Frontenac Bird Studies

Our pilot year has officially wrapped up with the completion of Frontenac Breeding Birds: Report on the 2009 Field Season. The document summarizes all of our data on breeding bird populations collected from May-August 2009. The results are truly exciting and we are looking forward with great anticipation to what 2010 will bring. The report, in its present form, contains confidential information on Species at Risk but a more streamlined version will be available for wider distribution in early January.

Our attention will now shift to setting priorities for avian research and monitoring in 2010 and beyond. This past year has laid the critical groundwork, providing us the opportunity to refine methodology and also to focus and enhance our efforts going forward. Stay tuned for news and announcements in the coming months!

Broad-winged Hawk banded at Rock Ridge MAPS Station (Seabrooke Leckie)

FBS kicks avian research and monitoring into high gear!

Year one of the Frontenac Bird Studies (FBS) program has been a great success!  Over 200 surveys of breeding birds were completed in June and July throughout the FBS study area, which encompasses over 15,000 hectares between Sydenham and Westport, Ontario. This substantial effort, which included roughly 42 kilometres of walking in Frontenac Provincial Park, revealed an incredibly rich avian community. Several Species at Risk in the area were encountered including Whip-poor-will, Common Nighthawk, Louisiana Waterthrush, Golden-winged Warbler and a remarkably high number of Cerulean Warblers. We also established a new network of Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) stations to index and monitor critical demographic patterns for breeding landbirds in the Frontenac Arch. Over 300 birds were banded and recaptured during the summer for this program, the most unusual of which was an adult Broad-winged Hawk captured at our Rock Ridge site in June. A nest monitoring effort was also initiated this summer to assist in the collection of demographic statistics for local bird populations. Over 70 nests were carefully monitored in 2009, which included records of Winter Wren, Brown Creeper, Common Nighthawk, Whip-poor-will, Scarlet Tanager, Northern Waterthrush, Osprey and Red-shouldered Hawk, to name a few. And finally, Project Whip-poor-will successfully took flight with over 30 roadside surveys conducted in late June and early July. These nocturnal surveys were timed to coincide with the full moon – peak time for vocalizing Whip-poor-wills. Impressively, over 50 Whip-poor-wills, now classified as a threatened species, were detected during the surveys!

These are just a few of the highlights from our busy summer that further support the Frontenac Arch as a region of significance to bird populations in Ontario and Canada. Frontenac Breeding Birds in 2009, our first year of the project, will serve as an integral foundation for us going forward. The program was made possible by a network of spirited and generous volunteers, collaborators and donors. Staff and directors of the Migration Research Foundation extend a big thanks to the following for their integral support in 2009!

Funding

The John Hackney Foundation for the Noosphere
The McLean Foundation

Volunteers and Sponsors

Andrew Jano
Don Johnston
Friends and family of Gail Woolnough
Ian Sturdee
Jan McDonald
Julia Marko Dunn
Kerry Adams
Larry Menard
Matthew MacGillivray
Pierre Robillard
Sally Wills
Seabrooke Leckie (Research Assistant)
Steve Gillis
Wendy Derbyshire

Support

Peter Dawson
Ontario Parks

Bert Korporaal
Ontario Parks

Chris Robinson
Ontario Parks

Staff, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources

Mark Peck
Royal Ontario Museum

Ron Weir
Kingston Field Naturalists

Don Ross & David Bull
Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve

Audrey Heagy & Jon McCracken
Bird Studies Canada

We are already looking forward to 2010, our second year of the Frontenac Breeding Birds project, and encourage everyone to visit our website for more information on FBS programs (www.frontenacbirds.ca), or contact us at fbs@migrationresearch.org.

Sincerely,

Dan Derbyshire
Project Lead, Frontenac Bird Studies
Migration Research Foundation
2386 Bathurst Concession 5
RR7 Perth, ON
K7H 3C9
fbs ‘AT’ migrationresearch.org
www.migrationresearch.org
www.frontenacbirds.ca

Nesting season for turtles has been in full swing the past two weeks. I’ve probably moved about 15-20 turtles off paved and gravel roads in the area since early June.  Turtles frequently fall victim to collisions with cars as they slowly cross roadways in search of nesting sites. I always prioritize stopping the car and moving them to a safe spot in their intended direction. Female Map Turtles and Snapping Turtles have been observed nesting in the soft gravel at the road edge throughout the FBS study area but these “roadies” are most frequently observed at dusk when one can easily find as many as 5-10 of them on the road in maybe a kilometre or two.

The Snapping Turtles have a certain air of intimidation about them but can be moved easily without risk of being bitten if you know where to hold them by their shells. I can’t seem to find any decent links to descriptions of this procedure so I will refrain from recommending that these creatures be handled-they do have a powerful bite.  They will often move quickly (for a turtle) if approached from behind so you can often move them out of harm’s way in this manner.

The Migration Research Foundation is pleased to announce that The McLean Foundation has approved our application for funding in 2009 for the development of Frontenac Bird Studies! We extend our gratitude to the foundation for this support.

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Friends and Family of the late Gail Woolnough have generously supported the establishment of Frontenac Bird Studies. Donations in memory of Gail, who had a strong appreciation for birds and the outdoors, will go directly to support the inauguration of our Frontenac Breeding Birds program, which will commence in late May, 2009. We are very grateful to have received this honour and extend our sincere appreciation to all of the friends and families for their support.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

It is with great excitement that the Migration Research Foundation (MRF) introduces a new bird conservation initiative, Frontenac Bird Studies (FBS)! The project has been in development for much of the past fall and winter and it is a joy to finally get started with this blog and the all of the fieldwork to come. Spring has arrived and most of the lakes in the study area are now mostly free of ice. Red-shouldered Hawks are common in the region and have been observed daily while early spring landbirds and waterfowl have also been plentiful. The nesting season is well underway for Great Horned, Barred and Northern Saw-whet Owls as well as Red-breasted Nuthatches and Pileated Woodpeckers, to name a few!

While our flagship program, Frontenac Breeding Birds, will not begin officially until mid-May, 2009, we will have several activities to keep us going in the meantime. Starting on April 12, we will commence bird surveys on alternating days along Canoe Lake Road for the Spring and Fall Migration Census program. This program will continue on a regular basis until May 31 for the spring and will start-up again in August for the autumn season. In the next couple of weeks, we will also initiate nocturnal surveys of breeding owls in the FBS study area. April is the best window for conducting these surveys as owls of all species breeding in the area will be active. All of these activities will be heavily featured in the blog, along with other noteworthy sightings, events and developments.

The FBS blog will be a dynamic site with regularly updated content, which will include field summaries, articles and lots of multimedia. Our programs are ideally suited to the production and presentation of video content and we will be uploading short clips of birds as a regular feature. The goal of this endeavour is to try to provide a compelling visual experience of the Frontenac Arch and its remarkable flora and fauna. We will also be including frequent updates from the field in the sidebar under “Recent Observations”. Please note that the categories listed under the “Browse by topic” button will fill out as content is added to the blog.

If you are interested in lending a hand to the establishment of FBS, we invite you to consider joining the 2009 Baillie Birdathon in support of the Migration Research Foundation (MRF). The birdathon is an important fundraiser for MRF and your support will help FBS take flight in 2009! Click here more information.

Black-capped Chickadee