All of the needed permits and agreements are now in place to move forward with more detailed planning for the installation of three Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) stations in our study area. With the study area being over 15,000 hectares in size, it has been a big project just to develop a basic framework for maximizing the utility of the MAPS program for the purposes of our Frontenac Breeding Birds initiative. From the beginning it was clear that one station would be good, two would be better and that three could be a powerfully instructive network of stations that could calculate and monitor avian demographics for an area of approximately 22,000 hectares (not bad for 21 days of fieldwork!). This initiative also represents the first major expansion of the MAPS program in Ontario since 1995 when a total of six stations were simultaneously initiated in 1995 at Kakabeka Falls in Northwestern Ontario, all of which closed in 1998 (there have been a few isolated stations added in the province since that time). It is our intention to continue adding stations in strategic areas as we move forward. However, establishing these first three will be important to understand appropriate criteria for future expansion and to test feasibility of specific landscape components for the MAPS program in this region.

Selecting suitable sites for MAPS is a slightly tricky business as many factors have to be considered including access, habitat components, species assemblage as well as proximity of infrastructure, development and agricultural activity. In developing our MAPS network we were careful to consider sites that could be accessed relatively comfortably and that were fairly consistent in degree and type of anthropogenic pressure, habitat maturity and habitat structure. However, a hallmark of the Frontenac Axis is its heterogeneity, and it is true that something quite different can be found at any turn. All three of our sites are similar but will have distinct characteristics of slope, vegetation, hydrology and representative bird species. This will allow us to sample a broad array of breeding bird species and also provide the opportunity to study some species shared by all three stations that are occurring in differing landscape contexts.

The panoramic image above was taken from our new Hemlock Lake (codename HELA) site, which is a site that I’ve been very keen on since my first visit in January, 2009. The site is a spectacular example of the Frontenac Axis with shield-like features and characteristically southern forest elements. The 20ha site is focused around a small lake with hundreds of flooded snags. The perimeter of this lake is very rocky with meandering creeks and small wetlands. The habitat is predominantly successional coniferous forest with young hardwood communities, however mature mixed-forest and juniper-rock barrens are also abundant in the area. A visit to the site yesterday was very buggy to say the least but I did find an impressive community of birds, which seemed to be on territory within the site. A shortlist of the species mix is provided below. We will return to this site once the Black Flies have relented to set up for our first banding day in early June, 2009. It is going to be an absolute pleasure to spend seven summer mornings with the birds at Hemlock Lake!

Hemlock Lake (HELA) Species on May 7, 2009

Black-throated Green Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Northern Waterthrush
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Ovenbird
Brown Creeper
Hermit Thrush
Winter Wren
Pileated Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Yellow-throated Vireo
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Eastern Towhee
White-throated Sparrow
Red-shouldered Hawk