Manitoba's unique golden-winged warbler population threatened by blue-winged mates: study

U of M study shows songbird is mating with blue-winged warbler, which could knock out the species

CBC News Posted: Dec 02, 2017 8:39 AM CT Last Updated: Dec 02, 2017 1:24 PM CT

The long-term survival of a unique bird that calls Manitoba home is being threatened by the fact the species is finding love with blue-winged mates, a new study shows.

The province is home to the golden-winged warblers and until recently, it was believed to host one of the most genetically pure populations of the songbird in the world.

But a study from the University of Manitoba published in the Conservation Genetics journal says that some of the beautiful little birds are also carrying blue-winged warbler DNA.

"When they hybridize with the blue-winged warbler, in almost all previous populations within 50 years, the blue-winged warblers have almost completely taken over and the golden-winged warblers disappear," said Nicola Koper, a professor in the University of Manitoba Natural Resources Institute who supervised the research, on CBC Radio's Weekend Morning Show.

"So the fact we've started to find the blue-winged warbler DNA in Manitoba's population makes us concerned about it."

Golden-winged warblers are about the size of a chickadee, with a golden cap, gold bars on their wings and a little black face and throat. When they are nearby, the birds make a soft buzzing sound like an insect.

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New conservation site in Manitoba

By: Staff The Canadian Press Published on Thu Feb 02 2017 

LUNDAR, Man. — A nature group has unveiled a new conservation site in Manitoba.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada says the Swan Lake Wetland-Parkland Complex project near Lundar is more than 935 hectares.

It says the area is a mix of forest, savanna, grasslands and expansive wetlands which tie into Big Swan Lake and the surrounding smaller shallow water lakes.

It says bird surveys conducted in the area found 86 bird species, including four threatened species at risk — the least bittern, Eastern Whip-poor-will, bobolink and barn swallow.

The conservancy says the open wetlands along the east end of the property are important for many wetland bird species, including sandhill crane, great blue heron, and American white pelican.

Environment Canada contributed more than $521,000 which was used to help buy the land, and cover off other project costs, surveys, appraisals, biological inventories for all species and habitats and a property management plan.

"It's exciting for our 200th project to have been a wetland as there's many important reasons to conserve Manitoba's wetlands," Kevin Teneycke, senior director of conservation with the Nature Conservancy of Canada in Manitoba said in a news release.

"Wetlands help clean water, reduce flooding and erosion, minimize drought and provide plants and animals with food, water, shelter and a place to call home. During warmer months, wetlands also provide excellent recreational spots and learning opportunities."

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3 Manitoba birds listed as species at risk

Baird's sparrow, horned grebe, buff-breasted now 'species of special concern' under Species at Risk Act

By Bryce Hoye, CBC News Posted: Jul 06, 2016 5:00 AM CT Last Updated: Jul 06, 2016 5:01 AM CT

The deteriorating state of three Manitoba bird species has caught the federal government's attention, and it comes as a welcome change for some in the wildlife world who have been waiting for the additions for several years.

"We were hoping that it was inevitable that they would pass," said biologist Christian Artuso with Bird Studies Canada. "It's just that under the previous government these things seemed to get stalled out."

The Baird's sparrow, the horned grebe and the buff-breasted sandpiper were listed as species of special concern in June under the Species at Risk Act (SARA). Eight other wildlife species in other provinces were also added, while a handful of others that were already on the list received new designations.

The additions stem from recommendations made by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) over the past few years. The organization is made up of a group of wildlife experts who monitor species that are facing challenges staying alive in Canada.

COSEWIC makes these kinds of recommendations regularly. In an ideal world, Ottawa listens to those suggestions, which triggers the need for the Canadian Wildlife Service to come up with one-to-three year management strategies, depending on the status of the species, CWS species at risk biologist Ron Bazin said.

That hasn't exactly happened as planned recently; recommendations piled up under the Harper government.

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Rare bird of prey not seen here in more than a century

By: Bartley Kives

Posted: 05/28/2014 1:00 AM 

Manitoba birders are atwitter over a sighting of a bird of prey unseen in this province for 122 years.

On Thursday evening, a group of 13-year-old flag-football players, their coaches and several adult spectators watched a large black-and-white bird circle over Fraser's Grove Park in East Kildonan for almost an hour.

"It looked like a huge swallow, because it had a huge, forked tail. And then someone else said it looked like someone was flying a kite," said Kyle Kushnier, one of the spectators.

"He was doing these fairly tight circles. He was very, very nimble," added Donovan Toews, who briefly stopped the flag-football practice he was coaching in order to watch the bird. "It looked like he was hunting."

Later that evening, Kushnier consulted birding books and websites before concluding the creature in question was a swallow-tailed kite, a bird that breeds in South America and is a frequent visitor to the southeastern United States.

The species had not been seen in Manitoba since 1892.

"There's nothing else that looks remotely like it, never mind behaves like it," Kushnier said.

Continued