Received from the Williams Lake Conservation Company this am (Jul 15):
Click on image for larger version
Come and help the WLCC and Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) remove invasive plant species along Lawson’s Brook in the Shaw Wilderness Park from 9:30 AM-1:00 PM on August 1 (rain date August 2). See poster x for details.
Participants are asked to pre-register with the NCC by contacting Mackenzie.Foster@NatureConservancy.ca.
Hope to see you there!
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By Martha Leary for the Backlands Coalition
July 14, 2024
With leadership from the Williams Lake Conservation Company (WLCC) the Backlands Coalition (BC) has assembled the “Bird Team”.
In addition to our annual surveys of all birds in the Backlands, our popular social media series on ground-nesting birds and participation in the Bird Friendly Halifax activities, the Bird Team is continuing our 2-year Common Nighthawk Project. Continue reading
By The Bird Team: Joshua Barss Donham, Fulton Lavender, Cathy Smalley, Katie Studholme. Video by Joshua Barss Donham
Images from Nighthawk Video
Joshua heard the Nighthawk for the first time this year at Osprey Ridge/Alabaster Way Trailhead on May 23; there have been many sightings and recordings since.
Why does this have us all atwitter??
Nighthawk numbers have been in steep decline. It is a Species of Concern Nationally, and a Species At Risk in Nova Scotia, and thereby legally protected under the NS Endangered Species Act.
The Backlands is a special place where they are surviving and raising their young.
Hairy Woodpecker (female) on nest cavity May 28, 2024
All Photos on this page by Joshua Barss Donham
Click on images for larger versions
On Hairy Woodpecker & Flicker nests, Hermit Thrush and Barred Owl behaviour, Osprey fishing, Eastern Wood Peewee sighting, Common Nighthawk activity, a bird survey and sounds of toads and beavers in the night, late spring into early summer of 2024
Wrote Joshua Barss Donham on June 24, 2024:
I was away for the last few days of May and the first week of June, but the day before I left I visited the Hairy Woodpeckers Nest.
Everything was as it had been when Fulton and I checked it a couple of days before.
Parents were still visiting the nest cavity with food and the young still could be heard calling out to the parents for more food when the parents were out foraging. Continue reading
From presentation by Fulton Lavender & Joshua Barss Donham on Birds in the Backlands: Indicators of the Health of the Habitat (Oct 2022)
It’s not common, it’s not a hawk, and it doesn’t hunt at night, but the Common Nighthawk IS “HRM 2024 Bird of the Year”!
The announcement was made by Jess Lewis on Mainstreet NS in conversation with host Jeff Douglas on June 27. Jess is Conservation Coordinator for Nature Nova Scotia and Chair of Bird-Friendly Halifax.
The Common Nighthawk is listed as a Species At Risk/Threatened in Nova Scotia. Continue reading
Wrote Joshua Barss Donham this am, with pics attached:
“The Golden Heather is now in bloom transforming patches of unassuming scrubby vegetation into carpets of brilliant yellow. A particular patch that I’ve been keeping an eye on, thirty metres so from the AlabasterWay/Osprey Ridge trailhead, was a hub of activity yesterday morning with tricolour bumble bees, honey bees, mason bees, and hover flies congregating … lots of pollinating going on.”
The hardwood slope in this photo (taken mid-May) is a perfect spot for ground-nesting birds/ he approx. location is indicated by the arrow in the map below. 18 May 2023. Palm Warblers were sighted nesting there, Ovenbirds nearby
By The Bird Team: Joshua Barss Donham, Fulton Lavender, Cathy Smalley, Katie Studholme. Photos by Joshua Barss Donham
June 9, 2024
Over the past few months, we’ve been sharing about ground nesting birds that call the Backlands home. So far we’ve met the Dark-Eyed Junco, the American Woodcock, and the Black-and-white Warbler, with the Common Nighthawk soon to come (hint… not common & not a hawk… stay tuned to learn more…).
But first, let’s talk habitat! Different species of ground nesting birds prefer vastly different habitats, so we’re going to stick to those that frequent the Halifax wilderness area that we call the Backlands.
Wrote JBD recently (May 27), with photos and videos attached…
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Yellow-rumped Warbler on Apr, 24, 2024 in the Shaw Wilderness Park
“It has been such a pleasure to watch the return of warblers to the Backlands! The first warbler I crossed paths with in the Backlands this year was a Yellow-rumped Warbler (April 20), heard but not seen, working his way along the upper McIntosh Run. A couple of days later I had my first good look at a bright Yellow-rumped Warbler, fresh from the south, flitting about in the hobblebush that grow on the bank of Lawsons Brook in the Shaw Wilderness Park.
Continue reading
Mosquito bites a Green Frog in the Backlands, May 14, 2024. Joshua Barss Donham photos in the Backlands on May 14, 2024
Joshua Barss Donham made an intriguing post on a private FB site where naturalists share & discuss some of their observations. He gave us permission to post it on backlandscalition.ca.
Joshua’s post was about the identity of a mosquito he had observed on a Green Frog in the Backlands.
Said Joshua:
Continue reading
By The Bird Team: Joshua Barss Donham. Fulton Lavender, Cathy Smalley, Katie Studholme
Black-and-white Warbler, near West Pine Island Pond on May 18, 2023. View short Video 1 & short Video 2 Videos by Joshua Barss Donham
Have you heard a thin, high-pitched rocking sound like a squeaky wheel in the woods lately? The Black-and-white Warblers are back in town! Another ground nesting bird who kindly asks you to keep your feet on the trails for the summer.
These boldly striped warblers, sometimes nicknamed zebra warblers, are back from wintering in northern South America, Central America, and the southeastern US.
These are one of our earliest migrant warblers, typically arriving mid-May. Unlike other wood warblers, Black-and-white Warblers eat insects and spiders they find in the crevices of tree bark, so they don’t mind the lack of leaves on the trees. Black-and-white Warblers are uniquely adapted to these feeding habits, with an extra long rear toe and thicker legs that help them work their way up and down tree trunks and branches like a nuthatch or a creeper.
