Onto the next one

The Shrikes have now moved on and so must I. My role as Captive Technician for the Wildlife Preservation Canada Eastern loggerhead shrike breeding programme is now over and the wild Shrikes are making there way down to the South Western States in America. Soon we will start seeing the arrival  the Northern Shrikes (Lanius exubitor meaning "Butcher watchman") - a slightly larger cousin of the Eastern variety that occupies the same habitat but over the winter. This species is not endangered and spends the summer further North in arboreal forests.

But even though the endangered  Eastern Loggerhead shrikes aren't here, there's still lots to be done! I've relocated to Tamworth near Napanee (Ontario) to help Shrike Biologist Jon restore some fast diminishing shrike habitat. The problem here is invasive red cedar. Shrikes need open areas of short grassland to hunt prey and avoid aerial predators that nest in big trees, but the red cedar is fast growing member of the Juniper family and is quickly turning grassland in forest. The reason for this is partly due to a lack of a lack of grazing cows to keep the shrubs down. Farmers that used to ranch cattle here can no longer afford the ranching way of life, "there's just no money in it" one local farmer told me. Large scale cattle ranches have out competed the farmers here, now a lot of the cows seen on the Napanee alvars are owned by hobby farmers.

We are tackling the cedar with a brush saw. They are safer than a chainsaw and don't require the same expensive safety gear.  

 

I've also been helping out local Design business Bon Eco http://www.bon-eco.com/index.html with an art installation for the town.

Designed by Hans Honnager at Bon Eco, these silhouette ice hockey players - inspired by classic silhouette garden ornaments -are now painted black and will soon be on the corner of Concessions road, Tamworth.

Here is one in Bon Eco's shop window.

Carolyn and Hans at Bon Eco turn garbage into works of art, clothing and furniture.

Gladiator vest made from old tires and inner tubes.

 Mirrors made from old tire

Leaf lamp

Wall piece made from tires

 I've already learnt a great deal from them on how to work with tires, inner tubes and with a variety of tools and their work is truly inspiring!

The release!

Release day is an early start for everyone involved. A few volunteers and friends joined us to help monitor the birds once the doors are opened. We met them at the gate at 6:30 before settling down with spotting scopes, notebooks and clipboards behind bushes and long grass for a hidden vantage point.

Firstly, a dish of mealworms was placed on the outside of the cage on a platform to entice the birds out, then around 7am the release doors are opened, one bird made an instant bid for freedom and disappeared into the hawthorn scrub behind the cages. The others were less eager and hung back in the cages for around half an hour, we were just starting to question whether they even realised the door was open when one of the bossier fledglings began chasing his cage mates who eventually found the exit. Branches were attached to the outside of the cages to give the birds a place to perch whilst they got used to their surroundings and the birds darted from the outside cage perches back inside until they were confident enough to venture for a hawthorn a few meters from the cage. Before we new it all birds were out and had begun pestering a nearby captive pair of nesting shrikes.

 Bold and unphased, the birds chased one another playfully in nearby bushes.

After an hour or so we leave the birds to it. We will return in 2 hours to monitor their progress. Supplemental feeding continues for a few weeks post-release until the birds are able to source their own prey. Most were seen hunting wild prey after only a few days, which is not surprising given the recent explosion of cricket numbers in the field.

The cold snaps in the air trigger the birds to move on to their overwintering grounds. Some are carrying geolocators to record their migration path. We wish our birds good luck and keep a positive outlook that they will return next year and be able to provide us with that vital information.