Why an early return
Migratory birds return to their breeding grounds as food supplies surge in springtime, touching down between mid-February and the end of May. Light, wind, and weather in particular influence the birds’ timing. With climate change leading to a warmer planet, recent studies have suggested that long-migrating birds are returning earlier than in the past. This year may be no exception, as Environment Canada expects warmer-than-normal temperatures in February.

Spotting early migrants
Red-winged Blackbirds are among the first to make the journey back to Canada, arriving as early as mid-February. You can easily spot the male by its black coat and distinctive red-streaked shoulders (epaulettes). The female, smaller in size, is more conspicuous with its brownish plumage, although the white streak on its breast may give it away.

A walk in the woods may turn up a Red-winged Blackbird or two, as these birds prefer waterways in wooded areas. You can also find them near wetlands (marshes and swamps) and uplands (such as meadows).

The Song Sparrow is an early migrant too, but unlike the Red-winged Blackbird, it’s attracted to low shrubs and branches, building nests in residential areas and occasionally moving to open or wet areas to forage for food.

So there’s a good chance you will see a Song Sparrow in your backyard. Look for their reddish brown and grey plumage, with streaks of white on their chest, and listen for their short flutter. Install a bird feeder in your garden but keep the house cat – their most feared predator — indoors!

Feeding and caring for returning songbirds
Here are some simple steps you can take to feed and care for early migrant songbirds.

• Get the bird house ready: clean it out and lay down some fresh straw.
• Birds that tend to return early in the spring are often seed-eaters: leave sunflower seeds, millet and corn in the feeder. The Song Sparrow in particular prefers small seeds.
• Provide birds with a water bath: use a shallow pan and change the water every day. Place a few branches around the pan so birds can keep themselves dry while drinking. You can add a bird-bath heater to keep ice from forming in freezing temperatures.
• Proof your windows against accidental collisions: territorial males may mistake their own reflection for a rival. You can either use a yellow highlighter to mark small x’s on the inside of your window (birds can see ultraviolet light and will avoid the markings) or spray the outside with diluted dish soap.

Other early arrivals like Ring-billed Gulls and Common Grackles are opportunistic feeders who tend to forage in large flocks. Ring-billed Gulls will visit any surface, including landfills, as long as there is food nearby. These gulls, which sport a yellow bill with a black ring and grey wings over their white body, enjoy road kill, earthworms, insects and smelt.

Common Grackles are blackbirds with a long tail and iridescent plumage that you will often see in open areas, such as parks, fields, marshes and your front lawn. They like a mixture of grains and seeds, but because they will dominate smaller birds at the feeder, it’s best to scatter the grains or seeds on the ground.

Did you know?
The male Red-winged Blackbird returns from the south before its female counterpart to establish territory to entice the female into mating.

With oil spills occurring more frequently around the globe, I attended this symposium to acquire a better understanding of what is required to respond to oil spills and to determine where Le Nichoir would fit in if and when a spill occurred in Quebec. Sadly, oil spills happen every day and it is likely that the Centre will participate in this type of response at some point.

The conference not only addressed topics such as the steps and protocols needed to respond to oil spills, but many presenters spoke of the current research that is being done to see the physical effects oil is having on wildlife and the surrounding environment. Presentations were also given on how to organize and manage volunteers during a crisis, and the planning and decision making needed to deploying an emergency response centre.

It caught my attention that responders are focusing their efforts more and more on animal welfare and the psychological effects response efforts have on animals. Responders are learning that these factors play a large role in the survival rate of oiled wildlife. Speakers emphasized the importance housing, enrichment and diet play in reducing the animal’s stress and increasing its chance of surviving in the wild. Examples and descriptions were given so that the participants could apply the knowledge to their own centres in emergency and non-emergency situations.

The conference allowed both experienced and unexperienced individuals to share ideas and to discuss methods of response to small and large-scale oil spills and other emergency situations. Because of this conference oil spill responders from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, United States, Canada and as far as Singapore networked together with the ultimate goal of saving wildlife in distress as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Networking and attending these types of events is crucial to preparing for the unprepared. I am confident that participating in the oil spill response course by International Bird Rescue in November 2011 and by attending this conference, Le Nichoir has the knowledge to be able to participate in an emergency response team to help save oiled wildlife should an oil spill occur in Quebec.

The arrival of the Ring-billed Gulls in the summer prompted an unprecedented outpouring of support from the public. For several weeks, volunteers came to the Centre daily to help care for the Gulls while other volunteers built a new aviary to accommodate the injured birds. The new aviary, measuring 36ft by 12ft, will allow Le Nichoir to house aquatic birds in future emergency situations.

Another addition to our Centre over the past year was a new wood chimney, built in our insectivorous aviary, where the Chimney swifts can now roost in comfort.

Over the course of last year, Le Nichoir also admitted a number of threatened species, including the Whip-poor-will, Common Nighthawk, Barn Swallow, Chimney Swift, Least Bittern and Canada Warbler.

Key 2011 stats … and fun facts

• Common species admitted:

Ring-billed Gull – 368
American Robin – 189
Mallard – 174
American Crow – 155

• Most common areas of origin: Montreal and Vaudreuil-Soulanges regions
• Most common reasons for admission to Le Nichoir: birds were orphaned or abandoned, had wing fractures or suffered cat attacks.
• Most unusual reason for admission: a bird falling into a vat of gluten.

New Centre Project
In 2012 Le Nichoir will press on with work on its New Centre for wild bird conservation by setting out detailed plans for the building. Among these plans is a project to build a multi-unit aviary for songbirds, with a focus on insectivores. And, to help raise the last 40 per cent of the New Centre’s construction budget, Le Nichoir will soon be launching a “Loonie” campaign.

Thanks to all of our volunteers!
Le Nichoir has over 60 dedicated volunteers who help with a variety of tasks, such as bird care, fundraising, building construction, and graphic design. Volunteers are the heart of our organization and we cannot thank them enough for all of their hard work.

New volunteers are always welcome! If you’d like to help with bird care, or can provide assistance and expertise in building an earthworm farm or a small mealworm colony, please call 450-458-2809 or email info@lenichoir.org

Species:

Case:The fledgling bird was found fallen from his condo after a large thunderstorm. The bird was cold, very dehydrated and thin. The bird also had some abdominal bleeding. The parents had abandoned the bird.

Treatment: The fledgling was stabilized by providing it with heat and subcutaneous fluids multiple times a day. The bird was also weighed on a daily basis. It was fed a variety of insects and vitamin supplementation every hour. It was also provided with live house and fruit flies.

Outcome: The bird was banded by McGill Bird Observatory and released three weeks later at the location where it had been found – the Purple martin condos at Valois Park in Dorval, Quebec. Luckily, the bird was released just before the martins migrated south.

Did you know?……. Purple martins are the largest members of the swallow family in North America. Purple martins nest mostly in man-made houses that can hold hundreds of birds; they have been doing so for the past 100 years!

Lab topics include gavage (tube-feeding), physical restraint, intramuscular and subcutaneous injections, physical exams, limb immobilization and weighing. Lab procedures are performed on cadavers so that you get hands on experience with handling wildlife.

After successfully passing the exam you will receive a certificate of completion from IWRC. This course is required by some states in order to receive a rehabilitation permit.

This is a two full day course and space is limited. This course would benefit anyone who is studying, volunteering or working with wildlife.

Where: McGill University, Macdonald campus at the MAC farm, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC.

When: February 18th and 19th 2012

Cost: $159 US ($125 US for IWRC members)

Time: Saturday 8:30 am – 5:00 pm, Sunday 9 am- 4:00 pm

To register: please visit http://theiwrc.org/online-store/classes/

For more information contact Sue Lo at office@theiwrc.org or myself at info@lenichoir.org (registration must go through IWRC)

Last December, Le Nichoir received a special visitor in the form of an Atlantic puffin, a first in the Centre’s history. Chantal Brault, a veterinary technician at Hudson Veterinary Hospital, found the bird on busy Guy St. in downtown Montreal. When she realized it was not a seagull but a puffin that usually makes its home near the ocean, Chantal took the bird to the veterinary hospital and then on to Le Nichoir.

At Le Nichoir’s winter quarters in Hudson, the bird was quickly set up in a freshwater tub and fed smelt (fish left over from last summer’s Ring-billed Gull episode). The puffin was also given a meshed area for resting, along with a mirror for some “company.”

Next, the puffin was weighed and given a check-up. The bird was underweight and had lost some of its waterproofing. This is not uncommon in birds that spend their whole lives on the ocean and suddenly find themselves in a different environment, and potentially injured. In such cases, a seabird may not be able to maintain its feathers in pristine condition. Feathers are crucial to survival, and a bird that loses its waterproofing will succumb to the elements.

Because Le Nichoir does not currently have facilities to accommodate seabirds on a long-term basis, the puffin needed to be transferred to a specialized facility. Le Nichoir wanted to consult a professional who had both knowledge of, and experience with, puffins to ensure that the bird was in good health and good feather condition before it was released.

After speaking to qualified wildlife veterinarians, rehabilitators and biologists in the Maritimes, Quebec and abroad, Le Nichoir concluded that it was in the best interest of the puffin to send it to Newfoundland for proper care before its release.

This decision rested on many factors. For one, the majority of Atlantic puffins in North America breed in Newfoundland. In winter they migrate to the Gulf Stream, so we’re more likely to find puffins in the waters off Newfoundland at that time of year than anywhere else in Canada.

“The Gulf Stream brings warmer waters and lots of food offshore, from the Caribbean and Florida, along the eastern U.S. and up to Newfoundland, before veering off towards the U.K. and Ireland,” explained Lynn Miller, co-founder of Le Nichoir. “Puffins and (other) seabirds use this massive warm current to feed and overwinter along, ensuring they can survive the winter and prepare for their breeding season, which will bring them back to Canadian shores.”

Finding Newfoundland rehabilitator Stan Tobin, who specializes in the care of seabirds (and puffins in particular), was another factor that contributed to Le Nichoir’s decision. Stan, who works for the Newfoundland and Labrador Environmental Association, shared Le Nichoir’s determination to ensure the bird was properly cared for and in the best possible condition for a successful release.

Our next task was to find an appropriate commercial flight for the bird’s relocation to the East Coast. This proved difficult. So Le Nichoir approached a friend of the Centre’s at CBC for possible contacts in the airline industry. Even though CBC was the only media outlet we contacted, the story of the puffin went viral.

Le Nichoir could not have anticipated the amount of attention the puffin would generate. “Our main priority was to stay focused on what we thought was in the best interest of the bird,” said biologist Susan Wylie, Le Nichoir’s Executive Director. “So we coordinated with the media to make sure the bird was not stressed by the high volume of attention it was getting.”

Once a flight was secured and the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) notified, Le Nichoir placed the bird on an Air Canada passenger plane headed for St. John’s, Newfoundland. On December 22, Stan Tobin met the puffin at the airport, where local CWS officers banded the bird for future identification.

The puffin adjusted immediately upon arrival at Stan’s rehabilitation facility in Ship Cove. After a week under Stan’s observation, the bird gained substantial weight and rebuilt its waterproofing. Then the Canadian Coast Guard auxiliary in Newfoundland offered to release the puffin, which it did on January 6 at the Grand Banks during one of its scheduled trips.

Le Nichoir could not have asked for a happier ending to this story. All along, the Centre’s mission was to return the puffin back into the wild, and with the help of experts and the greater public across Canada, the puffin was able to do just that.

Join us December 10th and 11th for one more chance to buy a Wildcard in support of le Nichoir.

Join internationally renowned Canadian Wildlife / Nature Photographer Christopher Dodds, on November 30, 2011 at 7:30 PM at the Hudson Village Theatre (28 Wharf Road, Hudson, QC J0P 1H0) for an hour and a half long slideshow presentation to benefit Le Nichoir.

Everyone is welcome! Stories of adventure, natural history facts and information are all on the menu. Over one hundred of his stunning images will be projected, many unseen in public before.

Tickets are only $15.00 by advance purchase – every penny goes to Le Nichoir. Finger food and hors d’oeuvres are included and there will be a cash bar.

Call 450 458 2809 or email communication@lenichoir.org to reserve. Seats are limited. More details ..