When Blackpoll Warblers migrate from Nova Scotia to South America, they may fly nonstop for 80 hours to reach their winter home 4,500 kilometres away. Many do not survive the journey.

 Our bird species are declining dramatically, often because of habitat loss, and most songbirds perish during their migratory journeys.

To better understand the decline, we need to learn what’s happening in the birds’ breeding grounds, in the areas they’re moving through, and in their wintering grounds.

Largest study in Canada

The largest study ever undertaken into bird migration in Canada has begun, thanks to an award of $3.43 million from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI).

Acadia’s Dr. Phil Taylor professor in the Biology Department and Bird Studies Canada in Ornithology Chair, will team up with colleagues at the universities of Western Ontario and Guelph. Together, they hope to find answers that can inform decisions on bird conservation, land-use planning, and infrastructure development.

Taylor and his students will be working with colleagues at Western and Guelph and using telemetry – technology allowing them to detect birds from a distance – to track birds in flight. The researchers will also collect data on stable isotopes in bird feathers to map where individual birds have come from.

“It’s going to be huge,” Taylor says. “We’ll have the ability to track small birds over large geographic regions that we’ve not been able to before. Just being able to follow warblers from Nova Scotia around the Gulf of Maine to Cape Cod and down the east coast of the US is going to be amazing.”

Tracking tagged birds

Taylor is leading the part of the study that uses telemetry arrays to track individually tagged birds.

Birds are fitted with tiny coded tags weighing less than 0.25 grams. The tags transmit a VHF signal, and the array consists of hundreds of VHF receivers connected to antennas that listen for the coded tags. If a tagged bird flies by, the receiver hears it and stores the information, which is then assembled into a database.

The idea of using telemetry arrays germinated with Taylor about 10 years ago in Newfoundland. “We were using telemetry to chase birds up and down hills,” he says. “It occurred to me that a better way would be to automate the process and have receiving stations on hills.” He developed the idea and used it in his research at Acadia before proposing it for the national study.

The CFI funding is for digital arrays in the Maritimes and Ontario. Researchers at Canadian government agencies, and in the USA, are also co-operating on the project. Ultimately, Taylor plans to have a coordinated approach to automated telemetry throughout North America or even the world.

Regional patterns

Taylor is interested in regional patterns of movement and birds’ decisions about crossing the Gulf of Maine. He wants to know what sorts of impact those decisions have on bird populations.

“Broadly, if we can start answering those questions for many species, we’ll be able to know more about how the choice of migration pathway influences mortality in small songbirds,” he says.

Students are the backbone of the project, Taylor adds.

“We’ll be carving out smaller questions among the larger questions, and individual students will work on tackling them,” he says. As part of their work, students will capture birds and take measurements to assess their physiological state. They’ll then fit them with a tiny transmitter and let them go. Once released, birds quickly resume their normal activities.

Why it matters

In the short term, the information from the study can help Nova Scotia lessen the impact of wind energy and other industrial development on its wildlife, move more quickly with development plans, and alleviate public concerns.

In the long term, it is hoped the project will lead to an understanding of the connections between breeding, migrating, and wintering grounds for every Canadian bird species.

Taylor’s interest in birds began in childhood. He lived near Rattray Marsh, which remains the last undeveloped marsh between Hamilton and Toronto. When other kids were hanging out at the mall, he was hanging out at the marsh.

He now hopes that many people who share his interest can get involved. “We’re planning to partner with Bird Studies Canada to enable citizen scientists and school kids to participate in this project in various ways,” he says.

Bird migration captures the imagination. “It is just such an interesting phenomenon,” Taylor says. “And we’re inquisitive beings. We like to learn more about what some of our feathered friends are doing.”

As it turns out, they’re doing really interesting things.

-30-

Above Right: Black-throated Blue Warbler with radio transmitter and antenna attached. (Bethany Thurber photo)

Above Left: Dr. Phil Taylor takes students on a tour of South Mountain during a Gulf of Maine Institute conference. (Gulf of Maine Institute photo)