Filling in Gaps: Report on 2024 Field Crews
This year’s Atlas staff crews did an outstanding job filling in coverage gaps throughout the province. Three crews of four people each worked across the southern Shield in the Algonquin, North Bay, Sudbury, Algoma, Rainy River, Kenora, and Thunder Bay regions. All together, the staff completed an incredible 1,561.6 peak hours of coverage and 2,109 point counts.
Scroll down to read each crew’s story from the summer!
Birds and Beyond: The Northwest Crew’s Atlassing Adventures ~ by Claire Atherton
Northwest Crew: Claire Atherton, Shaun Rath, Mark Duchene, and Abbey Lewis
This season, the Northwest crew did a large tour of northwestern Ontario (within the 5% coverage area). We spent the first couple of weeks Atlassing along Lake Huron’s north shore before heading west to Thunder Bay. From there, we travelled all throughout the northwest to Quetico Provincial Park, Sioux Lookout, Pickle Lake, Red Lake, and Kenora.
Over the course of the season, our crew found 111 nests of 33 species! Highlights were finding Nashville and Tennessee Warbler nests, which are notoriously well-hidden. It’s always a treat to stumble upon one of these nests. As the season progressed, we started finding nests with young like the curious Pileated Woodpecker nestling seen in the photo below.
The most abundant species we encountered was Nashville Warbler, which reminded us of how important the boreal forest is for supporting breeding warblers. Other abundant species were Red-eyed Vireo, White-throated Sparrow, and Ovenbird. Exploring the north meant having lots of encounters with typical boreal species like both Red and White-winged Crossbills, many different warblers, and even a Great Gray Owl! In addition to birds, we encountered lots of other wildlife including bears, moose, wolves, and lynx!
Each field season presents its challenges, and this one was no different. It was a particularly rainy year in the northwest, which limited our ability to conduct point counts. Despite all the rain, we still managed to complete many squares and find lots of breeding evidence!
We made sure to take time to explore the local sights during our travels. While in Thunder Bay, we took a day trip out to Sleeping Giant Provincial Park to hike the Top of the Giant Trail. Although challenging, the views were definitely rewarding! We also managed to take a few weekend trips throughout the season to explore the region, including the Rainy River and Winnipeg areas.
We’d like to extend a big thank you to Ontario Parks for letting us camp at 11 different parks throughout the season: Windy Lake, Chutes, Pancake Bay, Kakabeka Falls, Quetico, Sandbar Lake, Ojibway, Blue Lake, Pakwash, Rushing River, and Rainbow Falls. The staff were helpful with any questions we had and very accommodating when we had to make last-minute changes.
Rocky Roads and Breeding Codes: Atlas-3 Central Crew 2024 ~ by Karl Heide
With coverage beginning to fill up in southern Ontario, this year’s central crew was tasked primarily with completing some of the harder-to-reach parts of regions 31, 32, and 34 (Sudbury and Blind River) along the northern fringe of the 100% coverage zone. We also completed some squares within region 28 (Parry Sound). The crew consisted of Karl Heide, Baylana Hiebert, Vanessa Wormwell, and Erik Van Den Kieboom. Each of us played a pivotal role in completing point counts and gathering breeding evidence in the 83 squares that we covered this season. All told, the central crew completed an astounding 814 point counts, 596.3 peak hours, 1,886 checklists, and 23,314 records, obtaining confirmed breeding evidence for 64 of the 146 species that we reported.
Many of the central crew’s major highlights this season involved warblers. Near Mikisew Provincial Park, Erik and Baylana found two Palm Warblers on territory, well south of their known range, and even saw one carrying food. The whole crew got the chance to monitor a territorial male Kirtland’s Warbler west of Sudbury throughout the season (originally found by Abbey Lewis of the Northwest crew in late May, it stuck around until at least June 20). And on the second-last day of the season, Vanessa confirmed breeding of Prairie Warbler in a new square on Georgian Bay in Region 28. In the non-passerine department, notable highlights were the confirmed breeding of Gadwall and Northern Shoveler (and presence of American Wigeon and Blue-winged Teal) in a new square for Region 31, two encounters with Spruce Grouse families, a young American Goshawk being defended by its mother, and many nights spent serenaded by Barred Owls and Eastern Whip-poor-wills. There were also an encouraging number of Chimney Swifts foraging low over the canopy of remote forested areas, suggesting that perhaps the use of natural cavities by this species may be on the rise in central Ontario.
The central crew was lucky enough to find 157 nests, arguably the most satisfying form of confirmed breeding evidence. Among the most interesting finds were nests of Canada Warbler (just hatched), Blue-headed Vireo (fledge day), Common Nighthawk (NE), Sedge Wren (N), Black-throated Green Warbler (AE), Ruffed Grouse (just hatched), all five thrushes (NE and NY), Belted Kingfisher (AE), Nashville Warbler (NE), and Eastern Kingbird (NB).
Alongside the birds that we studied this summer, the Central crew also got the opportunity to see many bears, moose, porcupines, and other mammals, as well as a rich diversity of plant, insect, and reptile/amphibian diversity. Five-lined Skinks were abundant in the Parry Sound area, and the crew (especially Erik) found a variety of elusive snakes throughout the season (Ring-necked, Redbelly, Smooth Green, Dekay’s Brown, Eastern Milksnake, and Eastern Massasauga). The dedicated use of iNaturalist allowed the crew to identify 114 insect species (largely moths) to species level.
Our season was made possible by reliable rental vehicles. Without them, we would have been unable to access a good number of our target squares. The “roads”, especially those in the Algoma District, could better be described as bouldering courses, but our vehicles persevered without so much as a leaky tire. We are extremely thankful to the four provincial parks that hosted us free of charge as well as the three private campgrounds that were able to accommodate us on short notice. The weather, though fairly wet and a bit windy, was in our favour most mornings and allowed us to complete the majority of our target squares. Overall, we couldn’t be happier about the outcome of this season!
From Rivers to Forests and Everything In Between: 2024 Algonquin Crew Fieldwork Summary ~ by Scott Da Rocha
Algonquin Crew: Scott Da Rocha, Dana Latour, Adam Holder, Shannon Neville
The Atlas’ Algonquin Crew covered a lot of ground in 2024, visiting nine Atlas regions and 53 different squares. Despite the name of our crew, we spent little time inside of Algonquin Park, with the majority of our surveys taking place in the surrounding area. We stayed in provincial parks from Marten River to Bon Echo, and experienced beautiful landscapes including the Ottawa and Sturgeon Rivers.
The summer was an absolute blast! It was filled with tons of wildlife, laughter, and appreciation for the natural world. We discovered not just birds but mammals, reptiles, insects, and even sedges. We were treated to many sightings of moose and bear, and even got glimpses of a Five-lined Skink and an American Elk. Of course, I can’t talk about wildlife without mentioning the bird species we encountered! With the 1,700+ checklists we submitted, we observed 155 different species, with the most notable being Black-backed Woodpecker, Canada Jay, Eastern Whip-poor-will, American Goshawk, Prairie Warbler, Golden-winged Warbler, and high counts of Wood Thrush (64 observations). The summer also included a few memorable marshbird observations. Although we only saw one Least Bittern, we submitted 33 different American Bittern observations, and even had multiple Virginia Rails, one of which emerged from a marsh and pecked at our playback speaker during a marshbird survey!
Breeding evidence was plentiful throughout the season, as we confirmed 59 different species and found fledglings of American Woodcock, Spruce Grouse, Sandhill Crane, and Black-backed Woodpecker. The most memorable breeding evidence found had to be one of our crew members observing a Blue Jay take a nestling Red-eyed Vireo and cache it in between some tree bark for later, which she described as both fascinating and disturbing! We also discovered 87 nests of species like American Woodcock, Belted Kingfisher, and Eastern Wood-Pewee, with Yellow-bellied Sapsucker nests being the most encountered (13 nests).
Although we had many fantastic experiences throughout the field season, there were some challenging moments, particularly at a crown land camp spot along the Sturgeon River. Despite this being a beautiful river-side campsite, the week we spent here involved injuries, sickness, an extreme heatwave, and many rough roads, some of which had been completely washed out. Unfortunately, the heat was a recurring challenge throughout the field season bringing with it frequent storms and tornado warnings that made fieldwork quite precarious at times. Nevertheless, we truly enjoyed our time around the Algonquin area and are grateful that we had the opportunity to perform fieldwork like this!
