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1998 WINNIPEG CONFERENCE REPORT

10-14 June 1998

The highlight of any ABA Conference or Convention is always the birding and the Winnipeg Conference was no exception! Our field trips took us west of the city to explore prairie grassland and marsh habitats, east to the edge of the Boreal Forest, and north to the "birdy" marshes of Oak Hammock. On one of the field trip days we were treated to wonderful sunny weather but, unfortunately, we encountered occasional light rain and wind on the other full day, and also had light but steady rain most of the morning on the final half-day. While the rain was never heavy enough to keep us from birding, it was annoying — and no doubt caused productivity of expected birds to be lower. Watching our intrepid birders slogging along in the rain in ponchos with scopes slung over their shoulders at Oak Hammock on Sunday morning reminded me of a scene from an old Korean war movie! Despite the weather however, our hardy "Winnipeg Warriors" hung in there and their perseverance was rewarded with some outstanding bird sightings. Including "heard only" birds, we tallied a very respectable combined total of 170 species during the Conference.

A few of the birding highlights include the following species seen well by nearly every attendee: Gray Partridge, Sandhill Crane, Upland Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper, Baird's Sandpiper, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Alder Flycatcher, Least Flycatcher, Gray Jay, Sedge Wren, Sprague's Pipit, Philadelphia Vireo, and seventeen species of warblers including Golden-winged, Cape May, Blackburnian, and Mourning. we also had great looks at Clay-colored Sparrow, Grasshopper Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, Chestnut-collared Longspur, and Bobolink. The Philadelphia Vireo was discovered and observed singing on its nest and represented only one of a few confirmed breeding record for the province.

The loud songs of Connecticut Warblers were readily heard by all the attendees, but getting a look at one proved difficult for the group visiting the Boreal Forest on the rainy day. On the sunny day, attendees were treated to close scope views of a singing male Connecticut Warbler in full sun for over 10 minutes. Similarly, both Le Conte's and Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrows were well seen on the good weather day but were nearly impossible to see and difficult to hear on the dreary days. Yellow Rails breed in good numbers at the Douglas Marsh but they too were uncooperative, calling infrequently and rather far from the road. Only those lucky attendees with exceptional hearing were able to detect them. Among mammals seen, a Black Bear provided an exciting but brief diversion to the birding one morning.

To round out the Conference learning experience, attendees were treated to an excellent slate of programs and workshops. Rudolf Koes opened the first evening program with an Introduction to the Birds of Southeastern Manitoba. Jim Duncan followed the next evening with an excellent program on the Great Gray Owl, and on the final evening, Blake Maybank taught us how to say, "I'm an average birder and I'm happy!" Daytime programs included Paula Grieef sharing the results of her extensive research on the Brown-headed Cowbird and Ken De Smet enlightening us regarding the status and conservation of declining prairie species in southwestern Manitoba. Kimball Garrett followed with a very educational workshop on geographical variation in bird vocalizations, and finally Robert Taylor showed us his absolutely superb slides of the Churchill region of Manitoba (an area many attendees visited on pre or post conference tours).

Special thanks go to Peter Taylor, Field Trip Coordinator for the Conference, and the 12 other leaders who joined him in doing a remarkable job of showing us the birds of the region (under less than ideal conditions). Sharon DeCray did her usual terrific job as Registrar and Jane Kostenko and Tyler Bell were indispensable as Assistant Managers. Thanks go to the management and staff at Oak Hammock Marsh for hosting us during our visit to their superb interpretive centre. And finally, thanks to the attendees who took the time to visit Winnipeg and attend the Conference — I hope to see you soon at another ABA Conference or Convention.

– Ken Hollinga