Archives for 2017
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- Invitation to Participate in SaskForward
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- Launch of the Saskatchewan Breeding Bird Atlas Website
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- Stuff, Stories, and Strategies for the Future
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- Official Parliamentary Petition
11
- A Bioblitz Canada 150 Event
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- YFBTA Organizes Earth Day Event
13
- Photo Exhibition on Display
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- They’re back! Burrowing Owls return to Saskatchewan!
Regina, SK - May 29, 2017 – It is that time of year again when the endangered Burrowing Owl returns to the Prairies from its wintering grounds in Texas and Mexico. By now, the males have chosen a burrow and have stocked it with mice in hopes of attracting a mate. Females arrive shortly after the males and search for a mate by listening for the “coo-coooo” call of the males. Burrowing Owls are one of the smallest owls in Canada, and the only Canadian owl that nests underground. These owls use abandoned badger and ground squirrel (gopher) burrows for their nests.
Burrowing Owls are identifiable by their small size (~9 inches tall) and light and dark brown mottled plumage with white spots. They give off the appearance of walking on stilts, due to their long featherless legs. They have a round head, with large yellow eyes, and white ‘eyebrows’. Unlike other owls, they are active during the day; especially in the spring when gathering food for their large broods. During the nesting season, male burrowing owls can often be seen on lookouts next to their burrows, or on nearby fence posts while the female incubates the eggs. Burrowing owls make a chuckling or chattering call. They also bob their heads to express excitement or distress.
To ensure the nesting success of Burrowing Owls, it is important to minimize human activity around the nests as much as possible. However, the owls coexist with cattle very well. In fact, cattle are even beneficial to the Burrowing Owl. Kaytlyn Burrows, Habitat Stewardship Coordinator at Nature Saskatchewan, explains why: “On grazed pastures, the shorter grass gives Burrowing Owls the chance to sight possible predators more effectively. Additionally, the owls use cattle manure inside their nests to absorb excess moisture, regulate burrow temperature, attract insects for food, and hide their scent from predators.”
If you discover Burrowing Owls in your pasture, do not fear! There are many advantages to having these owls on your land, especially the free pest control. “Burrowing Owls eat huge numbers of insects, mice, voles, and grasshoppers,” says Burrows. “One nest of Burrowing Owls can consume over 1,000 or more rodents in a single season!”
Nature Saskatchewan’s Operation Burrowing Owl works with landowners to protect and enhance Burrowing Owl habitat, and monitors Burrowing Owl numbers at participating sites. “Nature Saskatchewan is very fortunate to have so many passionate landowners participating in our programs and keeping a look-out for species at risk, including the Burrowing Owl,” says Burrows. Operation Burrowing Owl records sightings to help determine the population trend and distribution of the Burrowing Owl throughout Saskatchewan. The information can then be used towards efforts to restore the population of these amazing creatures. Any information given is never shared without the explicit landowner’s permission.
“Without the voluntary efforts of landowners, land managers, and the general public, recovery of this unique prairie owl would not be possible” says Burrows. She encourages the public to report any sighting of a Burrowing Owl by calling Nature Saskatchewan’s toll-free line, 1-800-667-HOOT (4668). “As residents of Saskatchewan, we can all work together to help this amazing species survive and thrive.”
For further information please contact Nature Saskatchewan (English only):
Kaytlyn Burrows (306) 780-9833, email obo@naturesask.ca
Habitat Stewardship CoordinatorRebecca Magnus (306) 780-9270, email rmagnus@naturesask.ca
Acting Species at Risk Manager
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- Rare Plant Rescue Crew Ready for 2017
Hi from the Rare Plant Rescue search crew; we are excited to be on the 2017 team for Nature Saskatchewan!
We are just finishing our first week out in the field where we travelled to the southwestern corner of the province to begin plant searches. On our first day, we gained some hands on experience with searches and were able to meet some fantastic landowners! By day two however, the weather took a turn for the worse and we found ourselves caught in a field under pelting rain! As we were scrambling back to our vehicle, we saw a moose cow and calf running for the cover of nearby trees. Nothing like a good initiation to a new job! Ironically, the night before at supper we heard some locals asking if people were ready for the ‘hurricane’. Lesson learned – always listen to the locals!
Photo credit: Michelle Lang
This week we have been searching for Slender Mouse-ear-cress, a federally threatened plant in the mustard family. Turns out there is a reason it is threatened, and it has evaded us in our searches so far. On the bright side though, we have already found another rare plant, the uncommon Small Lupine! Although this plant is small and resembles Indian Breadroot in its early stages, we can’t wait to see its beautiful blue flowers later in the summer! We’ve also been blown away by the variety of other plants we’ve had the opportunity to see. Our favourites so far are blue-eyed grass, saline shooting star, yellow meadow violet, and early yellow locoweed.
We are also excited about the variety of wildlife we have seen in just one week. Our ongoing list includes a moose and her calf, a mule deer buck, a red-tailed hawk patrolling her nest, and more pronghorns than we can count! Our stewards have such beautiful land, and we are so lucky to get to experience some of it!
Photo credit: Michelle Lang
Other exciting things we’ve found were the melodious calls of the threatened Sprague’s Pipit (a major part of our Stewards of Saskatchewan banner program) and a shrike’s impalement! We have heard a lot about how the Loggerhead Shrikes impale their food to keep it as a snack for later, but finding a gopher head stuck onto a barbed wire fence was pretty exciting!
Photo credit: Michelle Lang
We’re looking forward to a summer filled with exciting sights and experiences. We’ll catch back up with you in August to fill you in on our summer adventures.
Photo credit: Catherine Boutin
Rare Plant Rescue search team,
Catherine and Michelle
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- Endangered Piping Plovers Return to Saskatchewan Beaches
Regina, SK – June 5, 2017 – Piping Plovers are Endangered migratory shorebirds that breed in Saskatchewan. They have been listed as Endangered since 1985 due to large declines in their populations across their range. The plovers arrive in Saskatchewan around the beginning of May, set up territories and nest sites, and females lay 4 well-camouflaged eggs directly on the beach around the end of May. Saskatchewan makes up a large portion of their breeding range and several nesting pairs have already been spotted this year.
Nature Saskatchewan coordinates a survey every five years that counts all adult Piping Plovers breeding in the province, with the most recent survey having taken place in 2016. Last year’s results were low with only about 800 Piping Plovers counted. Those results were very similar to the previous census in 2011, approximately half the number of plovers counted in the census prior to that. “We were hoping the numbers would be higher,” says Ashley Vass, coordinator for Nature Saskatchewan’s Plovers on Shore program, “recovering from the significant amount of flooding in 2011 that made a lot of nest sites unavailable.”
Since those numbers had come in, Hurricane Matthew hit an important wintering site for the plovers in the Bahamas “so we’ll have to wait and see if there’s a measurable impact from that, but we really won’t get the full picture until the next complete census in 2021,” says Vass.
Aside from weather, many factors affect Piping Plover populations, one of which is human activity. Plovers and their nests are very difficult to spot and are easily trampled by livestock, vehicles, and even beachgoers. “We are asking the public to help keep an eye out for Piping Plovers when on beaches this summer, minimize disturbance in areas where plovers are known to be nesting, and report sightings.”
Piping Plovers have a sandy body with a white belly, a black band on their forehead, a single black band around their neck, orange legs, and an orange beak with a black tip. Killdeer are similar looking birds but are slightly larger, darker, and have two neckbands instead of one. If you think you see a Piping Plover or a nest, please call our toll free Hoot Line at: 1-800-667-HOOT (4668).
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For further information please contact Nature Saskatchewan (English only):
Ashley Vass (306) 780-9832, email outreach@naturesask.ca
Habitat Stewardship CoordinatorRebecca Magnus (306) 780-9270, email rmagnus@naturesask.ca
Acting Species at Risk Manager
Photo credit: Emily Putz
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- What exactly is Bird Banding?
At Last Mountain Bird Observatory, we get a lot of visitors. Many of these visitors do not have any experience with banding birds and have a lot of questions. We get it, the bird observatory is an interesting and important place. Hopefully these FAQs will help you out and we will see you during the fall migration.
Why do you band birds?
The main purpose of banding is to monitor populations of migrating songbirds. Catching the birds allows to estimate population size, the age structure, and the sex ratio of the population. This data allows us to predict future population trends.
Does banding hurt the birds?
No. The metal bands are very small, and it’s like wearing a bracelet. The mist nets that we use to catch the birds are also designed to prevent injury to any bird we catch. As banders we also do our best to minimize stress and injury to the bird.
What kind of birds do you catch? What’s the biggest bird you caught?
We catch mostly songbirds, like warblers, robins, thrushes, and vireos. We also occasionally catch larger birds like Flickers, hawks, or owls, but with the size of mist nets we use most of the bigger birds are able to escape the nets. The biggest bird we caught since I have worked here is a Broad-winged Hawk.
Where are the birds coming from and going to?
The birds are currently migrating from the south. The exact location depends on the species. They may be coming from the southern United States, Mexico, or South or Central America. Lots of the species we catch here are migrating to the boreal forest up north to nest.
What is the average lifespan of a bird?
There is a lot of variation between songbirds. In general, warblers can live anywhere from 4-10 years, and the average is 5-7 years. Even though these birds have the potential to live longer, many die on their first migration to the wintering grounds due to inexperience.
See you in the fall!
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- Another season is in bloom for Nature Saskatchewan’s Rare Plant Rescue program.
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- Great Canadian Birdathon 2017
I was looking forward all week to May 13, the day I was leading The Great Canadian Birdathon for Nature Saskatchewan. It strategically coincided with International Migratory Bird Day, and what better way to celebrate migratory birds than finding as many species as possible? The Great Canadian Birdathon is a fundraiser for Bird Studies Canada (a non-profit bird research and conservation organization), but a substantial portion of the funds raised remain local (in our case, they go towards Last Mountain Bird Observatory).
The morning of the birdathon, I woke up well before sunrise, made tolerable instant coffee, then joined up with my good friend, James Villeneuve, to try and catch the dawn chorus. The dawn chorus is when birds are most actively singing, and begins shortly before sunrise. There were still a few hours before we were planning to meet the main birding group, but who can resist the melody of the waking prairie? As I hopped into his SUV, I heard a Merlin calling – the first bird of the day! We drove to Regina’s A.E. Wilson Park and walked the trail around the park pond…and discovered it was frightfully windy. Birds tend to sing less when it’s windy, perhaps because they too know that the sound they produced does not travel as far as in calm conditions. It can be difficult to hear them in such conditions, but we managed to scrape 31 species from the park in two hours, including Barn Swallows foraging high in the sky and a pair of Spotted Sandpipers manoeuvring away from us with their quivery flight.
Next, we drove downtown to City Hall with hopes of glimpsing the Queen City’s resident pair of Peregrine Falcons, but they were nowhere to be seen. After a fruitless search, we moved on to Wascana Park, where we were meeting the rest of the group in front of the legislative building. There were 15 eager birders braving the wind and cool morning temperatures, binoculars at the ready. We almost immediately found a White-breasted Nuthatch that disappeared into a tree cavity, carrying nesting material. This observation was likely of breeding behaviour – exciting! Other than Canada Geese, Mallards, and some Tree Swallows, there were few birds on the lake so we continued further down the trail. Someone picked out snatches of an American Goldfinch singing, followed by a House Wren, but the wind was so strong it was difficult to hear anything but bits and pieces of these birds’ lovely songs.
The wind was also keeping the birds huddled deep in the trees, and it was difficult to see any birds – the group was turning into “bird-listeners” rather than bird-watchers. Our small army of binocular-laden troopers continued finding new species, despite the tough conditions. A Yellow Warbler singing, an American Wigeon tucked against the shore, a Belted Kingfisher calling. We slowly added to the species checklist. Then a highlight appeared when Phil Rose, a grassland songbird researcher at the University of Regina, found a singing Warbling Vireo tucked away in the canopy of a tree. We pointed the spotting scope at the vireo and were rewarded with excellent mid-song views.
We also heard Chipping Sparrows singing, and among them was a singing Orange-crowned Warbler! These two species can easily be confused with one another, especially if the individual warbler’s song finale lacks a pitch-change, as this one’s did. I pointed out the differences between the songs of the sparrows and the warbler to the group to help ensure everyone not only heard the songs but understood the differences as well. It was a great opportunity to have such a good comparison of the two songs. We searched for it, and once again Phil found the bird as it was singing…except it wasn’t an Orange-crowned Warbler. It was a Chipping Sparrow. Fantastic. Now my ‘good comparison’ was a good example of how much a single species song can vary, how easily the two species can be confused, and how you should never blindly trust your group’s leader.
After we finished chuckling about the sparrow/warbler mishap, we picked up a Cooper’s Hawk flying above the legislative building, a Baltimore Oriole flashing orange as it whizzed by us, and the newly-listed species-at-risk Harris’ Sparrow foraging under a shrub. The group then split up, some heading home and others continuing with me to Last Mountain Bird Observatory. As we were leaving a flock of American White Pelicans cruised into Wascana Lake, putting us one species below the half-century mark.
The high winds kept waterfowl and raptors out of view, so the drive north was largely uneventful. A quick stop at Valeport yielded little more than Yellow-headed Blackbirds and a Forster’s Tern. A flock of Pectoral Sandpipers buzzed the vehicle as we neared the observatory, showing off their abrupt breast line well. At the park, we reorganized the group, and added several more birders. A Krider’s Red-tailed Hawk, the palest subspecies, flew overhead, showing off its indistinct belly band and faintly red tail. Our group set off, and we soon stumbled into a foraging flock of several warblers. There were amazing views of a Palm Warbler singing, Yellow-rumped Warblers emerged regularly, an (actual) Orange-crowned Warbler made an appearance, and a surprise female American Redstart showed off her subtle yellow sides. Our species list grew slowly as we continued down the shrub-row, but we added Yellow-bellied Flycatcher and Western Kingbird while in the line-up for some delicious burgers provided by Sask Energy.
A second birdwalk near Last Mountain Lake added a Common Tern floating along the shoreline, a Le Conte’s Sparrow buzzing from somewhere within tall, wet grass, and the distinctive sound of a Sora bursting out from the cattails. All too soon though, it was time to head back to Regina. We picked up our last species of the day as we drove down the grid road leading to the observatory, a Canvasback floating in a roadside slough. This brought us up to a grand total of 84 species – a reasonable number of species for a windy day of birding, and a fine time enjoying the migrants!
Submitted by;
Gabriel Foley
Photo credit: Branimir Gjetvaj
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- Call for Resolutions 2017
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- Call for Award Nominations 2017
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- Stewards of Saskatchewan Census
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- Voices from the Field June 20
After our first couple weeks at Nature Saskatchewan, it was time for Tiffany and I to conduct our first landowner visits of the summer. The morning started early with a classic Saskatchewan 90km/h wind to followed us on our way. Driving through the southeast portion of the province we watched dirt blowing off the barren fields, impatiently waiting for the rain to fall. With butterflies in our stomachs, as we approached the door of our first landowner visit, we were greeted by a friendly canine face, and we soon forgot about how nervous we were.
Driving through the Saskatchewan prairies, we peered out the windows, hoping to catch a glimpse of a Loggerhead Shrike, Burrowing Owl, Ferruginous Hawk, or many of the species at risk we had learned so well in our training. Our excitement peaked at every sighting of the back of a meadowlark perched on the fence post beside us, only to come back to reality when it showed us it’s beautiful, bright yellow breast. After spotting numerous Red-tailed Hawks, we were finally rewarded with a sighting of a threatened Ferruginous Hawk gliding through the air showing us its bright white undersides and rusty legs.
After a nice talk with some new and friendly faces, we discussed our programs and gained our first Operation Burrowing Owl participant of the summer. We listened to their stories of impaled bugs on barbed wire fences and big yellow eyes peeking out of burrows. They were happy to travel down the road with us to show us a rare sighting of a Burrowing Owl; a first for Tiffany and I! The day passed all too quickly as it was time to continue down the road, driving into the wind and accompanying rain, watching the faces of the curious cows while we traveled.
Before we knew it, the final day of our first trip was upon us, and after scouring the trees for days, it finally paid off as we spotted a pair of Loggerhead shrikes sitting together on a barbed wire fence. It was a successful first trip not only because we saw our first Burrowing Owl and Loggerhead Shrikes, but we also got to glimpse some gory impalements (food cached by Loggerhead Shrikes).
While our first trip out of the office ended all too soon, it only meant that the annual Piping Plover census at Lake Diefenbaker was that much closer. As we hit the road early in the morning, our minds were focused on the endangered shorebirds that we have been itching to see. We met with our friends from the Water Security Agency, and after a quick introduction we were on the way to a guaranteed sighting of the plovers. The beach searches brought much more to light than the Piping Plovers, as we saw many species including American White Pelicans, Gartersnakes, American Avocets, Marbled Godwits, Common Merganser, Willet, Long-billed Curlew, Golden Eagle, as well as many deer, moose, and beaver tracks. After a long search of a relatively unoccupied beach, we saw our first plovers and a new nest! I never really understood the veterans’ advice when they told us to “look for the moving rock” until we saw just how well these small birds camouflaged on the rocky shorelines that they call home for the summer. As we saw movement along the beach where the birds were not on record, we had to stop from a great distance to hope that they’d sit on their nest; since it blends so well into their habitat, it’s nearly impossible to find otherwise. The next few beach searches really showed us how protective the parents were, as they displayed their broken wing act in an attempt to lure us away. We even got a chance to see some Piping Plover chicks!
Over the next few days, I had time to reflect on the last couple trips with our crew. It was a successful few weeks, catching up with current program participants and meeting many new ones. I also got to check a lot of species at risk sightings off my summer bucket list, as we had now seen a Burrowing Owl, Ferruginous Hawks, Loggerhead Shrikes, many Barn Swallows, and Piping Plovers, and even heard a Sprague’s Pipit. We can only imagine what other species we will come across throughout the season! We learned to ID many different birds, as well as their tricksters, and made friends with every breed of dog imaginable. After learning almost all the tricks of the trade, we anxiously wait to take the reins on the next set of visits, and can’t wait to see what the rest of the summer has to offer!
Jenna Van Parys, Habitat Stewardship Assistant
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- Butcherbird Babies are Hatching Now
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- Operation Burrowing Owl Celebrates 30 Years of Conservation!
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- Check in with Important Bird Areas Summer Staff
I have what is arguably the best summer job. I am the summer assistant for the Important Bird Area program. The program identifies and monitors areas that are important to large numbers of birds. These areas are referred to as an Important Bird Area or IBA. Most areas are designated because they are migration stopover sites. Like Chaplin Lake provides a place to rest and refuel for thousands of shorebirds during the spring and fall migration. These areas may also be important to birds that are colonial breeders. For example, Last Mountain Lake has a large colony of breeding American White Pelicans. This program is carried out predominantly by volunteer caretakers. Usually a local birder signs up to monitor an IBA. This means that they record bird species and numbers in the IBA, and any major changes to the area. These changes can be conservation efforts by local groups, new land use by farmers, changes in recreational use, or commercial developments. My job is to monitor the IBA if the caretaker hasn’t been able to, if the caretaker wants to go out with me, or if the IBA doesn’t have a caretaker. The way I see it, I have tricked Nature Saskatchewan into paying me to birdwatch.
This week I visited three IBAs. On Monday I went to Foam Lake to monitor because it does not have a caretaker. I was excited about monitoring the lake because I thought there were plenty of access points, trails and watch towers. I spent a lot of time looking for these supposed access points. It had been raining, and to say it was muddy is a gross understatement. One access road was partly underwater. Another just kind of disappeared into a marsh. The third access point did in fact lead to a watch tower, and I did manage to do some birding. I saw a variety of ducks, Eared Grebes, Franklin’s Gulls and even a Snow Goose.
On Tuesday I headed out to the Quill Lakes. I knew that most of the old access roads had been flooded out, and I would have to do a bit of walking. Before I even got out of the car, I saw a Great Egret standing in the shallow water by the road. He stood and looked at me before finally deciding to fly off. Not far down the road from there was hundreds of American White Pelicans and Franklin’s Gulls. They flew off of the road as I walked up, and surprisingly I was only pooped on once. There were also many coots, a variety of ducks and grebes, and a few Black Crowned Night Herons. In the end I saw a total of 37 species!
On Wednesday I went up to Tobin Lake to meet up with the caretaker. Despite the rain and wind, we managed to see 46 different species of bird! There was huge numbers of Double Crested Cormorants, pelicans, Bonaparte’s Gulls, and Ring-billed Gulls. We also saw a variety of ducks, geese, terns, a couple Common Loons, songbirds, hawks, and an American Kestrel. The caretaker showed me a Eastern Phoebe nest in his yard, and a family of flying squirrels that was using the nesting boxes he had put up for Northern Sawhet owls.
I had been planning on going to Cumberland Marshes today, but unfortunately I was rained out. But at least I can catch up on my paperwork now. Next week hopefully, with some hopefully improved weather, I will head south to monitor Fife Lake, Dryboro and Burn Lake, and lead a birdwalk at Oldwives Lake. After that I head up north towards Saskatoon to monitor Redberry Lake, and Radisson Lake. Needless to say I’m looking forward to monitoring these areas and hopefully adding a few new birds to my summer list!
Jordan Rustad – LMBO/IBA Summer Assistant
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- Voices from the Field July 12
Desirée here! I am very excited to be a part of the Nature Saskatchewan team this summer. It has been a great first couple months with the program and it is crazy how quickly the summer is flying by.
After spending the first couple weeks learning the ins and outs of plant identification and search and monitoring methods, I was eager to go on our first field work trip. Our first trip brought us out to the southwestern part of Saskatchewan looking for Slender Mouse-ear-cress (SMEC), a plant federally listed as threatened. Unfortunately, the infamous SMEC could not be found. However, what I did find was a great sense of appreciation for Saskatchewan native prairie. There is something magical about seeing all the different kinds of plants that the prairie encompasses, from two-grooved milk vetch to prairie cacti, we really do have it all.
Our second excursion brought us on the hunt for the Small White Lady’s-slipper in the southeastern part of Saskatchewan. What I find interesting about this orchid is that its cousin, the Yellow Lady’s-slipper, can be found in the marsh-like fens of Saskatchewan, and close-by in Manitoba. So it is strange that this plant has not been found in over 100 years in Saskatchewan! Another exciting aspect of this trip was the habitat that we were lucky to explore. Small White Lady’s-slipper likes habitat that allows for a lot of moisture. This had us walking in floating fens that bounced with every step we took. Although we did not find any Small White Lady’s-slipper, we spotted several other species at risk, including Bobolinks and Northern Leopard frogs!
On our most recent journey out of town, we found ourselves out on the sandy banks of the South Saskatchewan River looking for Small-flowered Sand-verbena. Small-flowered Sand-verbena is part of the 4-o’clock family, named because its flowers open in the afternoon. What makes the search for this plant so exciting is that it is federally listed as endangered, meaning it is one of the rarest of our target species this summer. After acknowledging this fact, and after having no luck with SMEC or Small White Lady’s-slipper, it was easy to feel doubtful about whether or not we would find any occurrences of Small-flowered Sand-verbena. However, as we set out with our GPS’ to monitor our first occurrence we managed to stumble upon (quite literally) the small, white flowered plant! The plant appeared to be in good health and we found others nearby as the plant likes to grow in patches.
Later in the week our sunny day streak came to an end and we were out monitoring in the rain! As we were monitoring our last occurrence for the day, we came across our biggest patch of Sand-Verbena yet. Stretching down the shore for approximately 50m, were over 800 Small-flowered Sand-verbena plants! Along with Sand-verbena we also found occurrences of Small Lupine and another one of our target species this summer, Smooth Goosefoot!
This week’s monitoring highlighted that although a species may be at risk, if given the proper habitat it can be locally abundant. Therefore, this type of conservation work is important because some plants are at risk simply because no one knows what they look like or where to find them. The more land that is searched, the more plants we are likely to find! With higher population numbers and distributions hopefully certain plant species can be “down-listed” to a lesser risk category in the future.
I am looking forward to what the rest of the summer in Saskatchewan native prairie has to bring, and the exciting sights that come with it. The next couple months we will be monitoring and searching for occurrences of Tiny Cryptantha, Smooth Goosefoot, Hairy Prairie-clover and Buffalograss. Wish us luck!
Pincushion Cactus
Small-Flowered Sand-Verbena
The RPR Summer Crew jumping for joy
Two-Grooved Milk Vetch
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- Voices from the Field July 27
Summer is in full swing and we have been lucky to see many different species at risk on our trips! In June, we had an exciting and eventful trip in Southwestern Saskatchewan. We spent our time watching shelterbelts and pastures for our chance to see species at risk near Assiniboia, Val-Marie, Gull Lake, Swift Current and Moose Jaw. We had great visits with many landowners and we were lucky enough to see a Burrowing Owl up close living peacefully with a herd of Bison!
It was a very special treat for us! We had never been so close to Bison or a Burrowing Owl! As we traveled, we found many other species at risk, such as a Ferruginous Hawk pair with a nest, Chestnut-Collared Longspur, Sprague’s Pipit, Barn Swallows, Bobolinks, and many others. Taking in the uniqueness of the area we appreciated every landowner who agreed to help and continue to conserve this special native prairie habitat.
Time continued to ‘fly’ by as July was busy with our crew on the search for Threatened Loggerhead Shrikes! We carefully prepared for our grid road search and we were not disappointed. During our 100+ hours and over 1000 miles traveled we spotted many Loggerhead Shrikes and other species at risk in Central Saskatchewan. Cemeteries were a hotspot for Shrike activity and we found a nest with 6 young in it! Cemeteries are great locations for Loggerhead Shrikes as there is usually minimal disturbance and plenty of shrubs and trees to make nests in. It was a great experience for us as we were able to listen to the loud call of a mother and her young. We also were overjoyed to hear and see the Threatened Sprague’s Pipit.
Almost every native prairie pasture we happened upon we could hear their descending call. Sprague’s Pipits fly very high up in the air and during one sunny, but overcast day we were able to see a Pipit flying. We always had our binoculars ready to identify any birds that came our way!Along our journey we were also lucky to spot wild Prairie Lilies, which are Saskatchewan’s Provincial flower. Prairie Lilies are protected under the Provincial Emblems and Honours Act and cannot be cut, pulled, or destroyed. It was a special sight as I had never seen them growing in the wild before. We stopped to smell the flowers and continued on our way! It is amazing what you can see and enjoy when you travel and explore Saskatchewan. We have such a beautiful place to call home! Although it was a very hot trip we were still able to see a lot of birds and help to conserve their habitat! Thank you to all the landowners who continue to help out our species at risk in Saskatchewan!
Until next time!
Tiffany Blampied, Habitat Stewardship Assistant
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- Bobbing with excitement over young Burrowing Owls!
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- The Voice from the Field August 3
It’s almost the end of my field season working with the Important Bird Area Program, and I have had an amazing summer. As of today I have monitored 27 IBAs, seen over 100 species of birds, and put over 10,000 kilometers on my rental car. Also since I’ve been away from home so much, 5 of my house plants died. I have also visited a few provincial parks to do bird walks and presentations on the IBA program. This week I have done a little bit of everything.
I started my work week on Saturday. I went up to Moose Mountain Provincial Park to do a bird walk in the morning, and a presentation after lunch. I had originally been told I would be doing my walk at the beach. I waited there, but no one showed up. I called the Interpretive Centre to make sure I had the right place. They had changed the start location to the Beaver Lake Trail and I had not gotten the memo. I rushed over to the trailhead and sure enough there was a good sized group waiting on me. The presentation went a bit smoother since I actually got the location right. Right after that I started the long 5 hour drive to Pike Lake Provincial Park. I had a bird walk at the park in the morning. The park interpreter and I waited 15 minutes to see if anyone would show up, and no one did. So we started the hike by ourselves. Within 10 minutes a few campers caught up with us and by the end of our walk we had a pretty big group.
On Monday I met the caretaker for the Luck Lake IBA. Even though the day was very windy, she made me walk across an old road that goes right through the lake. It was worth it though since we saw lots of ducks and shorebirds. Earlier in the day we heard a Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrow, letting me add a new species to my summer birding list. The next day I headed up northeast of Saskatoon to monitor Buffer Lake and Porter Lake. Both of these lakes were pretty easy to do. The roads around the lakes were good, and there were plenty of birds to see. Wednesday was the most exciting day of my week. I stayed at home and got caught up on paperwork. On Thursday, I went up to Blackstrap Coulee. Part of this IBA is in the provincial park, and there was a great grassland hiking and birding trail. However, it was over thirty degrees Celsius by the time I got to the park. I made the decision to stay in the safety of my air conditioned vehicle, and thankfully I still got to see plenty of birds.
Even though my IBA season is almost done, I still have lots to do. I have a presentation tonight at Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park. I have at least three more IBA’s I plan to do around Lake Diefenbaker, and one more bird walk at Outlook Provincial Park. I have enjoyed this field season very much. That being said, I’m looking forward to a weekend at home and buying some new house plants.
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- Voices from the Field August 4
Hello from the Rare Plant Rescue Search Crew again! Michelle and I are excited to report back on our jam-packed summer. Our trips in the field have kept us on our toes and blessed us with breath-taking experiences, from the moment the rising sun peeks over the horizon to the crashing thunder and lightning that chase us back to safe shelter.
photo credit: Michelle Lang
In June we headed out for our Small-flowered Sand-Verbena trip. Searching on the shorelines of the South Saskatchewan River was a welcoming change of scenery – the calming sound of flowing water makes everything better, as does dipping our hot, tired feet into the clear icy water during our lunch breaks. After passing many unfinished and abandoned beaver lodges during our searches, we finally saw our first beaver of the summer. Completely oblivious, it swam happily through the reeds of a creek right next to us as we pointed with happy exclamations. We were also privileged with spotting a bald eagle family busily flying around their nest, and dozens of tadpoles swimming about in their awkward teenager-stage. During this trip we also found our very first target species – the endangered Small-flowered Sand-Verbena. Although at first glance it looks like Sand dock, these rare plants are fleshy, and can only grow in active sand dunes and river banks.
Sand Verbena, Michelle Lang
In our next trip we set out to the top of the rolling river valley, in search of Tiny Cryptantha. This species’ status has been recently downlisted from endangered to threatened as a result of previously unknown populations. This success story is an example of one of the reasons why we search for rare plants; a lot of them have been given their rare status partially because their population numbers are generally unknown. Our search crew efforts hope to change this by finding and tracking unknown populations so that we can contribute to future decisions based on more accurate numbers.
On our first day of this trip we were greeted with two rattlesnakes! After the initial surprise, we quickly got over our fear as we understood their shy nature, though we kept our eyes peeled after that! We certainly got a workout during those searches, walking up and down the juniper-covered hills, greeted with new views of golden grass at each rise.
Sunflowers, Catherine Boutin
In our most recent trip, we went back out to look at sand dunes, but this time for Smooth Goosefoot, a threatened member of the goosefoot family. As the temperatures climbed into the 30’s, we pulled ourselves out of bed in the wee hours of the morning to hit the road as the sun rose. Even without a cup of coffee, I’ll go on record to say that a sunrise is the best way to start a morning. Each day we spotted new mysterious tracks in the sand as the first morning light touches them, telling the stories of the goings-on of all sorts of creatures overnight. In other good news, we are currently in a flurry of tracking many new Smooth Goosefoot occurrences. Even though they grow best after a wet spring, it appears that in some areas the drought hasn’t affected them too negatively.
Smooth Goosefoot, Catherine Boutin
Prairie Coneflower, Catherine Boutin
Spending most of our summer searching through pastures in the Southwestern part of the province has shown us that our hardy native prairies are still productive and beautiful even in a drought summer. The brilliant fuchsia and yellow of cactus flowers will never get old (though their prickles sure do!), and the fragrant juniper and sagebrush fields kept our senses alert and excited all summer. We may be a little scratched up and sunburnt, but with cameras full of photos and eyes full of happy memories, who knows what might happen next. After all, there’s still a month of summer left.
Prickly Pear Cactus, Michelle Lang
Search crew hard at work! , Michelle Lang
By: Catherine Boutin
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- Royals Are on the Move!
Regina, SK – August 14th, 2017 – Monarch butterflies are a spectacular creature. Not only are they absolutely beautiful but they complete the longest and largest insect migration in North America! Millions of Monarchs fly thousands of kilometres from their summer habitats to their wintering grounds. Saskatchewan is at the northern extent of the Monarch’s range and Nature Saskatchewan is asking the public to keep an eye out for these royal butterflies to help monitor their population and aid in habitat conservation efforts.
Monarchs are a species at risk and numbers have dropped by as much as 90% across North America. The three lowest overwintering populations in Mexico on record occurred in the last 5 years. One of the largest threats to the butterflies is habitat loss, both in the winter and summer breeding grounds, due to logging, destructive bark beetles, agriculture, urban development, and pesticide use affecting milkweed and wildflowers.
Monarch butterflies are identifiable by their bright orange colouring and black veins through their wings, along with white spots on their black body and trailing the outside edges of the wings. A male Monarch has two distinct dots on its hindwing, which distinguishes it from a female. “Don’t be fooled – there are a few Monarch lookalikes, the most notorious of which is the Viceroy,” explains Ashley Vass, Habitat Stewardship Coordinator with Nature Saskatchewan. “The colouring and patterns are very similar to the Monarch, but a Viceroy has an extra stripe on its hindwings which intersects the other veins.”
“We haven’t had any Monarchs reported to our hotline yet this year, but I am hoping public sightings will start coming in soon”, says Vass. Nature Saskatchewan delivers a voluntary stewardship program called Stewards of Saskatchewan that works with rural landowners to conserve habitat for species at risk. They are asking anyone who sees a Monarch butterfly to report the sighting. “It is also really helpful if you are able to provide a picture with your sighting so we can verify that it isn’t one of the many lookalikes” adds Vass. If you see a Monarch butterfly in Saskatchewan, or for more information, call Nature Saskatchewan’s toll-free line at 1-800-667-HOOT (4668).
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For further information please contact Nature Saskatchewan (English only):
Ashley Vass (306) 780-9832, email outreach@naturesask.ca
Habitat Stewardship CoordinatorRebecca Magnus (306) 780-9270, email rmagnus@naturesask.ca
Acting Species at Risk Manager
Monarch Butterfly - M. Ranalli
Monarch Caterpillar - S. Vinge-Mazer
Viceroy Butterfly - A. Sanborn
Viceroy Butterfly - J. Van Parys
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- Voices from the Field August 21
Hello from the field!
With our summer with Nature Saskatchewan coming to an end we had the opportunity to travel to a few more special places! We ended July by going down to the Big Muddy Badlands and area! Whoever says Saskatchewan is boring must have missed this part of the province!
Along with the views came many Loggerhead Shrike sightings, as well as the melodic, descending calls of Sprague’s Pipits. Talking with land owners in this area showed an interesting change in species with more mentions of Turkey Vultures, Common Ravens, Eastern Yellow-bellied Racers, Piping Plovers, Common Nighthawks, and many others. We were very happy to visit very friendly people in the midst of one of Saskatchewan’s wonders!
August also sent us back to beautiful Gull Lake and Val Marie areas to finish up our last landowner visits for the summer. We chatted with long time participants and enjoyed hearing of many recent species at risk sightings! Driving so near to Grasslands National Park and across Highway 18 was a treat as Val Marie sunsets never disappoint. Being surrounded by rolling hills and native prairie pasture you can’t help but appreciate the landscape. We were quite excited to still find a few Loggerhead Shrike families before they migrated for the winter and we even spotted a few Ferruginous Hawks hunting. Finding species at risk still gets our hearts beating!
One last trip each to southeast and southwest Saskatchewan was an adventure as we parted ways to help search and monitor for plant species at risk! This was new for us, but we were excited to learn more about plants (of course we always had our binoculars at the ready to spot birds!). Tiffany monitored for Buffalograss, while Jenna searched for Smooth Goosefoot. We had a lot of fun walking through pastures and sand dunes as we learned the ways of the plant crew! While monitoring for Buffalograss, the most thrilling part was a pasture filled with large mats of this beautiful golden plant and seeing a Great Blue Heron fly overhead. It was really interesting to learn that Buffalograss is only found in the Estevan area and that it was downlisted this year from Threatened to Special Concern, meaning that it is considered to be less at risk now than it was before! This is a great example of how monitoring efforts are so important for species at risk.
Buffalo Grass patch
Jenna was excited to find the provincially rare Beaked Annual Skeletonweed while searching as well as finding almost 4000 Smooth Goosefoot plants! We learned that Smooth Goosefoot is a threatened species with a pretty specific habitat, thriving in eroded sandy soils at the edges of dunes!
Sadly, the summer is coming to a close and we would like to thank everyone and everything that made our summer so enjoyable. We both learned so much and appreciate the time and effort that landowners, members, and coworkers put into the conservation of Saskatchewan’s native environment. It wouldn’t be home without our native grasses, plants, birds, and animals. We couldn’t have had a better summer!
Your 2017 Habitat Stewardship Assistants,
Tiffany Blampied & Jenna Van Parys
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- Voices from the Field Sept 6
We had a busy August at Last Mountain Bird Observatory. The first day we opened the nets we caught the very first Indigo Bunting in the station’s history. If you’re lucky enough to have seen our e-Newsletter, you can see my chipped nail polish starring right alongside the beautiful male bird. By the end of the day we had caught over a hundred birds. On our second day we had another exciting bird. We caught a Marsh Wren in our very first net run. These guys don’t get caught in the nets very often. The rest of our first week was busy and we caught about a hundred birds each day. By the weekend we slowed down a bit. Despite this, our banders caught a young Loggerhead Shrike. Then just today we caught a Blue-headed Vireo! We have seen many species of songbirds this month, most of which are warblers. So far we have caught 15 species of warblers. We have also caught flycatchers, sparrows, thrushes, swallows, orioles, and vireos, just to name a few.
We have also had lots of people visit us this past month. We had a couple of very dedicated volunteers learning how to record data and help us with the mist nets. One volunteer used up his overtime and his weekends off coming to band with us. We also had a couple undergrad students come from the Canadian Wildlife Service to learn about handling wild birds. Just this August we have had almost 100 people visit the station. Most of our visitors are from Saskatchewan, but we have had people from all over Canada including Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia. If you have been planning to come out this year, but haven’t made it, you still have time. The station is open to the public in September. We will be welcoming a few school groups to the station in September
My field season comes to an end on August 31st, and I will be sad to go. The first couple weeks of September are usually when we expect peak migration, and in all likelihood I will sneak back up to the station on weekends so I don’t miss any of the excitement!
Indigo Bunting. Photo credit: M.Anderson
Long Eared Owl. Photo credit: M.Anderson
Loggerhead Shrike. Photo credit: M.Anderson
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- A Sandy Autumn Hike at the Fall Meet
Emily Putz, Habitat Stewardship Coordinator, Nature Saskatchewan
A weekend of beautiful crisp fall weather was the backdrop to this year’s fall member meet in Elbow, Saskatchewan. The weekend kicked off with everyone getting together with old friends, as well as hopefully making some new ones, to enjoy viewing other member’s photos of this summer. Photo presentations included Donna Bruce encouraging us to explore Big Gully, Sk; Bill MacKenzie sharing some great bird shots with us; Morley Maier showing us some truly amazing Barn Swallow shots; Ed Rodger sharing some wonderful photos from his trip to South America, and myself who gave our members a little update on what the SOS program staff were up to this summer. Members enjoyed this show to the beautiful background view overlooking Lake Diefenbaker through Elbow Harbour Golf Club and Resort’s surround windows, our venue for the weekend.
Saturday dawned nice and early with members loading the bus to head to Douglas Provincial Park’s sand dune trails to do some hiking. Here members were treated to finding some of Saskatchewan’s rarest plants, including Western Spiderwort and Annual Beaked Skeletonweed. Even though the season has long past for Western Spiderwort’s peak blooming, everyone wasted no time putting their ID skills to the test and finding quite a few plants. Members also enjoyed hiking out to the unique landscape that is Douglas Park’s active dune and saw many tracks within the sand including bobcat, moose, coyote and fox. We were also lucky enough to find some late blooming Prairie Sunflower and Common Skeletonweed, the last of the year!
The afternoon Saturday saw us loading the bus after a delicious lunch prepared for us by the Harbour Golf Club, to head to Gardiner Dam, the seventh largest earth filled dam in the world, for a private tour of the dam’s facilities. This was truly a unique experience as not many members of the public have been treated to seeing the inner workings of the dam. Those that went on this tour went down 50 feet below lake level to the spillway’s lower gallery before climbing all the way up to the walkway above the spillway’s gates. We continued the tour at one of the dam’s five large control structures, special thanks to Cam Leslie from the Water Security Agency for leading this wonderful tour.
Back at the hall, the Fall Business meeting started and after some discussion, resolution was passed for the eradication of feral boars escaped or released from game farms. After a short break the evening started, with a delicious banquet meal of roast beef catered by the Elbow Harbour Golf Club. During the banquet new members were recognized and welcomed and awards were presented to Harold Fisher (Cliff Shaw award), Rob Wilson (Fellows award), Brain Jeffery (Volunteer award), and Dr. Jon and Naiomi Gerrard (Conservation award). The evening concluded with our after dinner presenter, David Weiman, who spoke on his experiences on his trapping line, humane trapping of fur bearing animals, and what trapping means and its value in the present day. This talk was very interesting and a new topic for many members in the crowd, and was accompanied by a display on the different traps used and pelt examples from many species.
The meet was a great success, special thanks to our planning committee, our MCs and presenters, tour guides, and the wonderful venue and catering by the Elbow Golf Club. Have a great winter and we hope you’ll join us for our spring meet 2018 in the Big Muddy!
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- 'Tis the Season for Christmas Bird and Mammal Counts
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- Call for Applications for the Margaret Skeel Graduate Student Scholarship
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- Wintering Whooping Crane Update
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- Join a Christmas Bird Count Near You