Archives for 2024

After the couple of crazy weeks we had during the Piping Plover surveys, I thought that with the onset of summer, the weather would be more cooperative but I was wrong. Our Loggerhead Shrike surveys took place mainly in the car as we drove along pre-determined routes and kept an eye out for shrikes. They like to nest in shrubs and shelterbelts and are attracted to roads due to the insect activity. Mid-July is the best time to spot the threatened bird because the fledglings are growing up and learning to hunt for themselves. The only walking we had to do for the survey was around the occasional cemetery looking in the shelterbelts for active nests. Due to a minor foot injury, I stood watch over the shelterbelts near the car while my field partner Nathaniel walked the perimeter.

We started the adventure in Maple Creek on Wednesday at 8:00 AM. After getting our coffee to get us going, we began the survey route that would meander down to Consul. What we expected to only take a couple of hours ended up taking two days! The weather was beautiful, just a little too hot for Loggerhead Shrikes to be active. Once it hit 30 degrees, we had to pause the survey due to the high heat which reduces the detectability of shrikes. After a quick regroup to make a new plan, we decided to visit our participants in the area and try again the next morning.

The next day, we were ready and on the road by 6:00 AM to try and finish the survey within the time we had. It was already Thursday and the forecast was above 30 degrees for the rest of the week. The early morning surveying was almost peaceful after I had my morning coffee to keep me awake, or at least that’s what I thought until we got driving and Nathaniel felt something small fly into the car through an open window. We thought it was nothing until a bumblebee flew right into Nathaniel’s face! We quickly found an approach to pull over and try to get the bee out except he did not want to leave and found that the space between the windshield and the dash was a nice place to hang out. With lots of guidance, I got what I believed was our bee out of the car. I looked over at Nathaniel and said “That has to be the bee that was flying around, what are the chances there is another bee right outside of our car right now?” With a sigh of relief, we got back in the car and began driving again. When there wasn’t any suitable habitat for Loggerhead Shrikes, we were able to speed up a bit. After about 5 minutes, we heard buzzing again and assumed the noise was coming from the open window. That's when the bee decided to make another appearance, flying at Nathaniel’s face again! We got to another approach and attempted to get it out but we gave up after a couple of minutes to continue our survey, this time accepting we had a new insect companion.

Near the end of our survey, I got what I thought was our bee out and exclaimed, “That has to be our bee! What are the chances that there is a different bee while we have one in our car?”. I found myself wrong again. Continuing our drive, the bee made a final appearance before flying out the window, and after over an hour, we said goodbye to our new friend. The rest of the survey route was not as eventful but with 10 Loggerhead Shrike sightings, including young fledglings, I think it was quite successful.

photo: N. Hak