Eastern Loggerhead Shrike Recovery- Volunteers and sightings wanted!
Wildlife Preservation Canada (WPC) is looking for volunteer surveyors
for the 2025 Adopt-A-Site program. We are looking for help in a number
of historic shrike 'hot-spots' across Ontario (Carden, Napanee,
Grey-Bruce, Manitoulin, Pembroke/Renfrew and Smiths Falls). Volunteers
are asked to survey their designated sites three times over the spring
and summer (April 15th to June 30th) for evidence of loggerhead shrikes,
and a suite of other birds found in the same habitat.
To be involved in surveys, volunteers require:
-a reliable mode of transportation to remote locations in one of the
core areas listed above
-available time on three days of your choice between April 15th-June
30th (spaced apart evenly)
-the ability to spot birds from a distance using binoculars and/or a
scope
The information that Adopt-A-Site volunteers collect directly
contributes our team's work in conserving the species! The Loggerhead
Shrike has suffered serious declines throughout its historic breeding
range over the last 50 years. The eastern subspecies, found in Ontario,
has been designated as endangered in Canada since 1991. WPC has been
leading the recovery effort for this bird since 2003, and every year our
field staff monitor the numbers and breeding success of wild birds, and
release captive-bred juveniles to bolster the wild population.
Please contact bi...@wildlifepreservation.ca by March 31st to learn more
or if you are interested in volunteering.
If you do not have time for dedicated site surveys, you can still get
involved by reporting any loggerhead shrike sightings in Eastern Canada!
Have you seen a Loggerhead Shrike? They are on the move!
With spring just around the corner, we are starting to see early
migrants (like killdeer, red-winged blackbirds and song sparrows)
returning to Ontario! Did you know that loggerhead shrikes are among the
earliest to return and stake out territory on their grassland breeding
grounds? There have been reports of sightings this spring as far north
as Washington DC so far, but we expect a fast-approaching wave of
migrants as the weather warms up! We need your help! If you spot a
shrike anywhere in Eastern Canada (Ontario, Quebec, the maritime
provinces), let us know! Email bi...@wildlifepreservation.ca with the
date, location and any photos or details of your observations, for our
field biologists to follow-up and include in annual population counts.
You can learn more about the program and how you can get involved at
https://wildlifepreservation.ca/species/loggerheadshrike/ [1].
A summary of last year's recovery activities can be found here, under
Publications:
https://wildlifepreservation.ca/eastern-loggerhead-shrike-program/ [2]
Thanks in advance, from the whole Shrike Recovery Team
Helmi Hess
Lead Biologist, Eastern Loggerhead Shrike Recovery Program
Wildlife Preservation Canada
--
Helmi Hess (she/her)
_Lead Biologist, Eastern Loggerhead Shrike Recovery Program_
Wildlife Preservation Canada [3]
_Wildlife Preservation Canada's head office is on the homelands of the _
_Anishinaabe, __Haudenosaunee, and Attawandaron peoples, and on the _
_treaty lands of the __Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation._
Links:
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[1] https://wildlifepreservation.ca/species/loggerheadshrike/
[2] https://wildlifepreservation.ca/eastern-loggerhead-shrike-program/
[3] https://wildlifepreservation.ca/
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