After half-a-century in nature, a veteran birder says Manitoba’s species are changing ‘tremendously’

A male northern cardinal is seen in East Kildonan in February 2022 (Rudolf Koes)

When the temperature plummets and the snow flies, most people head indoors, but not long-time birder Rudolf Koes. He breaks out his binoculars.

For nearly six decades, Koes has been keeping an eye on how many birds stick around Winnipeg for the winter months.

“For birders, there’s always a reason to go out in the wintertime if the weather isn’t too bad,” he said.

Koes has helped coordinate Winnipeg’s Christmas Bird Count—an annual tradition that sees fellow birders head outdoors and keep an eye and ear to the sky. Last year, 46 species of birds were observed, which included some surprises like a swamp sparrow—a first for Winnipeg’s count—and a herring gull.

Koes has been helping with the bird count since 1969 and in those decades, he’s seen changes.

“There are some species that have increased tremendously in the wintertime,” he said. “Birds like the bald eagle, they basically never occurred decades ago in the wintertime and now there are several.”

He’s also seen species that previously didn’t exist in the province decades ago.

“One example, for instance, is a bird called a house finch. It’s a little sparrow-like bird that only arrived in Manitoba in the ‘80s and numbers slowly increased,” he said.

Canada-wide reports of migratory changes

These migratory changes aren’t unique to Winnipeg.

Jensen Edwards, with the Nature Conservancy of Canada, said a changing climate has had a national impact on the number of species sticking around.

“Across Canada, a lot of regions are seeing birds leave later in the fall than they typically have and actually come back sooner,” he said.

He added humans are also impacting which species decide to fly south and which ones stay put.

Edwards said an example of this is the Anna’s hummingbird.

“Decades ago, the Anna’s hummingbird used to really spend its winters in and around sort of California and Baja, California and Mexico. Now you can find Anna’s hummingbirds all the way up into British Columbia in the wintertime because people have their hummingbird feeders out,” he said.

“These hummingbirds have moved northwards up the coast because they can, because all of a sudden there is food to keep them fuelled and keep them warm year-round.”

Edwards said when it comes to winter birding, there is lots to see.

“It’s nice to be able to look around you and recognize that, you know, the world isn’t just grey and dark right now. There’s still a lot of life around you,” he said. “A lot of that life happens to come in the form of birds.”

But how do these birds survive the frigid prairie winters?

FortWhyte Alive education manager Katrina Froese says one of her favourite examples is the common black-capped chickadee.

“They’re very, very small, but their feathers are extremely thick,” she said. “They’ve got ways to drop the temperature of their legs almost to freezing but keep the rest of their body warm… They have cold toes, but they don’t feel it; it doesn’t bother them.”

But one of her favourite facts about the black-capped chickadee is that when it gets too cold, they will find a little hideaway—like a hollow tree—where they can go into a deeper sleep and ride out a storm.

“When they go into their little hiding spot, they bring a seed or some type of food snack with them, and they leave it in front of them,” she said. “They’ll go have their little rest, which could be even up to a few days, but when they wake up, they have a snack right there.”

Tips for winter birding

For those wanting to give winter birding a go, Edwards has a few suggestions.

“If you’ve got a yard, try putting out a bird feeder this year. Not only are you helping support your local birds in the chilly, chilly weather, but you’re making birdwatching even easier because you might be able to do it from the warmth and comfort of your living room window.”

He said if you do put out a feeder, it’s important to clean it once a week to prevent any possible spread of disease.

If you’re heading outside, he said don’t just use your eyes.

“If you can, use your ears too,” he said. “It’s a lot easier to remember a song than it is to identify this sort of flash of greyish brown that comes across your field of vision and then disappears into the trees.”

For Koes, he said a great way to get started is joining a Christmas Bird Count—noting there are several in communities around Manitoba.

He said at the end of the day, it’s just nice to get outside and enjoy nature.

“Sometimes I call it, you know, being outside is like my church,” he said.