Stephanie Thorassie, Carrie Gray, Ernie Bussidor, Johnny Clipping, Jordan Stensgard, Lianna Anderson, Jina Cook, Mandy Wallmann, Chaz Collier, Darryn Yassie, Cameron Bighetty, Linda Inglis, Shakayla Antsanen, Cole Cook, Simon Duck, DJ Thorassie, Calvin Clipping, Trevin Baker, Sadie Dumas, Ronnie Moise, Raymond Ellice Jr, Kyle Clipping, Stephan Inglis, Lizette Moise, Mike Duck, Sandy Clipping, Brian Yassie, Jordan Cutlip, Kohl Barrault, and Jeff Wells.
ABOUT THE SEAL RIVER WATERSHED ALLIANCE
The Seal River Watershed is a rich, unbroken landscape of lakes, rivers, wetlands, forests, and tundra in the northern region of what is commonly known as Manitoba. It provides critical breeding and migratory habitat for countless numbers of terrestrial and marine animals. This 50,000 km2 (12 million acre) expanse of pristine wilderness is also the Traditional Territory of the Sayisi Dene First Nation, Northlands Denesuline First Nation, O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation, and the Barren Lands First Nation. Together they formed the Seal River Watershed Alliance (SRWA) to “pursue the shared objective of protecting the Seal River Watershed and other ancestral lands from all industrial development”. Designation of the watershed as an Indigenous Protected Area will serve to protect the irreplaceable cultural heritage of the region while simultaneously preserving the wealth of biodiversity found there.
Learn more at www.sealriverwatershed.ca and follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/SealRiverWatershed.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY
The National Audubon Society protects birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow, throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education, and on-the-ground conservation. Audubon’s regional programs, nature centers, chapters, and partners, have an unparalleled wingspan that reaches millions of people each year to inform, inspire, and unite diverse communities in conservation action. Since 1905, Audubon’s vision has been a world in which people and wildlife thrive.
Audubon is a nonprofit conservation organization. Learn more at www.audubon.org and follow us on X at @audubonsociety, @AudubonCAN, and @AudubonAmericas
SUGGESTED CITATION
Thorassie, S., C. Gray, E. Bussidor, J. Clipping, J. Stensgard, L. Anderson, J. Cook, M. Wallmann, C. Collier, D. Yassie, C. Bighetty, L. Inglis, S. Antsanen, C. Cook, S. Duck, D. Thorassie, C. Clipping, T. Baker, S. Dumas, R. Moise, R. Ellice Jr, S. Clipping, S. Inglis, L. Moise, M. Duck, S. Clipping, B. Yassie, J. Cutlip, K. Barrault, and J. Wells. 2024. Birdsongs of Seal River: A Bird Survey Summary Report. National Audubon Society: New York; Seal River Watershed Alliance: Winnipeg.
As somebody whose Indigenous name is the same as one of the birds of the Boreal, I have a special place in my heart for those family members from the area. I think it’s important to recognize that there are many people whose namesake is a bird of the Boreal. Our late founder, Ernie Bussidor was also named after one of our birds, Bih LTzah Ai - Owl. This exists, not only in my community, but in other communities as well. There’s significance in that. It showcases how important these species are to us. Birds are markers in our lives as the culture is changing from season to season. They are the markers in our communities when we are harvesting, when we are feeding our families, and in other acts of thriving and surviving on the land. It’s the birds that we look to, to help acknowledge and support that. The seasons—especially in the subarctic—reflect what the birds are doing. And that is really beautiful to recognize, because in reality when we talk about the birds we also have to talk about nature; we have to talk about the seasons; we have to talk about the weather; we have to talk about what’s happening on the water—if the ice is melting, if the ice is freezing. All of these things are connected. When we think about our lives and living on the land since time immemorial, this is how we co-existed and lived together in nature. It is a really, really important piece of the giant circular puzzle that connects us all together.
There is so much significance in understanding, celebrating, and sharing the work that we are doing with the world. Our Nations and our community members have always known these things and have talked about these things. Birds are in our creation stories: it’s the Raven that brought us back the sun. There are so many different ways that birds are a part of our lives. It’s hard to try to dissect one part of our existence and not think about everything else. It’s important that we acknowledge that the birds are a part of us, and we need to continue to do our part to be advocates for them because if we don’t have the birds in our backyards, we don’t have the ravens flying towards the caribou herds signifying that our food is in that direction when we are hunting: we don’t have the warblers in the mornings letting us know what the weather is like on the beaches by the lakes.
We have a remarkable opportunity here because the watershed is still full of so much song, still full of so many birds. We need to continue our hard work to preserve the watershed and help raise the voices of those birds and the people. A great part of this project is that we utilized our community elders and land users to give us clues into the different areas and what each would entail without relying just on western science. There are other factors to consider in each of the different regions, and we got more readings, more sounds, and more species when we listened to the input from the community members who told us, “Hey, I’ve seen these birds in this area before, I think we need to set up and focus on these specific places.” It is really special to have an opportunity to give them real credit for the work they have done, instead of having them JUST drive the boats. In past experiences, those boat drivers wouldn’t have gotten credit for actually showing the scientists where the work should be done. Whereas this time around, we are changing the narrative and empowering our people to have a voice within this work. That’s what I’m so excited about and so proud of. I’m really grateful and thankful that we’ve had the opportunity to be a part of this project with the National Audubon Society as they’ve been really great partners to work with—they’ve been like family. The allyship that has been there has been amazing. We couldn’t be more thankful.
~ Stephanie Thorassie Executive Director, Seal River Watershed Alliance
We have a remarkable opportunity here because the watershed is still full of so much song, still full of so many birds.
Seal River watershed.
LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
Table
Table
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
PURPOSE:
Located in the heart of the Boreal Forest of Canada, the Seal River Watershed of northern Manitoba is one of the most ecologically intact landscapes left in the world. The effort to protect it as an Indigenous Protected Area, led by the four First Nations of the Seal River Watershed Alliance, is critically important to the future of the planet because these lands are essential for the survival of people, birds, other wildlife, and the plants that give us the oxygen that we breathe. In support of the protected area initiative, the Seal River Watershed Alliance and the community’s Indigenous Guardians launched a unique bioacoustics research project along with the National Audubon Society’s Boreal Conservation program in 2021 and expanded the project in 2022 and 2023. The project relies on Indigenous knowledge to select the places within the watershed to monitor and makes use of Western Science technology to record bird sounds and analyze the results using machine learning algorithms. This report contains the results from the first three years of this model collaborative bird research program and showcases the impressive diversity of bird species that rely on this part of the Seal River Watershed for their survival.
HIGHLIGHTS AND RESULTS:
Because it is remote, most of the Seal River Watershed has never been surveyed for birds by Western scientists. To increase the area surveyed using Western Science approaches, a relatively new technology called autonomous recording units (ARUs) was deployed by Indigenous Guardians. The ARUs were deployed in remote locations and programmed to allow for the ongoing collection of audio recordings from the surrounding landscape, including bird songs and calls. Those recordings were later retrieved and analyzed to determine the presence of birds in the area. Serving as an archive of the overall bioacoustics landscape, this process can then be repeated, and the recordings compared over time to help understand changes taking place within ecological communities.
In 2021, Indigenous Guardians from the Sayisi Dene First Nation deployed 10 ARUs within the Seal River Watershed, mostly along the western side of Tadoule Lake. In 2022, they deployed 10 ARUs in new locations mostly along the eastern side of the lake. Eight ARUs were deployed in 2023 and were set up north of Tadoule Lake at locations around Stony Lake. Over the three years, an impressive 12,107 hours of recordings were collected over more than 180 days. The only previous bird survey completed near Tadoule Lake involved approximately 25 hours of counts over a two-week period in 2013 which detected fewer than 70 species. The collective data from all three years of bioacoustic monitoring in this one portion of the vast Seal River Watershed resulted in the detection of 102 species. This large number of species showcases the vital importance of protecting the watershed to sustain this impressive diversity and abundance of birds.
Along with culturally important species like Canada Goose, Common Loon, Willow Ptarmigan, Rock Ptarmigan, Bald Eagle, Common Raven, and Canada Jay, the research found a wide variety of types of birds from more than 30 taxonomic families. This ranged from larger birds like waterfowl, cranes, and gulls to medium-sized woodpeckers and thrushes to tiny chickadees, warblers, and sparrows.
Of the 102 bird species detected, five are listed as Species of Special Concern and are protected under the Species at Risk Act—Common Nighthawk, Harris’s Sparrow, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Peregrine Falcon, and Rusty Blackbird. One of the species detected throughout the watershed, the Lesser Yellowlegs, is designated as Threatened by COSEWIC, and 39 species are considered Priority Species in Bird Conservation Region 7. The data also highlighted the abundance of migratory species— including many shorebirds and waterbirds—that either use the region to nest and raise their young or as a stopover location on their journey to breeding grounds further north.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:
The results highlight the importance of the Seal River Watershed for sustaining an impressively diverse and abundant community of bird species. Protection of this type of prime Boreal Forest breeding habitat with extensive landscape coverage is critically important to reversing the loss of North American bird populations, which have declined by nearly three billion birds over the last 50 years. Many of the species documented by this research within the Seal River Watershed are species of high conservation concern and most are migratory species that spend their nonbreeding months in locations throughout the Americas. This highlights the global importance of the efforts of the Seal River Watershed Alliance to establish the area as an Indigenous Protected Area.
Continuing the project with ARUs deployed at the previously surveyed sites is recommended to see whether there are any changes in species or relative abundance over time. Expanding the monitoring program into other habitat types within this vast watershed would also be a promising endeavor to identify other bird species using the area.
This bioacoustics research project is a prime example of Indigenous-led conservation and land stewardship. It is also a model of a successful collaboration between Indigenous Guardians and Western scientists. The program’s process can be used to demonstrate the effectiveness of such collaborations and used as a blueprint for similar projects in other locations within the Boreal.
Daniel Santana / Audubon Photography Awards
BACKGROUND
The Seal River Watershed is a rich, unbroken landscape of lakes, rivers, wetlands, forests, and tundra in the northern region of what is commonly known as Manitoba. It provides critical breeding and migratory habitat for countless numbers of terrestrial and marine animals. This 50,000 km2 (12-million-acre) expanse of pristine wilderness is also the Traditional Territory of the Sayisi Dene First Nation, and they are leading the initiative to protect these lands from development by having it formally designated as an Indigenous Protected Area. Together, along with the Northlands Denesuline First Nation, O-Pipon-NaPiwin Cree Nation, and the Barren Lands First Nation they formed the Seal River Watershed Alliance to “pursue the shared objective of protecting the Seal River Watershed and other ancestral lands from all industrial development”. Designation of the watershed as an Indigenous Protected Area will serve to protect the irreplaceable cultural heritage of the region while simultaneously preserving the wealth of biodiversity that also lives here.
The breadth of plant and animal life within the Seal River Watershed is a result of the varied topography of the region and what makes it so unique. The Seal River originates in Shethenai Lake and flows eastward to Hudson Bay and through three distinct
biomes along its way (Figure 1). It begins within the Boreal Forest, with its dense conifer stands interspersed with lakes and shrub-rich fens, that transitions into a Subarctic zone of sparse stunted forest and heath, before giving way to the barren lands and boulder fields of the coastal Arctic Tundra along the shores of Hudson Bay. At the mouth of the Seal River—where tidal influences from Hudson Bay produce a confluence of fresh and saltwater—a rich, highly productive estuary is formed that provides critical calving and feeding habitat for beluga whales. It also supports healthy populations of polar bears, harbor seals, fish, and migratory birds. The estuary is a significant staging area for migrating waterfowl, particularly Black Scoters. Dense concentrations of up to 24 waterfowl species have been documented in this region, as well as large numbers of shorebirds, including Pectoral Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plover, Hudsonian Godwit, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Whiterumped Sandpiper, Baird’s Sandpiper, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, and Dunlin (IBA Canada 2023). Seabirds, such as Pacific and Red-throated Loons, and Arctic Terns, are regularly recorded here in migration, as are occasional observations of Dovekie, Black Guillemot, Iceland Gull, and Long-tailed and Pomarine Jaegers (IBA Canada 2023).
Blackpoll Warbler.
FIGURE 1. Boundary map of the Seal River Watershed, Manitoba, Canada. Common Loon.
INDIGENOUS-LED RESEARCH
Away from the coast, however, less has been documented about the assemblage and distribution of bird species that occur within the watershed. Therefore, the Seal River Watershed Alliance and the community’s Indigenous Guardians have partnered with the National Audubon Society’s Boreal Conservation Program to monitor bird species in the region. Documenting the occurrence of species, particularly ones vulnerable to population decline, is an important step in the process of protecting important landscapes. Recent advances in technology have allowed for bird research to be conducted in ways that allow large amounts of information to be obtained through the use of autonomous recording units (ARUs). This technology allows for ongoing remote collection of audio data from the surrounding landscape, including bird songs and calls. ARUs record audio of the surrounding landscape at
preprogrammed times and store the recordings until they can be retrieved at a later date. That data can then be analyzed to determine the presence of birds in the area and serve as an archive of the overall bioacoustics landscape. Recordings can be repeated and compared over time to help understand changes taking place within the ecological communities.
PROJECT SCOPE
In spring 2021, 2022, and 2023, Indigenous Guardians from the Sayisi Dene First Nation deployed SwiftOne recorders, developed by the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, within the Seal River Watershed to acoustically monitor avian biodiversity of the area (Figure 2). The SwiftOne units were configured to record sound at a 32 kHz sample rate and with 16-bit resolution, sufficient to capture vocalizations
of all bird species expected to occur in the Seal River Watershed. The gain was set to 28 dB. In 2021, SwiftOnes were deployed at 10 sites on the western side of Tadoule Lake and recorded from May 31 through July 25 with a recording schedule of 00:5904:59 UTC and 07:30-11:30 UTC daily. In 2022, ten SwiftOnes were deployed at 10 sites on the eastern side of Tadoule Lake, with a recording schedule beginning on April 15 through July 9. In 2023, 8 ARUs were deployed around Stony Lake, with a recording schedule beginning on June 23 and ending in early September; however, surveys at the Flat Rock Bay (5_23), Mossberry Island (6_23), and High Tree Bay (7_23) sites concluded between July 3 and July 14.
MEASURING AVIAN BIODIVERSITY
BirdNET (Kahl et al. 2021) was used to analyze audio recordings collected during the 2021 breeding season, the 2022 spring migration/breeding seasons, and the 2023 breeding/fall migration seasons. BirdNET is an analysis software that uses machine learning to automatically detect and classify bird species based on their song. The analysis was run with a list of 235 possible bird species with potential to be found in the Seal River Watershed (based on latitude, longitude, and time of year). BirdNET automatically generates species detection events, each with a predictive score in the 0-1 range; the closer the score is to 1, the more likely the species classification is correct. BirdNET classifications for each audio file were saved in TXT table and manually inspected using Raven Pro 1.6.36. Manual verifications were completed for each species with predictive scores ≥ 0.60 in the BirdNET detection logs by an analyst (yes-no decision). In the case of species that would be unexpected (based on results from the Manitoba Breeding Bird Atlas and eBird), a second expert reviewed the acoustic evidence to corroborate the identification. After an acoustic species detection was verified, this species was added to the species list of that site, and the analyst moved on to the next species. For the 2022 survey season data, the earliest date each species was detected was also noted during the manual verification stage of the analysis because this information can serve as an approximate date of first arrival for migratory species. This information was not collected for the 2021 and 2023 season because deployment occurred later in the season.
Yellow-rumped Warbler.
Michael Van Valkenburg / Audubon Photography Awards
FIGURE 2. ARU locations for the 2021, 2022, and 2023 survey seasons.
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS AND CONSIDERATIONS
ARU SURVEYS SUMMARY
During the 2021 survey season, 2,680 hours of recording resulted in the detection of 57 species at 10 ARU recording sites located primarily along the western side of Tadoule Lake (Figures 3, 4, and Appendix A Tables 1 and 2). In 2022, 6,099 recording hours yielded the same suite of 57 species, plus 45 additional species (for a total of 102 species) that were detected at 10 new ARU recording sites mostly located around the eastern side of the lake (Figures 3, 4, and Appendix A Tables 1 and 2). ARU monitoring efforts in 2023 were concentrated northeast of Tadoule Lake at 8 sites around Stony Lake. In total, 3,328 recording hours resulted in the detection of 78 species at the Stony Lake sites, including an additional 3 species not detected at the sites surveyed in
previous years (Chipping Sparrow, Magnolia Warbler, and Peregrine Falcon) (Figure 3 and Appendix A Tables 1 and 2). The greater number of species detections during the 2022 survey season is likely attributable to a greater number of recording hours. ARUs were deployed in April during the 2022 survey season (compared to early June in 2021), which allowed for the detection of bird use in the Seal River Watershed not only during the breeding season but also during spring migration. Recording hours per survey site ranged from 40 hrs (Site 6_21) to 735 hrs (5_22) and the number of species detections per site ranged from 11 (Site 7_21) to 64 (Sites 3_22 and 8_22) (Appendix A Tables 1). In general, the sites with the greatest number of recording hours also had the greatest number of species detections (Figure 5).
FIGURE 3 (LEFT) AND FIGURE 4 (RIGHT). showing the total number of species detected and the total number of recording hours per survey year.
Harris’s Sparrow.
Courtney Celley / USFWS
5. Summary map of total number of species detected and total number of recording hours at each ARU site within the Seal River Watershed during the 2021, 2022, and 2023 survey seasons. Sites in light yellow indicate both fewer species detections and total recording hours; sites in bright yellow indicate greater species detections despite fewer total recording hours; sites in turquoise indicate fewer species detections despite higher total recording hours; and sites in bright blue indicate higher species detections and higher total recording hours.
AVIAN BIODIVERSITY
Bioacoustic monitoring for birds in the Seal River Watershed resulted in the detection of 102 species representing 31 taxonomic families (Table 1 and Appendix A Tables 1 - 3). In total, 64 landbird species, 16 species of waterfowl, 13 shorebird species, and 9 waterbird species were recorded by ARUs in the Seal River Watershed during the breeding and migration periods. Many of the birds detected in the Seal River Watershed are iconic species strongly representative of North America’s Boreal Forest— one of the last remaining largely intact forests in the world, encompassing 6,070,284 km² (1.5 billion
acres), and stretching 5,000 km from Newfoundland in the east to Alaska in the west (Figure 6; Wells et al. 2020). The detection of many bird species strongly associated with the Boreal Forest at the majority of survey sites suggests that these birds are widely distributed in the Seal River Watershed (Table 2). For example, an estimated 74% of the North American population of Common Loons (see Appendix B for scientific names) breeds within the Boreal Forest and was detected at 27 of 28 survey sites (Table 2 and Appendix A Table 4) (BSI 2024). Others examples of birds exemplary of the Boreal
FIGURE
Forest and detected at more than 70% of the sites surveyed in the Seal River Watershed included: Blackpoll Warbler, which has 82% of its breeding population in the Boreal Forest; Pine Grosbeak with 89%; Swainson’s and Hermit Thrush with 73% and 75%, respectively; Canada Jay with 73%; and Yellow-rumped Warbler with 63% of their breeding population in the Boreal Forest (BSI 2024).
Twenty-seven of the species detected over the three years of surveys are species whose populations have been declining in Canada over the last 50 years (Table 1) (Environment and Climate Change Canada 2019). Several species have experienced population declines severe enough to warrant special protective status, as designated by the Committee on the
Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC 2024) (Table 2). This includes the shorebird species Lesser Yellowlegs, which was detected at 22 of 28 sites surveyed in the Seal River Watershed and was recently designated as Threatened. COSEWIC defines “Threatened” as a “wildlife species likely to become Endangered if limiting factors are not reversed” (COSEWIC 2020). Also of note was the detection of four species—Common Nighthawk, Harris’s Sparrow, Olive-sided Flycatcher, and Rusty Blackbird—that are listed as Species of Special Concern, which COSEWIC defines as, “a wildlife species that may become a threatened or an endangered species because of a combination of biological characteristics and identified threats”.
FIGURE 6. Extent of the Boreal Forest in North America.
Thirty-nine bird species detected by ARUs in the Seal River Watershed are considered “priority species” in Bird Conservation Region (BCR) 7-PNR (Environment Canada 2013). BCRs are ecologically distinct regions with similar bird communities and habitats. The Seal River Watershed lies within the Taiga Shield and Hudson Plains subregion of the Prairie and Northern Region portion of BCR 7. This subregion extends from the Hudson Bay coast of Manitoba across the Northwest Territories to Great Bear Lake. The purpose of these assessments by the federal government is to identify species with population levels that should be increased or at minimum be maintained to meet the goals of their bird conservation strategy. Several factors determine the designation of a species as a “priority species” within a BCR, including: 1) whether the species is of conservation concern due to population declines; 2) it is considered a
stewardship species because they are representative of that region’s regional bird community; and/ or 3) they are a species of management concern as a game species that is below its desired population level. Among the 195 bird species that Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) identified as occurring in BCR 7-PNR and assessed for prioritization, a total of 62 were designated as priority species for the region. It is noteworthy that 63% of those priority species were identified as using the Seal River Watershed for breeding and/or migratory stopover habitat through ARU monitoring. Additionally, surveys of the Seal River Estuary conducted by Ducks Unlimited Canada identified five additional priority species within the proposed Indigenous Protected Area, including: American Black Duck, Bufflehead, Common Eider, Pacific Loon, and Surf Scoter (Ball et al. 2020).
TABLE 1. List of 102 bird species (categorized by taxonomic family) that were detected over three summers (2021 – 2023) of ARU monitoring in the Seal River Watershed, MB. Species listed in orange and italicized are birds whose Canadian populations have exhibited long-term declines over the last 50 years (Environment and Climate Change Canada 2019). Species marked with an asterisk are rare species in the area and were checked carefully by multiple people for accuracy.
Alcedinidae
Bombycillidae
Caprimulgidae
Charadriidae Plovers and lapwings
Corvidae Crows, jays, and magpies
Fringillidae Finches
Gaviidae
Gruidae Cranes
American Wigeon, Cackling Goose, Canada Goose, Common Goldeneye, Common Merganser, Greater White-fronted Goose, Green-winged Teal, Long-tailed Duck, Mallard, Northern Pintail, Red-breasted Merganser, Ring-necked Duck, Snow Goose, Trumpeter Swan, Tundra Swan
Bohemian Waxwing, Cedar Waxwing*
Lapland Longspur, Smith’s Longspur, Snow Bunting
Brown Creeper*
American Golden-Plover, Black-bellied Plover, Semipalmated Plover
American Crow, Canada Jay, Common Raven
Common Redpoll, Hoary Redpoll, Pine Grosbeak, White-winged Crossbill
Loon, Red-throated Loon
Sandhill Crane
Taxonomic Family Description
# of species detected Common name of species detected
TABLE 2. Bird species with widespread distributions within the Seal River Watershed (detected at 70% or more of the 28 sites surveyed) with ARUs between 2021 – 2023.
American Robin
Bald Eagle
Blackpoll Warbler
Bohemian Waxwing
Canada Goose
Canada Jay
Common Loon
Common Raven Pine Grosbeak
Common Redpoll
Common Tern
Dark-eyed Junco
Fox Sparrow
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Lesser Yellowlegs
Common Nighthawk Northern Waterthrush
Red-throated Loon
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Rusty Blackbird
Swainson’s Thrush
White-crowned Sparrow
White-winged Crossbill
Yellow-rumped Warbler
TABLE 3. Bird species detected by ARU surveys within the Seal River Watershed that are listed at the federal and/or provincial level.
Species
Black Scoter
Blackpoll Warbler
Common Nighthawk
Harris’s Sparrow
Data deficient Near Threatened
Data deficient Near Threatened
Species of Special Concern Threatened Least Concern
Species of Special Concern Near Threatened
Lesser Yellowlegs Threatened Least Concern
Long-tailed Duck Data deficient Vulnerable
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Species of Special Concern Threatened Near Threatened
Peregrine Falcon Not at Risk Endangered Least Concern
Rusty Blackbird Species of Special Concern Vulnerable
Trumpeter Swan Not at Risk Endangered Least Concern
¹ Refers to Canadian Wildlife Species at Risk list; all status listings obtained from COSEWIC (2022).
² Refers to the Manitoba Natural Resources and Northern Development’ Species and ecosystems at risk list; all status listings obtained from MNR&NR (2024).
³ Refers to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species; all status listings obtained from BirdLife International (2024).
TABLE 4. Priority species in Bird Conservation Region 7 (Prairies and Northern Region) that were detected by ARU surveys (2021 – 2023) in the Seal River Watershed, MB.
American Golden-Plover
American Pipit
Common Nighthawk Peregrine Falcon
Common Tern Pine Grosbeak
American Tree Sparrow Dunlin
American Wigeon
Belted Kingfisher
Black Scoter
Black-backed Woodpecker
Blackpoll Warbler
Greater Yellowlegs
Red-throated Loon
Rusty Blackbird
Harris’s Sparrow Short-billed Dowitcher
Herring Gull
Smith’s Longspur
Lesser Yellowlegs Solitary Sandpiper
Long-tailed Duck Sora
Bonaparte’s Gull Merlin Swamp Sparrow
Boreal Chickadee
Canada Goose
Caspian Tern
Common Loon
Northern Pintail Whimbrel
Northern Shrike
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Palm Warbler
White-crowned Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Wilson’s Snipe
LANDBIRDS
In total, 68 landbird species representing 23 families were identified and confirmed on ARU recordings collected during the three survey seasons (Appendix A; Tables 1 and 2). During the 2021 survey season, the greatest number of landbird species detections occurred at sites 3_21 and 5_21 (each with 26 total species detections). In 2022, site 8_22 had the greatest number of landbird species detections (44 species), followed by site 3_22, with 43 species detections. In 2023, site 4_23 (Sandy Beach Bay) and site 8_23 (Eye Poke) had the greatest number of landbird species detections, each with 34. In addition to the previously mentioned Species of Special Concern that were detected by ARU recordings in the Seal River Watershed (Common Nighthawk, Harris’s Sparrow, Olive-sided Flycatcher, and Rusty
Blackbird), four other landbird species that were detected are candidate species for assessments for listing because their populations are thought to be in serious decline, including American Tree Sparrow, Blackpoll Warbler, Horned Lark, and Least Flycatcher (COSEWIC 2023). Landbird species detected within the Seal River Watershed that are priority species within Bird Conservation Region (BCR) 7 Taiga Shield and Hudson Plains included American Pipit, American Tree Sparrow, Belted Kingfisher, Blackbacked Woodpecker, Blackpoll Warbler, Boreal Chickadee, Common Nighthawk, Harris’s Sparrow, Northern Shrike, Palm Warbler, Pine Grosbeak, Rusty Blackbird, Smith’s Longspur, Swamp Sparrow, Whitecrowned Sparrow, and White-throated Sparrow (Environment Canada 2013).
SPECIES SPOTLIGHT
Harris’s Sparrow. Harris’s Sparrows are emblematic of the northern Boreal region because they are Canada’s only endemic breeding bird. They breed exclusively in the transitional zone of central northern Canada where the subarctic Boreal Forest gives way to the shrubby low arctic tundra. Harris’s Sparrow is larger than most sparrow species and quite striking in appearance with its black hood and bib and its pink bill. These ground nesters prefer breeding territories in shrubby areas interspersed with small, isolated stands of spruce forest (Norment et al. 2020). Surveys on the wintering grounds in the central Great Plains of the U.S. suggest the species has experienced a 57% population decline over the last 35 years (Norment et al. 2020). As a result, it is classified by COSEWIC as a Special Concern species in Canada and as Near Threatened by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (COSEWIC 2017b, BirdLife International 2023). Protection of breeding habitat from deforestation associated with mining and road construction will be a critical component for achieving the objective of a 100% population increase within BCR 7 Prairies and Northern Region (Environment Canada 2013). The establishment of protected areas— such as the Seal River Watershed Indigenous Protected Area—within the species’ narrow breeding range will be critical for safeguarding healthy populations of Harris’s Sparrow into the future.
Tom Koerner / USFWS
SHOREBIRDS
ARU surveys recorded extensive use of the Seal River Watershed by a diversity of breeding and migratory shorebird species. In total, 13 shorebird species were detected by ARUs during the breeding and migratory seasons over the three years of monitoring (Appendix A. Table 2). Shorebird species were detected at all ARU recording sites, with site 8_23 (Eye Poke) having the greatest diversity of detected shorebird species (n = 8). Greater and
SPECIES SPOTLIGHT
Lesser Yellowlegs, as well as Spotted and Solitary Sandpiper were among the most commonly detected shorebird species at many survey sites in the Seal River Watershed. The Seal River Watershed overlaps the breeding range of most of the shorebird species detected; however, some like Baird’s Sandpiper and Black-bellied Plover breed further north and were likely using the area as a stopover during migration. Shorebirds undergo spectacular migrations each year traveling thousands of kilometers between northern
Lesser Yellowlegs. Lesser Yellowlegs is a medium-sized shorebird with long, brightly colored yellow legs and mottled brown, white, and black plumage. It is similar in appearance to the Greater Yellowlegs, but is approximately 25-30% smaller in size (Tibbitts and Moskoff 2020). It has a wide distribution across the Western Hemisphere, with 80% of its breeding range within the Boreal Forest of Canada and a winter range that spans the Caribbean and Central and South America (Tibbitts and Moskoff 2020). During their annual round-trip migration of up to 15,000 km, Lesser Yellowlegs move in loose flocks throughout the United States; however, the greatest concentrations can be found in the central interior of the country during both spring and fall and along the Atlantic Coast in fall (McDuffie et al. 2022). Lesser Yellowlegs nest on the ground in open Boreal Forest interspersed with shallow wetlands, such as bogs, fens, and marshes (Clay et al. 2012). During the non-breeding season, they occupy a wide range of wetland types, including freshwater and tidal salt marshes, mudflats, wet meadows, reservoirs, and flooded agricultural fields (Clay et al. 2012).
The Lesser Yellowlegs population is in steep decline with an estimated loss in abundance of 60-80% over the last 40-year period (Smith et al. 2023). Moreover, the annual rate of decline increased during the latter part of that time period. Indeed, they were among 18 shorebird species with negative population trends that accelerated during the most recent three-generation period compared to the previous three-generation period; a shift from approximately -4% decline in abundance per year to -7.5%/yr for the Lesser Yellowlegs (Smith et al. 2023). Although the causes of shorebird declines are not completely understood, loss of wetland habitat, particularly along the migration route and on the wintering grounds, as well as unregulated hunting in parts of its range appear to be driving factors in the decline of Lesser Yellowlegs (Clay et al. 2012, McDuffie et al. 2022). Habitat protection and restoration at key wintering and migration stopover sites, regulating hunting and harvest of the species in the Caribbean and South America, and building constituencies for shorebird conservation across the hemisphere will be essential management actions for recovery of the Lesser Yellowlegs population.
Tom Koerner / USFWS
breeding areas and wintering locations ranging from the southern U.S. to the southern tip of South America. Shorebird populations are in steep decline, however, and a recent study found that 26 of 28 shorebird species in North America have become less abundant over the last 40 years, with half of the species losing more than 50% of their population in that period (Smith et al. 2023). Among the species detected by ARUs in this study, American Golden-Plover, Dunlin, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Short-billed Dowitcher, Solitary Sandpiper, Whimbrel, and Wilson’s Snipe are considered priority species in BCR 7 Prairie and Northern Region (Environment Canada 2013). Information about population trends for boreal shorebirds is extremely limited due to the remoteness of the habitats they use for breeding. However, the use of ARUs to monitor remote areas may hold great promise for better understanding the conservation status of shorebirds in the boreal region of Canada.
WATERFOWL AND WATERBIRDS
The Seal River Watershed supports a diverse array of waterfowl and waterbird species during the breeding period. Sixteen waterfowl species and 9 waterbird species were confirmed by the ARU surveys. Common Loon, Red-throated Loon, and Common Tern were the most commonly detected waterbirds at ARU survey sites, while Canada Goose and Mallard were the most frequently detected waterfowl species. Common Goldeneye, Sandhill Crane, Green-winged Teal, and Snow Goose were detected at nearly all the sites surveyed in 2022 on the western side of Tadoule Lake, while Caspian Tern was frequently detected on the eastern side of the lake during the 2021 surveys. Site 1_22 (n = 16 species) had the greatest waterfowl and waterbird diversity among all the survey sites. Twelve of the waterbird and waterfowl species detected are considered
priority species for BCR 7 Prairie and Northern Region, including American Wigeon, Bonaparte’s Gull, Black Scoter, Canada Goose, Caspian Tern, Common Loon, Common Tern, Herring Gull, Longtailed Duck, Northern Pintail, Red-throated Loon, and Sora (Environment Canada 2013).
FIGURE 7. Number of individual birds by species with leg bands observed within the Seal River Watershed and reported to the USGS Bird Banding Laboratory
The Boreal Forest in Manitoba is comprised of approximately 40% wetlands and holds more than 8,000 lakes making it a critical breeding area for waterfowl and waterbirds in North America. Three years of surveys in the eastern section of the Seal River Watershed conducted by Ducks Unlimited Canada revealed that 20 waterfowl species use the area during the breeding season. The study also found that those waterfowl species occurred in higher densities compared to other sites in the region; three waterbird species—Common Loon, Pacific Loon, and Sandhill Crane—were also documented during their surveys (Ball et al. 2020). Additionally, records collected by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Bird Banding Laboratory over the last 100 years show nine species of waterfowl with leg bands have been reported within the Seal River Watershed (Figure 7). Canada Goose, Snow Goose, and Mallard, all detected by the ARU study, were among the most prevalent species with bands reported. Migratory connections among banded birds observed within the Seal River Watershed reached far
across North America; Figure 8 shows where banded individuals observed within the watershed were reencountered in other regions. The area with the greatest number of migratory connections with the Seal River Watershed for banded waterfowl was the Mississippi River Valley of the central U.S—where the floodplains of the river system consist of extensive wetlands and agricultural fields that support more than 40% of North America’s waterfowl during winter. Banding data also revealed that some individuals moving through the Seal River Watershed traveled as far north as Alaska’s North Slope and Baffin Island, Nunavut.
ARRIVAL TIMES
The earlier deployment of ARUs in 2022 allowed for the estimation of approximate first arrival dates for migratory bird species. The earliest spring arrivals to the Seal River Watershed were the short-distance migrants with wintering ranges in southern Canada and the northern United States, including Dark-eyed Junco, Horned Lark, Bohemian Waxwing, and Snow Bunting. These species were all detected within the first two weeks after the ARUs were deployed in mid-April, 2022. Thirteen resident species were also detected during this time period, including Blackbacked Woodpecker, Boreal Chickadee, Boreal Owl, Canada Jay, Common Raven, Hairy Woodpecker,
FIGURE 8. Migratory connections of individual birds observed with leg bands within the Seal River Watershed and other places they have been encountered in North America and reported to the USGS Bird Banding Laboratory.
SPECIES SPOTLIGHT
Common Goldeneye. The Common Goldeneye is a small, diving duck that breeds almost exclusively in the Boreal Forest. An estimated 83% of the species’ North American population breeds within the Boreal, and it can be found nesting within tree cavities among forests that border the wetlands, lakes, and rivers that comprise much of its northern range. Wintering goldeneyes can be found in protected bays, estuaries, and harbors along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, as well as large lakes and rivers inland. Pair bonds are established and maintained on the wintering grounds where males put on elaborate courtship displays for females (Eadie et al. 2020). In spring, females return to natal areas with their mates, often establishing breeding territories within a few kilometers from where they were born (Eadie et al. 2020). Goldeneyes are highly territorial. They are known to form longterm pair bonds, and they are highly site-faithful to breeding territories, often returning to the same nesting cavity for successive years (Eadie et al. 2020). Bird species that nest in tree cavities are often limited by the number of suitable nest sites, particularly in areas managed for timber, which limits their reproductive output and ability to recover population levels when breeding habitat is lost (Pöysä and Pöysä 2002, Eadie et al. 2020). While Common Goldeneye populations are currently considered stable, adequate breeding habitat must be maintained by protecting the Boreal Forest from industrial resource extraction in order to sustain current populations.
Hoary and Common Redpoll, Northern Goshawk, Pine Grosbeak, Rock Ptarmigan, White-winged Crossbill, and Willow Ptarmigan. These species can typically be found within the region year-round; however, some species may make short-distance migrations during winters with food shortages and/ or severe cold.
There were two waves of migrant arrivals in early May and late May during the spring of 2022, with peaks on May 8 and May 23 (Figure 9). The earlier peak was primarily comprised of short- to medium-distance migrants that winter in the U.S. such as American Tree Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, Brown Creeper, Rusty Blackbird, and Hermit Thrush. There were also a few long-distance migrant shorebirds in this first wave, including Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs and American Golden-Plover. The later peak was a mix of medium- to long-distance migrant bird species that
typically winter in the southern U.S. and Caribbean, such as Savannah Sparrow, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Palm Warbler, and Bonaparte’s Gull, as well as those that winter in South America, including Northern Waterthrush, Blackpoll Warbler, Gray-cheeked Thrush, and Whimbrel. First detections of other long-distance migrants continued through the first two weeks of June before tapering off, and (among others) included Common Nighthawk, Swainson’s Thrush, Tennessee Warbler, Yellow Warbler, and Alder Flycatcher.
Monitoring first detection dates of migratory bird species with ARUs can be a useful tool for documenting climate-related shifts in breeding phenology. There is mounting evidence that birds in the northern hemisphere are advancing their spring migration and arrival dates, as well as breeding dates in response to climate change (Lehikoinen et al. 2004, Rubolini
Brett Spencer / Audubon
Photography Awards
NUMBER OF SPECIES DETECTIONS BY DATE
FIGURE 9. Number of new species detections by date in the Seal River Watershed during ARU surveys, 2022.
et al. 2007). Increases in spring temperature in certain parts of the globe have advanced the phenology of some plant and insect species creating the potential for trophic mismatches between migratory birds and their food sources (Amano et al. 2010, Thackeray et al. 2010, Everall et al. 2015). Bird populations that fail to adjust to changes in the timing of peak food resources during the breeding season may face population level consequences (Moller et al. 2008). Going forward, we recommend continuing the practice of deploying ARUs in the Seal River Watershed prior to migrant arrivals to help document potential climate-related shifts in the timing of their migrations.
Christian Artuso
Hermit Thrush.
CONCLUSIONS
Bioacoustic monitoring for birds within the heart of the Seal River Watershed yielded important information about the diversity of species that use the region during the breeding and migration period. Over three monitoring seasons, 102 species were documented, including one Threatened species, five Species of Special Concern, and 39 Priority Species in Bird Conservation Region 7.
Highlights among the 68 landbird species detected with ARU surveys were: 10 warbler species, 10 sparrow species, six finch species, six raptor species, four flycatcher species, four thrush species, and four woodpecker species. Indeed, the Seal River Watershed hosts a significant proportion of landbird species known to breed in Manitoba. For example, 45% of the North American sparrow species that breed in Manitoba were recorded by ARUs in the Seal River Watershed (Artuso et al. 2023). Furthermore, they were widespread within the survey area, with five of the 10 sparrow species detected occurring at every one of the 2022 survey sites. Among the other landbird groups were 38% of warbler species known to breed in Manitoba, 60% of finch species,
38% of raptor species, 33% of flycatcher species, 44% of thrush species, and 44% of woodpecker species (Artuso et al. 2023). These results highlight the importance of the Seal River Watershed landscape for sustaining a diverse assemblage of bird species. Protection of this type of prime breeding habitat with extensive landscape coverage is a critical component for reversing the decline of North American bird populations, which have declined by nearly three billion birds over the last 50 years (Rosenberg et al. 2019).
ARU studies also documented widespread use of the survey area by shorebirds during both the migration and breeding seasons. The calls of 13 shorebird species were recorded with ARUs and among them were six species that are estimated to have lost at least half of their population over the last 40 years, including American Golden-Plover, Dunlin, Lesser Yellowlegs, Short-billed Dowitcher, Spotted Sandpiper, and Whimbrel (Smith et al. 2023). Despite recent population declines, Lesser Yellowlegs was detected at nearly every site surveyed within the Seal River Watershed, indicating that the area is prime breeding habitat for this imperiled species. Overall,
Christian Artuso Common Nighthawk.
shorebirds in North America have declined in abundance by nearly 40% in recent decades and 90% are expected to experience an increased risk of extinction due to climate change (Galbraith et al. 2014, Rosenberg et al. 2019). The use of ARUs to monitor for shorebirds in remote boreal landscapes, such as the Seal River Watershed, is an important tool for detecting changes in occupancy among vulnerable species. These types of studies help to identify priority habitats whose protection will help to safeguard North American shorebird species from further population declines.
The Seal River Watershed Alliance’s ARU surveys document the importance of inland areas of the watershed to waterfowl and waterbirds. In total, 25 waterfowl and waterbird species were detected throughout the survey area. Among the waterfowl, were: four species of dabbling ducks, four species of diving ducks, four goose species, two sea duck species, and two swan species. Waterbirds included three gull species, two seabird species, two loon species, one crane species, and one rail species. Seventy percent of wetlands have been lost in southern Canada, yet the abundance of wetlands and lakes in places like the Seal River Watershed gives Manitoba the distinction of being one of the highest-producing regions for waterfowl in North
The continued deployment of ARU units at previously surveyed sites is recommended to document whether any changes in the species or relative abundance or detectability are evident. Expanding the monitoring program to other habitat types within the watershed would also be a promising endeavor to identify other bird species using the area. The bioacoustics monitoring project conducted by the Seal River Watershed Alliance exemplifies Indigenous-led conservation and land stewardship efforts within Canada. This work is a model of a successful collaboration between Indigenous Guardians and Western scientists. The program’s process can be used as blueprint for similar projects in other locations in the Boreal Forest in Canada, demonstrating the effectiveness of such collaborations. Further work should continue to better understand how Indigenous Knowledge about birds can be brought together with results from Western science approaches to gain a fuller understanding of the birds and ecology of the Seal River Watershed and other Indigenous Traditional Territories. Long-term financial support of Indigenous Guardians programs and Indigenous-led conservation should be a high priority of federal and provincial governments.
Swainson’s Thrush.
Christian Artuso
LITERATURE CITED
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Artuso, C., A. R. Couturier, K. D. De Smet, R. F. Koes, D. Lepage, J. McCracken, R. D. Mooi, and P. Taylor. 2023. The Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Manitoba, 2010-2014. Birds Canada. <http://www.birdatlas.mb.ca/ e>. Accessed 12 Jul 2023.
Ball, J., C. Smith, F. Baldwin, and S. Slattery. 2020. Seal River Estuary & Knife River Delta: Report on 2013-15 Waterfowl Surveys. Ducks Unlimited Canada, Stonewall, Manitoba. <Seal River Estuary & Knife River Delta: Report on 2013-15 Waterfowl Surveys>.
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Clay, R. P., A. J. Lesterhuis, and S. Centron. 2012. Conservation Plan for the Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes). Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network.
COSEWIC. 2016. COSEWIC assessment and status report on the Evening Grosbeak Coccothraustes vespertinus in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa. xi + 64 pp. (http://www.registrelep-sararegistry. gc.ca/default.asp?lang=en&n=24F7211B-1).
COSEWIC. 2017. COSEWIC assessment and status report on the Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus (pealei subspecies - Falco peregrinus pealei and anatum/tundrius - Falco peregrinus anatum/tundrius) in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa. <https://www. canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/species-risk-public-registry/cosewic-assessments-status-reports/ peregrine-falcon-2017.html>.
COSEWIC. 2017b. COSEWIC assessment and status report on the Harris’s Sparrow Zonotrichia querula in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. <https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/ services/species-risk-public-registry/cosewic-assessmentsstatus-reports/harris-sparrow-2017.html>.
COSEWIC. 2020. COSEWIC assessment and status report on the lesser yellowlegs, Tringa flavipes, in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada., Ottawa, Ontario. <https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/ services/species-risk-public-registry.html>.
COSEWIC. 2023. Candidate wildlife species. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. <https://www. cosewic.ca/index.php/en/reports/candidate-wildlife-species. html#toc5>.
Ducks Unlimited Canada. 2008. The Impacts of Wetland Loss in Manitoba. Ducks Unlimited Canada, Stonewall, MB, Canada. <https://www.gov.mb.ca/sd/water/watershed/iwmp/netley/ documentation/wetlands_and_water_management_netley. pdf>.
Eadie, J. M., M. L. Mallory, and H. G. Lumsden. 2020. Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula), version 1.0. Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. <https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.comgol.01>.
Environment and Climate Change Canada. 2019. The Status of Birds in Canada Website, Data-version 2019. Environment and Climate Change Canada, Gatineau, Quebec, K1A 0H3.
Environment Canada. 2013. Bird Conservation Strategy for Bird Conservation Region 7 in Ontario: Taiga Shield and Hudson Plains. Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada, Ottawa, Canada. <https://publications.gc.ca/collections/ collection_2014/ec/CW66-318-1-2012-eng.pdf>.
Everall, N. C., M. F. Johnson, R. L. Wilby, and C. J. Bennett. 2015. Detecting phenology change in the mayfly Ephemera danica: responses to spatial and temporal water temperature variations. Ecological Entomology 40:95–105.
Galbraith, H., D. W. DesRochers, S. Brown, and J. M. Reed. 2014. Predicting Vulnerabilities of North American Shorebirds to Climate Change. PLOS ONE 9:e108899.
IBA Canada. 2023. Seal River Estuary. <https://www.ibacanada. ca/site.jsp?siteID=MB013>.
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Lehikoinen, E., T. H. Sparks, and M. Zalakevicius. 2004. Arrival and Departure Dates. Pages 1–31 in. Advances in Ecological Research. Volume 35. Birds and Climate Change, Academic Press.
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McDuffie, Laura A, K. S. Christie, A.-L. Harrison, A. R. Taylor, B. A. Andres, B. Laliberté, and J. A. Johnson. 2022. Eastern-breeding Lesser Yellowlegs are more likely than western-breeding birds to visit areas with high shorebird hunting during southward migration. Ornithological Applications 124:duab061.
McDuffie, Laura A., K. S. Christie, A. R. Taylor, E. Nol, C. Friis, C. M. Harwood, J. Rausch, B. Laliberte, C. Gesmundo, J. R. Wright, and J. A. Johnson. 2022. Flyway-scale GPS tracking reveals migratory routes and key stopover and non-breeding locations of lesser yellowlegs. Ecology and Evolution 12:e9495.
Moller, A. P., D. Rubolini, and E. Lehikoinen. 2008. Populations of migratory bird species that did not show a phenological response to climate change are declining. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105:16195–16200.
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Thackeray, S. J., T. H. Sparks, M. Frederiksen, S. Burthe, P. J. Bacon, J. R. Bell, M. S. Botham, T. M. Brereton, P. W. Bright, L. Carvalho, T. Clutton-Brock, A. Dawson, M. Edwards, J. M. Elliott, R. Harrington, D. Johns, I. D. Jones, J. T. Jones, D. I. Leech, D. B. Roy, W. A. Scott, M. Smith, R. J. Smithers, I. J. Winfield, and S. Wanless. 2010. Trophic level asynchrony in rates of phenological change for marine, freshwater and terrestrial environments. Global Change Biology 16:3304–3313.
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Pine Grosbeak.
Christian Artuso
APPENDIX A. 2021 - 2023 ARU RESULTS SUMMARY
TABLES
APPENDIX A. TABLE 1. Total recording hours and total species detections at ARU sites within the Seal River Watershed during the 2021 - 2023 survey seasons.
Site
APPENDIX A. TABLE 2. Landbird species (n = 67) detected during 3 years (2021 – 2023) of ARU monitoring at 28 survey sites in the Seal River Watershed, MB.
APPENDIX A. TABLE 3. Shorebird species (n = 13) detected during 3 years (2021 – 2023) of ARU monitoring at 28 survey sites in the Seal River Watershed, MB.
Lesser Yellowlegs.
Common Tern.
APPENDIX B. TABLE 1: INDIGENOUS BIRD NAMES
The following table lists the phonetic and syllabic translations for the bird species found within the report as well as birds not in the report but known to be in the region.
Common Name in English
LANDBIRDS
Sayisi Dene First Nation SDFN Syllabics
Northlands Dene First Nation (based on Elder knowledge)
Alder Flycatcher iyeze
Northlands Dene First Nation (based on taught Dene language)
These translations were done through work with Elders and community members in each of the four First Nations: Sayisi Dene First Nation; Northlands Dene First Nation; Barren Lands First Nation; and O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation. A special thanks to Amelia Moose, Elder Margaret Moose, Elder John Y Spence, Elder Josephine Dumas, Fred Denechezhe, Geoff Bussidor, Elder Moise Denechezhe, Elder Madeline Bighetty, Elder Hermaline Thomas, and all who shared their knowledge.
Barren Lands First Nation BLFN Cree Syllabics O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation
OPCN Cree Syllabics
Kaleesis
WATERBIRDS AND WATERFOWL
Kaskateesip
Heard & Seen (No Cree Name)
Chescheskises
Chescheskises
Chescheskises
Ochapiskanesiw
Okikiwan Ahkesiw
Chescheskises
Chescheskises
Heard & Seen (No Cree Name)
Okimiwanah Keses
Wepehtwasip
Kahkitisip
Monkahosiw
Opahkiswahikeses
Chimikwayawiniska
Niska Niska Opaskahawisew
Makikwesip
Mawgwa Mokwa
Osik
Keyaskochanases
Napiniska
Apisisipis
Keyask
Ahawew
Ithinsip
Kinoogyaweesip
Kinohkokwayawisip
Chachakiw Osik
Common Name in English
Sayisi Dene First Nation SDFN Syllabics
WATERBIRDS AND WATERFOWL continued
Northlands Dene First Nation (based on Elder knowledge)
Northlands Dene First Nation (based on taught Dene language)
Red-throated Loon Tthudtane ts’ibe da dzehe
Ring-billed Gull besskiye besk’aye
Ring-necked Duck
Sandhill Crane Dehl dell det Snow Goose Ghogah xa
Sora
Trumpeter Swan gahgos gagos
Tundra Swan gahgos gagos
Wood Duck (The duck that lays in the trunk of a tree)
Lianna Anderson
John Y Spence (left front), Margaret Moose (left back), Amelia Moose (right back), & Josephine Dumas (right front) all working together to communicate the bird species list into Cree and Cree syllabics.
NDFN Syllabics
Barren Lands First Nation BLFN Cree Syllabics O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation
WATERBIRDS AND WATERFOWL continued
Mawgwa
Keeyask
oochichak
Wapiski Nissan
Wapisiw
Ayahchimok
Keyask
Maskekosip
Ochichahk
Apischiskis
Chechekises
Wapisiw
Mathapisew
Wapachipis
Cree Syllabics
OPCN
John Y Spence (Left) & Amelia Moose (right) laugh together as they work on translating bird names for the Seal River Watershed Alliance.
