MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR
Dear friends and bird-lovers:
As I write these words, it has been exactly three months since the September 11th tragedy and the
effects of these horrible attacks continue to plague us all, both in our pocketbooks and even in the
things in life that we hold dearly, e.g. birds. Within a month, my Montreal Gazette column which
I have been writing faithfully every week for 17 years was reduced to a monthly article due to
apparent decreased advertising and limited newsprint space. Next, two book publishers for whom
I was scheduled to write two books on birds both decided to put the projects on hold until the
economy turns around. Finally, the Montreal Bird Festival has also been put on ice, perhaps
indefinitely. What all this means for the funding of wildlife conservation efforts in the immediate
future is anyone’s guess.
Dr. Bird with a young
peregrine on Place
Victoria’s 32nd floor
The good news is that the Avian Science and Conservation Centre (ASCC) continues to chug
along, producing high-quality graduate students and scientific papers as well as making major
contributions toward accumulating knowledge about birds as well promoting their conservation.
To give you just a few examples, we’re still tracking Peregrine Falcons from Toronto and Montreal down to Colombia
and back, we’re still studying the food habits of tiny Screech Owls in Quebec apple orchards, and we’re still evaluating
the impact of low-level military jet flights on duck behaviour in Labrador. Naturally, to get the job done, we depend
heavily on the generosity of kind-hearted, nature-loving folks like you, so naturally we hope that you will continue to
support the efforts of the ASCC.
Dr. David M. Bird
THIS STUDENT IS A TRUE “NIGHT-OWL”!
Ngaio Richards, an M.Sc. student co-supervised by Dr. Bird and Dr.
Pierre Mineau of the Canadian Wildlife Service, is out there almost
every night studying the elusive Eastern Screech-owl in the apple
orchards of Quebec’s Mont Saint Hilaire and Rougemont region.
These small owls are not always easy to find in the dead of night, so
Ngaio has put up dozens of wooden nestboxes to induce the birds to use
them for nesting and roosting. This helps her to find the regurgitated
pellets of undigested materials like bones, feathers, fur and insect parts,
Ngaio is fond of all
to examine by day to ascertain the owls’ diet. Also during the day,
animals!
Ngaio has been busy analyzing tissues of collected rodents (not one of
her more “fun” chores - Ngaio is a devout animal-lover!) and blood
samples from the owls to determine their levels of pesticide, chemicals that some orchard farmers Ngaio up a tree with a
new home for owls
rely on heavily. We have no idea when this hard-working student finds time to sleep!
LOGGERHEAD SHRIKES EXPERIMENTALLY RELEASED INTO THE WILD!
Colour-banded shrike
ready for release
The efforts by the Canadian Wildlife Service and many others (including the ASCC!) to save the
eastern subspecies of the Loggerhead Shrike took a giant leap forward this past summer when a
small number of fledged young were released experimentally into the wild. Special release cages
were built and installed in three locations right in the heart of excellent shrike habitat on privately
owned land in Ontario. The idea was to induce captive-bred pairs
to produce youngsters which would be “trained” to catch live prey
and then slowly released into the wild; the parents were returned
to the breeding facilities at the Toronto Zoo and the ASCC. Each
of the three pairs raised a total of 10 youngsters and all of them
were released into the wild without incident. This was in no small
part due to the efforts of the ASCC’s highly competent and
dedicated technician and curator, Ian Ritchie, who spend many
hours on the phone giving advice to those directly involved in Release cage installed in middle of
breeding and releasing the shrikes as well as supplying food and prime shrike habitat
ferrying birds back and forth.
GOOD NEWS - BAD NEWS FOR THE MONTREAL BIRD FESTIVAL.....
The second edition of the Montreal Bird Festival held from May 5 to 13, 2001 was another hit, this time attracting around
25,000 paying participants. After a gala opening with Mayor Pierre Bourque on hand, the 9-day event included a breakfast
birding contest in the Biodome, a superb art show, a bird photography contest with over 600 entries, well-attended field trips,
lots of activities for children, and much more. That’s the good news.
Here’s the bad. After the two highly successful editions of the Montreal Bird Festival, a third event is not to be. The
economic downtown has resulted in a severe cut to the Biodome’s budget from the City of Montreal and they have had to
cut some educational programs, including the festival. And we had just added three new enthusiastic directors to the board,
i.e. Luc Leclerc, Robert Comeau, and Joel Coutu! The festival will hopefully be revived when the economy turns around.
ARE CITY ENVIRONMENTS HAZARDOUS FOR PEREGRINE FALCONS?
Few things are certain in life, but in Montreal we appear to have two. First, the Peregrine Falcons will indeed return to nest
on the 32nd floor of Place Victoria, and second, they will not produce more than one youngster! We have no idea why the
latter is so, except to speculate that maybe Mom or Dad has some kind of reproductive disability, e.g. an ovarian infection or
low sperm count, respectively. Anyway, 2001 was kinder to the falcons because their youngster survived the difficult first
few weeks of flight and likely managed to join the migration. We cannot thank enough Jean Masson and the law firm of
Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP and Michel Beaulieu of Magil Laurentienne for their continued dedication to the wellbeing of these falcons.
Marcel Gahbauer, the ASCC graduate student who is using satellites to track the migratory movements of city-dwelling vs.
cliff-dwelling peregrines in a collaborative study with the Canadian Peregrine Foundation based in Toronto
(www.peregrine-foundation.ca ), is uncovering some very interesting information. First, Nate, the little male from the Toronto
area, is making history. For the third year in a row, the little rascal headed down south to winter in Cartagena, Colombia.
He even abandoned a lady friend in Toronto to undertake the arduous journey. Closer to home, Dieppe, another male who
was captured on the cliff (his namesake) overlooking the town of Mont Ste.-Hilaire in 2001 wandered around eastern Ontario
and northern New York state before either he perished or his transmitter died. A third tracked
peregrine, Ruby, was residing only five miles south of the World Trade Center Towers in New
York City when they went down.
The main thrust of Marcel’s thesis research is to find out whether
cities, with all their hazards including treacherous wind shears,
mirror-sided buildings, traffic, etc., are good or bad for peregrines.
If city falcons produce lots of youngsters but none of them survive to
join the breeding population, and there are no new city birds to
replace the adults when they eventually die, the empty urban
territories will attract falcons from cliff nests in rural regions. That
turns the city habitats into major sinkholes for peregrines as opposed
to instead comprising a source of new birds. While we cannot stop
Marcel Gahbauer
prepares his transmitters peregrines from nesting in cities, we do not necessarily have to Peregrine fitted with satellite
transmitter and ready to fly
encourage them either.
for installation
Speaking of encouragement, there is good and bad news for two of Montreal’s three peregrine pairs.
First, the bad.news. The pair that has previously raised good-sized families, e.g. 3 or 4 young, on
the abandoned flour mill in the east end are losing their home. The building is slated for demolition this winter. Also, the pair
nesting on the Mercier Bridge will be faced with constant disturbance as the federal body in charge of the bridge must
undertake major renovations to the bridge. Now the good news. Both the feds and the province of Quebec are stepping in
to help the birds. For the east-end pair, the Societé de la faune et des parcs du Québec has agreed to collaborate with the
ASCC to install an attractive nesting box on a nearby active flour mill. And The Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridges
Inc. has joined them in setting up not one but two predator-free nesting boxes on pylons of the Mercier Bridge over land. This
is important because otherwise the young generally take their first flight out of the nest right into the water where they drown
OTHER ASCC NEWS......
The 5th annual ““Birdies 4 Birdies”” benefit golf tournament did not happen in 2001 as a result of circumstances
beyond our control. Doug and Lynn Meyer, who had been invaluable to the 2nd, 3rd and 4th editions of the
tournament decided to take up new positions with the Beaconsfield Golf Club and they were under much pressure
to move, etc. We hope to hold the tournament in the summer of 2002. Visit the ASCC web
site to keep posted.
#
#
The 2001 edition of the Bird Course, with its field trips, laboratory sessions and
lectures aimed at a general audience, was another big success! In 2002, the course will run
from Monday, May 13 through to Friday, May 17. Interested parties should contact David
Bird at 514-398-7760 ph; 514-398-7990 fax; bird@nrs.mcgill.ca , or visit our web site.
#
Each summer the ASCC takes on between one and four student interns. In 2001 it Titman and Bird pointing the
was our great pleasure to host Mercedes (Tety) Sahores from Argentina who not only served way
the ASCC in an excellent manner, but also captured the hearts of many Macdonald graduate
students as well. Interested candidates should visit the ASCC web site for more information and application details.
#
In 2001, Julie Simard, under the supervision of Dr. Titman, successfully completed her M.Sc. on the effects
of long-term timber harvesting on Red Crossbills in eastern North America.
#
Dr. Titman has taken on three new M.Sc. students in 2001. Josée Rousseau will study urban bird habitats, Claude
Drolet is collecting data on wintering diving ducks in the St. Lawrence River, and Tina Newbury is evaluating
the impact of low-level military jet flights on duck behaviour in Labrador.
Tina Newbury spotting
ducks in Labrador
#
#
Through the Point Reyes Bird Observatory in California, the U.S. Navy provided
generous funding to the ASCC to test two different telemetry techniques on the western
shrike subspecies held at the centre. This useful study was completed in the summer
of 2001.
#
The Province of Quebec Society for the Protection of Birds funded a spring study to
determine whether skyscrapers lit at night are causing the deaths of migratory songbirds
which are attracted by the light. Shawn Gauvin, a graduate student at University of
Quebec at Montreal, carried out the second phase of the study.
The ASCC has always been blessed with a superb army of volunteers and part-time employees who assist Ian
Ritchie, the centre’s hard-working technician. Last year’s crop was no exception. The following are thanked
for their dedication: Dominique Dufault; Christine Gagnon; Hugo Gee; Oliver Love; Tina Newbury; Guillaume Szor;
Kieran O’Donovan; Anik Pauze; Marc Pauze; Chantal Duval; Bruce Rodrique; Yael Elfassy; Marilyn Simard; Joanna
Coleman; Stacy Jarema; Sebastian Renaud.
2002 TO BE A BANNER YEAR FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS OF THE ASCC!!
No less than six graduate students should be receiving their M.Sc. degrees in 2002! The following students await their final
approvals on their M.Sc. theses:
1) Bill Druker, supervised by Rodger Titman, Associate Director of the ASCC, is putting the final touches on his M.Sc.
thesis on the behaviour of endangered Hawaiian Crows held in captivity as part of a breeding program;
2) Marc Pauze, jointly supervised by Drs. Bird and Titman, evaluated the impact of nesting Red-tailed Hawks and Great
Horned Owls on duck populations in prairie habitat enhanced by the Institute for Wetland and Waterfowl Research
operated by Ducks Unlimited;
3) Alain Fontaine studied habitat use by the red-tails as part of the study above under the joint
supervision of Drs. Titman and Bird and is working on his final draft while employed by the Canadian
Wildlife Service;
4) Oliver Love, supervised by Drs. Bird and Shutt, handed in for approval his thesis on the adrenocortical
response of nestling American Kestrels;
5) Joanna Coleman, supervised by Dr. Bird with the assistance of Dr.
Laird Shutt of the Canadian Wildlife Service, examined habitat selection
as well as the impacts of organochlorine chemicals on urban - nesting
Sharp-shinned Hawks in the Montreal area and awaits final approval of her
thesis;
Jovette Bouchard and Dr.
Titman capturing
mergansers
Brunswick.
Joanna Coleman
holds a captured
Sharp-shinned
Hawk
6) Jovette Bouchard, supervised by Dr. Titman, has submitted her thesis which involved DNA
testing to determine the rate of egg-dumping by certain female Red-breasted Mergansers into
the nests of other females in the Tern Islands of Kouchibouguac National Park, New
AVIAN SCIENCE AND
CONSERVATION CENTRE
McGILL UNIVERSITY
“We’re for the Birds”
“OUR OVERALL AIM IS TO PROMOTE THE STUDY OF BIRDS AND THEIR CONSERVATION.”
- Dr. David M. Bird
TO ACHIEVE THIS, OUR MANDATES ARE:
1. To conduct pure and applied research in field and laboratory
2. To conserve endangered species through captive breeding and management of wildlife
populations
3. To train undergraduate and graduate students, as well as interns, from all over the world.
THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF OUR NEWSLETTER!!
Beyond any doubt, the ASCC is only able to carry out its mandate with the generous help of various organizations and
institutions, as well as deeply caring individuals. We cannot express strongly enough our gratitude to you all for helping us
make it through another productive year. Thanks go to the following institutions, companies and organizations:
Canadian Wildlife Service; Department of Natural Resource Sciences of McGill University; Falcon Environmental
Services; Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP; Fondation de la Faune du Quebec; Gault Nature Reserve; Hagen Avicultural
Research Institute; Rolf C. Hagen, Inc.; Kelly Fund of the Province of Quebec Society for the Protection of Birds, Inc.;
Kenneth M. Molson Foundation; St. Lawrence Valley Natural History Society; and Westpark School.
We also extend our appreciation to the following kind individuals:
Aino Arik; Sheila Arthur; Frank Bernard; Estelle Bolker; Pierrette Campbell; Joanna Coleman; Joel Coutu; Elizabeth
Edwards; Dorean and Ralph Estey; John Noble Fawcett; Dr. Stephen and Judy Helle; Margaret Hill; Maria Landry; Peter
Landry; Kathleen MacNamara; Phyllis Pinchuk; John Holmes; Margaret Sifton; Kenneth Thorpe; Russell Williams
(MNA, Nelligan).
A SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO DR. COOPER STACEY,
A GREAT FRIEND TO THE BIRDS AND TO THE ASCC
The year 2001 was marked by a very sad event, i.e. the passing of Dr. Cooper Stacey. Dr. Stacey’s contributions to society
went well beyond his patients, his clinics, the hospitals and the Bank of Montreal. He was a great lover of nature, and birds
in particular. He always maintained a youthful curiosity as to their behaviour. More important and understandably as a
physician, Dr. Stacey fully understood the role of birds as barometers for a clean environment. Without even being asked to
do so, Dr. Stacey took it upon himself to spend much of his valuable time seeking funding sources for the Avian Science and
Conservation Centre. He was very successful at it too! His generosity toward the ASCC even extended with his death, as
he thoughtfully requested that his friends and relatives make a donation to the centre’s work in his name. Listed below are
the names of those kind-hearted individuals who, like us, think well of this beloved man. We fervently hope that you will
continue to support our efforts:
G.D. Armstrong; The Arnett Clinic; Mrs. Ian Ballantyne; Dr. Harvey Beardmore; Silvia Brumen; Alice Burgess; Charles
de Jocas; Veronica Dievendorf; Mrs. Stuart S.H. Forbes; Heather M. Gibbons; Patricia A. Gorman; Eleanor Grout; Dr.
Thomas Hale; Arnold Hart; Barbara Heward; John P. Houston; Philippa Hunter; Christine Kellie; Rolla E. Wilson King;
James L. Kraker; Mrs. Franklin Krug; Carol Lamb; Derek Lobb; Dr. and Mrs. F.R. Macdonald; Audrey McGregor; J.R.
Prieur; Norah Ramsey; Dr. George C. Riley; Muriel Roman; Dr. Bruce M.T. Rowat; Mrs. Donald K. Roy; Gertrude
Rutherford; Shirley Shiveck; Bruce Stacey; Margaret M. Stonach; David Stubington; Cynthia Summers; Norton W.
Taylor; Leona Trainer; Dr. David E. Unden; Mrs. Maarten Van Hengel; Dr. H. Terry van Patter; Mrs. Anna Jane Van
Slyke; Dr. Ralph Wilkinson; and The 4300 Tenants Association.
“WE DO A LOT FOR A LITTLE!”
VISIT US ON THE WEB
www.nrs.mcgill.ca/ascc
THE TALON: Chief Editor: Dr. David M. Bird; Assistant Editor: Helen Rimmer