[two_third]Nature Canada’s first ever Fall BioBlitz was a huge success! We were joined by over 200 citizens of the national capital region who accompanied local expert naturalists on guided walks where they learned to identify plants, birds, amphibians, reptiles and more! A BioBlitz can take many forms, but is generally an intense 24 hour survey of a location with a mission to identify as many living things as possible at the site. With the help of naturalists and citizen investigators we managed to identify a total of 295 species, at least four of which are considered species at risk: the Common Nighthawk, the Rusty Blackbird,the Butternut tree and the Snapping Turtle. The Fall BioBlitz is part of a larger effort to learn more about the state of local biodiversity and catalogue changes over time in population patterns. Mud Lake is considered by many to be a wilderness gem in the heart of our busy city and is found within the Lac Deschênes- Ottawa River Important Bird Area. It was the perfect location for such an inventory. Easy to get to and containing various habitats in a confined area, Mud Lake is an ideal spot to connect to nature in your own backyard. Each walk focused on a particular group of plants or animals. Simple kitchen items revealed a world of tiny living things which thrive in complex communities, often unnoticed, in water. An eye opening experience for many. An ultraviolet light focused on a white sheet called-in night-flying insects for close examination after the sun had set. Birders, expert and aspiring, rose early to search out common and rare species. We even got an up close look at snapping turtles that were making their way from the nest to the water. All in all it was a very exciting 24 hours! We hope you can join us for the next BioBlitz at Mud Lake in June 2014. We would like to thank everyone who came out to help us survey the area, in particular all the fantastic local naturalists who shared their expertise and helped to make the day such a resounding success! Botany experts – Serguei Ponomarenko, Zoe Pachen, Cassandra Robillard Insect experts –Henri Goulet, Tara Conroy Avian experts - Gillian Shields, Carlos Barbery, Emily Bird Reptile and amphibian experts – Julie Chateauvert, William Halliday, Rachel Thibodeau General experts – Jeff Skevington, Michelle Locke We would also like to thank our funders:
Photo Credit: Rocky Chan[/caption]
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Exploring aquatic macro-invertebrates with a kitchen strainer and a tub.[/caption]
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Young snapping turtle.[/caption]
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Delegates attend a session at the BirdLife International World Congress[/caption]
Birds are excellent indicators of environmental change. Declines of some species clearly reflect the pressures human activities are putting on the world's biodiversity. The third edition of State of the World's Birds was launched at the Congress. The report explains that bird populations – and overall ecosystem health – are declining around the world. But there is good news: conservation works. The annual cost of protecting all nature would be surprisingly low. State of the World's Birds outlines where and how that money should be spent.
BirdLife's two Canadian partners, Bird Studies Canada and Nature Canada, co-hosted the Congress. "This is a very exciting time for Canada. We have a fantastic opportunity to showcase the strength and success of our bird conservation work, and learn from the experiences of our partners," said Dr. George Finney, President of Bird Studies Canada. Ian Davidson, Nature Canada's Executive Director, said: "Through 'the power of many,' the BirdLife World Congress is an important chance to forge new partnerships and build long-term strategies to address some of the planet's toughest conservation challenges."
Congress sessions featured the Important Bird Areas Program and several other key global BirdLife initiatives. Achievements of the "Forests of Hope" and "Global Seabird" Programs were highlighted, as well as the relatively new "Local Empowerment" and "Invasive Alien Species" projects.
BirdLife International is the largest and fastest-growing partnership of national conservation organizations. "This gathering brings together the people who make conservation happen – not just for nature, but for the human communities that depend on it. The atmosphere will be energizing, challenging, and inspiring," said BirdLife International Chairman Peter Schei.
Generous support for the 2013 BirdLife World Congress has been provided by Platinum Sponsors Aage V. Jensen Charity Foundation, Arcadia, the Hima Fund, MAVA, Rio Tinto, Swarovski Optik, and the Government of Canada (Parks Canada and Environment Canada).
More media on the Congress:
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Western Sandpipers at Panama Bay. Photo: Karl Kaufmann, courtesy Audubon Panama[/caption]
We've blogged to you before about the efforts underway to protect one of the most important wetlands in the western hemisphere, the Panama Bay wetlands, which may be bulldozed to make way for a string of new tourist resorts. Now this, from BirdLife International's newswire:
In 2009, over 80,000 ha of the Panama Bay Wetland became a National Protected Area. However, in May this year, legal protected status was withdrawn because of pressure for urban and resort development, including hotels and golf courses. At the same time, regulations on mangrove cutting have been relaxed. Developers are reported to be at work within the Ramsar site boundary.A coalition of 40 groups, including our BirdLife partner, the Panama Audubon Society, continues to push for protections to be reinstated. (Nature Canada has contributed more than $10,000 to this effort, thanks to our members' support.) The Panama Bay is a critical migratory stopover site along a chain of wetlands stretching from Alaska through British Columbia and down into northern South America. It provides key migration stopover habitat for two million shorebirds from the United States and Canada annually, making it one of the most important shorebird sites anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. Each fall, virtually the entire population of Western Sandpipers travels through Boundary Bay in British Columbia, down along the Pacific west coast to Panama Bay. Both bays are globally significant Important Bird Area. Through the Important Bird Areas (IBAs) program, we are working with BC Nature and its partners to conserve the Boundary Bay IBA for future generations of birds and people, and Nature Canada has worked with PanamaAudubon Society for nearly a decade to conserve Panama Bay. Because of this site's importance, the Bay of Panama has also been recognized as a Wetland of International Importance in 2003 under the Ramsar Convention, and designated a Site of Hemispheric Importance by the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network. Our U.S. BirdLife partner, the National Audubon Society, has an action alert online you can use to send a letter to Panama's government asking them to save the Panama Bay Wetlands.
[two_third] Do you like maps? Then you’ll love this news. The first global inventory of important sites for the conservation of migratory marine species is being launched today at COP11 in India. It’s called the e-Atlas of Marine Important Bird Areas, and it promises to provide essential information for a whole raft of people from conservation practitioners and policy makers, to fisheries managers and energy sector planners (think wind farms, gas and oil exploration and drilling). The e-Atlas, a product of BirdLife International, covers 3,000 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) worldwide, and 325 IBAs in Canada, including 124 marine IBAs. It is the result of six years of effort that, to date, has involved around 40 BirdLife Partners, with the world’s leading seabird scientists from inside and outside the BirdLife Partnership, in collaboration with government departments of conservation, environment and fisheries. Data on Canada’s IBAs is based in part on work of Canadian BirdLife co-partners Nature Canada and Bird Studies Canada as part of our Important Bird Areas program, which aims to identify, monitor and protect a global network of IBAs for the conservation of the world’s birds and other biodiversity. In addition to the globally significant IBAs profiled in this new Atlas, we’ve identified nearly 300 other IBAs that support nationally significant bird populations. The grand total puts Canada’s Important Bird Areas at roughly 600; you can learn about all of them at www.ibacanada.ca. An e-Atlas on marine sites for migratory species, particularly birds, has been on many a conservationist’s wish-list for some time. Globally, seabirds are one of the most threatened groups of birds, though Canada is somewhat of a haven for many species. Given the vast distances seabirds cover, the long periods they spend at sea and the many threats they face there, identifying a network of priority sites for their conservation is vital to ensure their future survival. Bordered by three oceans, with the longest coastline in the world and more than 52,000 islands, Canada supports about 15 million breeding seabirds, the most common being Leach’s Storm-Petrel, Thick-billed Murre and Cassin’s Auklet. In addition, there are millions of migrants, mostly shearwaters, which breed in the Southern Hemisphere and visit Canada during our summer. According to the State of Canada’s Birds 2012 report, which Nature Canada published with several conservation partners, oil at sea, both illegal discharges and major spills, poses an increasing threat to Canada’s seabirds. Oil and gas developments are concentrated on continental shelves around Canada’s coasts, which are also the prime feeding areas for many birds and fish. While breeding, seabirds aggregate in huge colonies, sometimes more than a million birds, and these vast concentrations are extremely vulnerable to marine oil spills. The e-Atlas includes profiles on 30 sites along the Northern British Columbia coast that could be exposed to oil pollution from increased tanker traffic and an impossible-to-rule-out oil spill if the Northern Gateway Pipeline project is approved. Nature Canada and BC Nature are joint interveners in the Joint Review Panel hearings examining Northern Gateway, which proposes to carry tar sands oil from Alberta across the Rockies to the northern B.C. port of Kitimat. Giant tankers - some nearly as long as the Empire State Building is tall - loaded with crude oil headed for Asia would navigate through the pristine and rugged northern B.C. coast at the rate of about one every second day. That's bad news for B.C. wildlife; the central and north coast of B.C. is a globally important area for marine birds, other marine animals and fish.
Pectoral Sandpiper[/caption]
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Tufted Puffin[/caption]
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Surf Scoter[/caption]
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Bird photographers at Lac Deschenes IBA.[/caption]
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Targeted conservation actions: Includes any coordinated measures intended to reduce, mitigate, prevent or reverse negative impacts on grasslands biodiversity (individual species, habitats or whole ecosystems). Such actions could range from education/awareness-building efforts to on-the-ground activities focused on conserving a species and/or its habitat.Beneficial practices: Includes any coordinated agricultural or other land-use practice intended to reduce, mitigate, prevent or reverse negative impacts on grasslands biodiversity (individual species, habitats or whole ecosystems). Such practices could include alternative grazing or mowing regimes that benefit forage production and grassland biodiversity.
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| Common loon by Andrew Reding via Flickr |
Public hearings continue as Canadians voice their concerns about Enbridge's proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline. In addition to the roughly 4,000 citizens who have signed up to take part, thousands have also written letters to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other elected officials with a clear message that this pipeline is not in the public's interest.
That certainly holds true for B.C.'s wildlife too.
Last week, I summarized the risk that artificial lights – from tankers, towers and other infrastructure – pose to marine and migratory birds. But there’s another highwire hazard B.C.’s birds could face: Collisions by birds with power lines are a cause of mortality in many species.
In written evidence submitted by Nature Canada and BC Nature to the joint review panel, we highlighted a few of the many studies that show this risk:
A review by Golder Associates (2009) notes that "fatal impact from transmission lines have been recorded in 350 species of birds worldwide and in some cases the level of fatalities are speculated to have contributed to declines in local and regional bird populations.”
In another 2005 review of avian collisions, Erickson et al. summarized that “waterfowl including ducks, geese, swans, cranes, and shorebirds appear to be most susceptible to collisions when powerlines are located near wetlands.”
A 2010 review published in Bird Conservation International examined the issue at a global scale and concluded that “many large ... wetland birds and some smaller, fast-flying species are prone to colliding with overhead wires... waterfowl, shorebirds... are among the most frequently affected avian groups and collision frequency is thought to be an influential factor in ongoing population declines in several species.”
Similarly, a 2001 study for Prince Edward Island Energy Corporation noted that “birds that fly fast in tight flocks at low altitudes such as waterfowl and shorebirds appear to be particularly susceptible to collisions with wires ... raptors are also frequent victims of wire kills.”
Wires as collision hazards are especially important where raptors, like bald eagles, concentrate – places like salmon streams, or migration and staging areas. Young birds learning to fly are also particularly vulnerable.
The Kitimat estuary and marine waters, where Enbridge proposes to establish its port for oil tankers, is just the kind of migration and staging area that should be avoided. Yet despite overwhelming evidence that collisions with wires can be a significant cause of mortality in marine birds, Enbridge dismisses the issue as so rare as to not merit attention.
None of the so-called "key indicator" species -- those species that, in Enbridge’s view are representative enough of all marine birds to be included in their impact studies -- were shorebirds, yet it is shorebirds in particular that face danger from collisions with wires.
As the rhetoric grows and the heat rises on this highly contentious project, it’s important that those without a voice of their own – B.C.’s marine wildlife – are not forgotten. You can lend your voice to the cause by sharing your opinions with Canada’s Prime Minister.
For those who don't already know, Nature Canada is one of those radical groups opposing the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline project. And while many have offered intelligent, well-stated rebuttals to this odd claim (try this, and this), we all know such talk is a diversion.
“birds often can be attracted to and disoriented by artificial lights, especially during periods of low ambient visibility, which may result in potentially fatal drownings, exhaustion, or collisions (Cochran and Graber 1958; Verheijen 1981, 1985; Rich and Longcore 2006). Although the effects of lights on Spectacled and Steller’s Eiders specifically have not been determined, studies have demonstrated that seabirds and migrating birds at sea are particularly susceptible to deleterious effects of artificial lighting (Telfer et al. 1987, Le Corre et al. 2002, Russell 2005, Montevecchi 2006).”
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