs calls have been heard. But there is tension in the air…

Turtlers Jonny and Ashley have tuned in to their inner competitive streak, and it is not pretty. Within 36 hours upon entering the trailer, almost everything has turned into a competition. Who will catch the most turtles? Who will collect the most nests? Who will find the most ticks crawling on their bodies? All will be recorded. All will be tallied. The Turtle Games are on!

 

 

Jonathan Choquette

Jonny graduated with a B.Sc. in Biology (2007) and a Masters in Landscape     Architecture (2011) both from the University of Guelph.  His MLA thesis was focused identifying habitat corridors for Massasauga Rattlesnakes in a fragmented landscape.  Jonathan has conducted herpetofauna surveys for endangered reptiles across southern Ontario and has worked on COSEWIC Status Reports on the Butler’s Gartersnake, the Massasauga Rattlesnake and the Milksnake. His interests include urban herpetology, landscape ecology and conservation biology. His overarching goal is to combine his training in landscape architecture and biology to design landscapes where our herpetofauna populations are restored and reconnected.

 

 

Ashley Leifso

Ashley holds a Masters in Biology from the University of Guelph. She is interested in conservation biology and loves working with wildlife.

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Have you Heard a Hoot?

  Burrowing Owl Recovery Team | April 24, 2012
    Wildlife Preservation Canada’s partners at the Burrowing Owl Conservation Society give us a rare opportunity to listen to the burrowing owls calls.

Vocalization

Burrowing Owls make a wide range of calls. The main call is a soft “who who” sound usually given at the burrow entrance. Males use this main call for attracting females to the burrow. The sound is also associated with breeding and identifiying the territory of a pair.

Over 17 calls have been identified, including “rasp,” “chuck,” and “chatter.” They also have unique alarm calls. Adults will emit a piercing scream but juveniles give a rattlesnake like “buzz” when threatened in the burrow.

Young owls in the burrow sound like a rattlesnake

At the burrow entrance, the adult male will warn off intruders with series of chucking sounds, accompanied by head bobbing. Other defensive posturing includes dropping the head and body, spreading the wings up and out, while making a hissing sound.

~ Thanks to the Burrowing Owl Society of British Columbia ~

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Much Ado About Shrikes

  Napanee | April 20, 2012

Good day WPC blog followers!

 

Eastern Loggerhead Shrike 2012 by N Cairns

Greetings from the Napanee Shrike Team.  The Napanee area shrikes are back and courtship is underway.  Female shrikes have been busy performing begging calls this week, and the males have been responding with tireless courtship feeding.  Tips from bird enthusiasts and landowners have kept us busy on the road, monitoring shrike activity and potential habitat.  So far we’ve found 4 pairs, 1 spare (associated with a pair), 2 singles on sites active last year that we hope may turn into pairs, and 2 mystery birds we suspect may have been Northern Shrikes migrating through.  The early return of Loggerheads this year has created an unusual amount of overlap between the ranges of the two species – normally, most Northerns would have left their wintering ranges before the Loggerhead return to those areas for breeding.

 

Roadside Monitoring 2012

The shrikes have been very cooperative with the Napanee Team this year, allowing us glimpses of their legs and feet as we set up our scopes.  We have identified most of the birds as banded returnees, including a female banded in 2008 and a captive bred bird released from Carden or Dyer’s Bay in 2006! This is the first return of a captive bred shrike in the Napanee area. Captive bred birds were only banded with one colour band and a stainless steel band prior to 2009, so we only know that she is captive bred, but we don’t know from where – we hope to trap her after she has hatched nestlings and determine where she originated from. She has paired with a wild mate but as of yet have not started nest building. In 2008, shrikes were banded with only a single stainless steel band – we also hope to retrap this and discover her origin later this summer. The presence birds that have bred for several seasons is encouraging, but the lack of unbanded, and possibly Second Year birds (i.e. in their first breeding season) is not.

 

As always, the shrikes are showing very interesting distribution, reusing sites that were used in previous years, but not necessary by the same birds!  We are also continuing to see “clumping”, where different shrike pairs, spares or singles are found near to other shrikes.  This community effect may facilitate the ‘sharing’ of social information such as breeding success, which may explain the high site re-use rates by different birds between seasons.

 

Other interesting species we’ve seen present at active shrike sites include, but are not limited to:

  • Eastern Meadowlarks
  • Upland Sandpipers
  • Tree Swallows
  • Kestrels Kestrels and more Kestrels!
  • Northern Harriers
  • Killdeers
  • Chorus Frogs
  • Eastern Towhee
  • Eastern Phoebe

 

Loggerhead Shrike in flight 2012 N Cairns

A special thanks to our volunteers and friends who have helped us locate shrikes and who have provided their identification skills to help solve matters of NSHR vs LOSH.  As always, feel free to pass on the link to this blog, and to call the Shrike Hotline at 1-800-956-6608 if you have shrike sightings to report!

Sincerely,

The Napanee Shrike Team

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Grey-Bruce and Manitoulin: Shrikes Wanted

  Grey-Bruce | April 16, 2012

For me, the 2012 field season has kicked off to a promising start: I saw a shrike on my first day of solo surveys! This was followed by a report of a shrike sighting from a local birder, several days of sunny weather, and great interactions with a number of local landowners and interested members of the public.

As a relative foreigner to this area, I have been consistently wowed by the beautiful geography and diverse wildlife. The big sky and lakes hidden around every corner have made a strong impression on me – this foggy morning at Crane Lake is just one of many gorgeous landscapes I’ve seen.

Foggy Morning at Crane Lake

In the course of my early-morning quests for shrikes, I’ve also gotten my first look at several species of birds – Sandhill cranes and Eastern meadowlarks are the most visible (and audible). And the birds seem to be everywhere – golf courses, roadsides, even the airport!

Sandhill Cranes near Tara

Above: Sandhill cranes in a field near Tara, ON

Below: Killdeer at the Manitoulin Airport

Killdeer at the Manitoulin Airport

Another thing that’s been great has been the unfailingly helpful people I’ve encountered on my rounds. As I remarked to a local, you can’t leave your car on the road for longer than 45 minutes without someone stopping by to ask if everything’s ok. You don’t see that kind of chronic helpfulness very often.

Since my car has BC license plates, it seems like a lot of conversations start out with a question about why I’m here, and end up with me handing over fact sheets, newsletters, and business cards – at the oil change place, the Owen Sound Y, and the parking lot at the Gore Bay Marina, to name but a few. Everyone I meet has a friend or family member who’s a birder or who owns land here – and I think getting the word out about eastern loggerhead shrike on the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin will be key to success this season. Even if it means I’m handing out shrike information in every parking lot from Chatsworth to Little Current. Keep your eyes peeled!

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Oregon Spotted Frog Producing Masses of Eggs

  Oregon Spotted Frog Program | April 16, 2012

Just a quick update on what is going on with the Oregon spotted frog program this year so far. I am prepping the enclosures to receive eggs from the captive breeding program on Wednesday. We currently have two genetic classes that we are breeding in captivity; a Mariah/Mariah class, and a Mariah/Mountian class (being different populations). This year in the captive program we are going to be assessing the development of the pure vs the crossed strain and making sure that their development is similar and within the same variation as wild tadpoles. This will be a very interesting comparison as we have had genetic work done to suggest that mixing of populations should proceed, and hopefully we will be able to see support for this throughout tadpole development.

We have frogs from the captive program breeding and producing 16+ egg masses in captivity this year which is amazing.  We have also had captive frogs in enclosures in the wild that have been breeding and producing a few egg masses as well.  When I separated these animals and transported them to the field they were already in amplexus and calling while in buckets in my car…love was in the air!

I have also been treating approx 100 juveniles from 2011 for chytrid.  These individuals had chytrid going into the winter however they were on the cusp of morphing (a very stressful time) and we decided the stress of treatment would likely cause more damage than the disease. Because of this we decided to wait and give them a chance to morph and grow strong before treatment. So far the treatment is going well and hopefully it clears the disease as it has in the past.

We are going to be releasing egg masses (from captive breeding) to a historical site this coming week as well as a constructed/reclaimed site, which is very exciting. I am also gearing up for a presentation to 5 classes of 4/5th graders at the end of April for earth week and a presentation to the ecology students at University of the Fraser Valley.

Andrea Gielens

Oregon Spotted Frog Biologist

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The Not So Frozen North

  Carden | April 16, 2012

After arriving in Ontario from the States, I’ve experienced a broad range of weather conditions but a great deal of uncommonly, unexpectedly sunny days. This has made early morning bird watching even more enjoyable. The icing on the cake has been finding shrikes, and more shrikes than I anticipated. In singles and pairs the birds are here and it has been incredible to watch them as they prepare for the breeding season defending territories, exhibiting courtship behavior, and even nest building.

In addition to shrikes, I have seen the most incredible amount of turkeys. I’ve seen more turkeys in the last week than I’ve seen in my entire life. The best part of seeing turkeys is observing them out in groups, tails fanned, gobbling in the distance. Every morning I’m greeted with a symphony of bird calls while I scan the area for shrikes, and not just birds that want to be seen. While peering through my scope I’ve seen coyotes, deer, squirrels, chipmunks, short-tailed weasels, and a short glimpse of some small mammal as it run underneath the tall grass.

I’ve begun my adventure in the frozen north and am looking forward to seeing the flowers in bloom as the days get warmer and longer.

Drew White, Carden Biologist

Spring Has Sprung, Or Has It?

Before the cold Carden wind returned to us this week, we experienced a pleasant, deceptively summer-like warm spell that brought birds, buds, and insects back early this year.  While near freezing temperatures have been plaguing the Carden plain, some wildlife has decided to stick around until Spring temperatures return.  One such bird is the Great Blue Heron.  While scanning a patch of habitat for eastern loggerhead shrike, I discovered a 20+ Great Blue Heron rookery among a swath of large snags in a nearby wetland.  It was amazing!  It is quite a sight seeing large, ungainly birds building large stick nests 15 meters up in dead trees.  They are so frequently observed hunting on the ground, it seems so unlikely that they would raise young so high up. Regardless, the pairs were busy at work preparing their nests and readying themselves for laying, incubation, and beyond.  Spring is always an exciting time of year, regardless of how many you have seen come and go.

Spring also means getting glimpses of uncommon birds passing through on their way to breeding grounds.  While eastern loggerhead shrike are a rare, but delightful sight to see on the alvar plain, black vultures are even more uncommon, and there have been multiple sightings around Southern Ontario.  While most black vultures are year-round residents south of Ohio, individuals in the restricted northeastern part of their range, i.e.  New Hampshire, Maryland, Connecticut, have been known to migrate south during cold months.  Could these vagrants have gotten off course while migrating North?  However and why they arrived aside, they most likely won’t be around for long, so take a closer look at those vultures soaring overhead, and see if you can spot white wing tips.

Laura Fleissner, Carden Field Assistant

 

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