By Margo Hearne
It’s a long weekend, the sun is out and the birds have all gone quiet. There hasn’t been a peep from thrushes in days. Most of the young birds have left the nest and are practicing flying. How was the nesting season? It looks successful locally, Townsend’s and Orange-crowned Warblers, Golden-crowned Kinglets and Song Sparrows have all had a successful season and fledged young were out and about, but out in the forest things don’t look so good. The Breeding Bird Atlas routes have been changing dramatically in recent years. Both sides of the highway are now mostly logged and the birds that rely on the forest are simply not there anymore.
Surveys can only be done where there is vehicle access. The Masset count starts near Skonun Point and ends south of Pure Lake and the Skidegate Lake route runs from just outside Sandspit to Mosquito Lake. Clearcuts are everywhere. In some places there’s a thin fringe of trees by the highway to shield the worst from immediate view but the birds know that their homes are gone. It’s especially bad south of Pure Lake and it was really stark this year on the Copper Bay road as the area had just been logged the week before the survey and all the birds had flown. Clearcuts, wherever they are, are disaster areas and the myth we heard a few years ago that ‘logging has ended on Haida Gwaii’ is not true. It’s worse than ever.
On a positive note, a wonderful, fun, hard-working group from the Haida Gwaii Youth Stewardship Program came to the Nature Centre this week and the outdoors has been brushed, weeded and trimmed. The lank grass that was pushing out the flowers have been removed and the parking area given a makeover. The entrance to the viewing tower has also been cleaned up and, with the help of Delkatla volunteers, some of the long limbs that reached over the building have been trimmed back. The holly bushes, which were planted in honour of Ronnie Stewart, who lived in Masset in the 1940s and 1950s, are now visible again. Stewart did a lot for the protection of the Sanctuary in his day, and found a Steller’s Eider in Delkatla, the first record for Canada. His family, who lived in Duncan, BC had a holly farm, and the hollies came from there.
It was a long, hot day for the Stewards, but they were a pleasure to work with and were willing to do what needed to be done. Haawa and Thank You to Colleen and her crew, Marissa, Mackenzie, Jesse, Kailyn and Solana and very best wishes for the rest of your season!
The shorebirds on the beaches are moving through slowly and a surprising Red-necked Phalarope swam around a small pond near the golf course. They are small shorebirds that usually fly in flocks offshore then land in the ocean. They swim in circles, feeding on aquatic insects that get caught up in the floating weeds and tide rips. Birds do what they want to do; we can help them along by leaving them alone.
P.S. Our spotting scope, or large telescope, was lost in Sandspit this week, if you find it please let us know at 250 626 5015.