2011 Duck Breeding Season
Ducks Unlimited has released the latest figures for the 2011 breeding season for ducks in North America. The total population of all duck species was estimated at 45.6 million breeding birds, an 11 percent increase over last year. This is only the fifth time in the survey’s history that the …
Words Fail Me Wednesday
Hiking? I Don’t Think So
Another update from my Alaska Highway traveling niece. “We stopped for the night beside the Tanzilla River in northern British Columbia. We were by ourselves in the campsite and in between rain showers we decided to go for a hike. We didn’t go far when we came upon these bear …
Maritimes Breeding Bird Atlas Needs Photos
Update from Bird Studies Canada After five years of field work (2006-2010) by dedicated volunteers, the Maritimes Breeding Bird Atlas (MBBA) is now in the data analysis and publication phase. The species accounts have volunteer writers assigned but we still need species photos to include in the book. For a full …
Boreal Forest Protected
Birds and wildlife of the boreal forest are breathing a little easier today. The Boreal Songbird Initiative has reported the wonderful news that 8,000 square kilometers of boreal forest and wetlands have been protected in Manitoba. “A vast stretch of pristine boreal forest and shoreline adjacent to Lake Winnipeg—a place …
Wednesday Wings: The Wire Walker
Boreal Birds #2
This second set of boreal bird pictures comes from Janet Plante, who, with her husband Pete is driving up the Alaska Highway. Janet is my niece, and is making me unbelievably jealous with her photos. The first picture she sent was a Yellow-rumped Warbler, taken 260 km northwest of Whitehorse, …
Boreal Birds #1
Canada’s Boreal Forest is a 1.4 billion acre green swath stretching from The Yukon in the west, across all provinces to Newfoundland in the east. Within this bird nursery, billions of birds are raised during the short but insect-laden summer months. Although I now live in southern Alberta, I was …