The Manitoba IBA program has been coordinating annual spring and fall International Shorebird Surveys (ISS) in 4 of our IBAs: Whitewater Lake IBA, Oak/Plum Lakes IBA, Oak Hammock Marsh IBA, and Shoal Lakes IBA. The goal of these surveys is to track trends of global shorebirds long-term. Thanks our incredibly dedicated volunteers and staff, 2022 was another great season surveying for shorebirds across Manitoba! Each year presents its own challenges and unique weather patterns, and 2022 was no different. The high spring water levels carried into the fall, which resulted in flooded fields, ditche ..read more

We’ve got some exciting volunteer opportunities coming up! All experience levels welcome. Purple Loosestrife Pull – Oak Hammock Marsh IBA Come help protect valuable wetland and shorebird habitat! On Monday, Sept 5th we will be heading to Oak Hammock Marsh to remove invasive purple loosestrife. We will be meeting in the parking lot by the Discovery Centre at 10:00am and will head to the stand as a group. After the loosestrife pull, we will head over to the café for lunch. To sign up or for more information, email iba@naturemanitoba.ca. Red-headed Woodpecker Blitz – Kinosota-Leifur IBA On Satur ..read more

On July 23rd, Manitoba IBA held a second Red-headed Woodpecker blitz for the month of July. Using predetermined birding areas and routes with past sightings marked, four groups headed down to the Oak Lake/ Plum Lakes IBA on what turned out to be a sunny and not too hot Saturday. A Red-headed Woodpecker (Photo by Ariel Desrochers) This was our first blitz down in Oak Lake for Red-headed Woodpeckers this year. Luckily we were able to do a blitz last summer in August, which provided us with a guide to areas in the IBA that may have the Woodpecker. We had eight people split into pairs to make up 4 ..read more

This spring, volunteers and the staff of Manitoba IBA headed out to once again conduct International Shorebird Surveys at four IBAs: Oak Hammock Marsh; the North, East and West Shoal Lakes; Oak/Plum Lakes; and Whitewater Lake. Last year, dry weather altered the preferred habitat of shorebirds and this year was the same, although instead of dried up wetlands and ditches, flooded fields and higher water levels were the norm, creating an interesting survey period. An Upland Sandpiper (Photo by Amanda Shave) The Spring International Shorebird Surveys (ISS) are conducted between April 1st and June ..read more

On July 9th we headed out to the North, East and West Shoal Lakes to blitz for the Red-headed Woodpecker. Red-headed Woodpeckers were seen by all and a great lunch was eaten afterwards with friends – couldn’t ask for a better day! We last ran a blitz for Red-headed Woodpeckers in the North, East and West Shoal Lakes IBA in 2020, which was coincidently the first blitz we ran after COVID-19 had started. In 2021 we established Red-headed Woodpecker survey routes, but were unable to run an event to trial them due to COVID once again! The routes were instead trialed by volunteers who went out birdi ..read more

For our second event southwestern Manitoba, we set out with a small group of volunteers on the morning of Sunday, June 19th for our first grassland bird blitz in 3 years. We birded the Southwestern Manitoba Mixed Grass Prairie IBA from dawn to high noon in search of grassland Species at Risk. Sun rising over the prairie. Photo by Ariel Desrochers. For the Grassland Survey, we were 4 groups covering 4 different areas of the IBA. All groups were on the road by 5:30 am, the earlier the better for grassland birds. Below is a map of the areas in which each group was assigned. We were watching birds ..read more

Over the weekend, Amanda and I traveled to the southwest to visit the Southwestern Mixed Grass Prairie IBA. While there, we held two events, a bird walk through the Gerald W. Malaher Wildlife Management Area, and an early morning grassland bird blitz the next day. It was a scorcher in the Banana Belt that weekend but we still managed to see some really interesting birds, many of which can only be found in that part of the province! Dragonflies. Photo by Ariel Desrochers. The weekend began for us with the long drive down on Friday from Winnipeg to Melita. We spent the afternoon scoping out the ..read more

On June 4th the Manitoba IBA Program held our first blitz of the 2022 season! After a spring of rocky weather we ended up with a great day to observe a wide variety of birds. A photogenic Bobolink singing its heart out with Whitewater Lake in the background. Photo by Randy Mooi. We had five groups of volunteers head out to Whitewater Lake to start birding around 8:30 am and finish up with lunch at Sexton’s Point at 12:30 pm. If you think back to the end of May and beginning of June, we had been receiving a lot of rain. So while the weather was great, we had to be somewhat careful of road condi ..read more

We have two opportunities coming up to monitor for the Endangered Red-headed woodpecker in Manitoba. North, East and West Shoal Lakes IBA – Red-headed Woodpecker Blitz This weekend we are holding our blitz for this species at North, East and West Shoal Lakes IBA. The blitz is taking place on Saturday, July 9th, 2022 starting at 7:00am. We are still looking for volunteers. If you are interested please email iba@naturemanitoba.ca. Carpooling may be able to be arranged and lunch will be provided at noon. NEW! Oak Lake Plum Lake – Red-headed Woodpecker Blitz Not to be left out, we will also be bli ..read more

Manitoba IBA’s second event of the season in eastern Manitoba is coming up! Join us on July 9th as we blitz the North, East and West Shoal Lakes IBA for the Red-headed Woodpecker. Last year we were able to find 19 Red-Headed Woodpeckers (with smaller surveys due to COVID-19) – enough individuals to reach the IBA threshold for this species, indicating that it is key habitat! The blitz start time is 7:00 am, and at noon we will meet for snacks and refreshments in the town of Inwood. All birding skill levels are welcome and carpooling will be arranged to the best of our ability ..read more