Have Passport, Will Travel!: The Plover Lovers in Action!

Two of the incredible people I meet in Churchill at CNSC were Jill Robinson and Nicole Mac Donald, experienced researchers who were at the centre for the summer working with Plovers.

Jill and Nicole are long-time friends and both wildlife biologists working on a semi-palmated project in Churchill, MB. Nicole is from Cape Breton Island on the eastern edge of Nova Scotia and Jill is from the small village of Shanty Bay, in southern Ontario. They met at University at St. Francis Xavier University, both budding biology students in 2005 and graduated in 2009 with a BSc and co-presidents of their Biology Students' Society. Jill and Nicole spent a number of years without seeing each other, separately travelling and working, but coincidentally 4 years later, their paths crossed again, forged by their common love for BIRDS! Nicole did an MSc at Trent University on songbirds in Ontario, and Jill did an MSc at Memorial University of Newfoundland on seabirds in Alaska.

This summer, they met up again to study the plovers. They are 'The Plover Lovers'. This work involved long hours of walking the windswept coastlines of Churchill in search of breeding shorebirds. They located mating pairs of these cute and charismatic birdies and searched for nest sites along the beach; all while keeping their eyes peeled and their gun cocked for potential Polar Bear encounters. Daily duties included locating nests, counting eggs, and most exciting of all, capturing birds. They caught birds with a trigger-initiated net, pulling a line that caused the net to close over an adult while it incubates its nest of usually 4 eggs. All adults were captured and both Nicole and Jill would attach metal bands, and colour rings around their legs so that they can be uniquely identified in years to come. The birds were also measured and blood was taken to collect information on family genetics that could be analyzed later in a lab. Once eggs hatched (about 24 days after they were laid), the fluffy chicks would also be captured, often a simple chase a grab technique, and measurements would be taken and a band was attached! These energetic chicks were monitored for the next 20-25 days until they were large and strong enough to fly off on their own, joining millions of other migratory birds to spend their winter down south (including sandy locations in Florida).

All in all, Nicole and Jill monitored over 30 semi-palmated plover nests, and throughout the course of 2 months they saw over 40 polar bears and hundreds and hundreds of beluga whales. This project, spearheaded by Professor Erica Nol from Trent University, is a continuing component of her research conducted on breeding shorebirds in Churchill, and continues to play an important role in developing our understanding of the biology of shorebirds in the Sub-Arctic.

The following pictures show these very dedicated and professional researchers on a day of work in the field which sometimes lasted from 8 am to 8pm!

Long bumpy roads with no shocks and lots of bugs.

Walking a lot over rocky and/or swampy terrain loaded down with gear and anti bug wear

Checking for new birds, nests, and already identified sites

Checking out a nest with eggs

Voila!

It's hatching. See the little beak!!!!!!

Parent pretends to have a broken wing to lure the "predators" away from the nest.

These giant aggressive bugs called "BULLDOGS" just hang on the car when you drive.
They are everywhere.

Walking again to another site

Setting up for a capture. So cool. A lightweight net trap attached to a very, very long string is held by Jill who is hidden behind the brush. Nicole walks far off from the nest but uses a binocular tripod set up to watch for the bird to go back to the area. When he does Nicole yells "GO!" (pretty high tech, huh) and Jill springs the trap. Success!