Mandy Landolt wrote:
I frequent the trails in the Ottawa greenbelt area with my dog, and I favor a trail called the Jack Pine Trail. It is a touristy trail as it is known for the friendliness of the chickadee inhabitants. The Black Capped Chickadees will literally eat seeds from your hands if you wait patiently. On the 6th of April 2019, I was approached by an avid birder while he watched me feed some chickadees. He was very exited about seeing eleven Boreal Chickadees (Poecile hudsonicus) in the area, and after describing the difference between the two related species, I kept my eye out to see if I could identify the rare birds. After about an hour of walking I did have a pair of Boreal Chickadees eat from my hands.
The migratory birds of Ottawa have been particularly scarce this spring as we have been experiencing a very long and cold winter. We received about the same amount of snowfall that is typical, however the abnormally stable cold temperatures allowed for a high accumulation of the snow that lasted into late April.
Boreal Chickadees are rare in the Jack Pine Greenbelt area for two reasons. Firstly, Boreal Chickadees are not found this far south as they are one of the few passerines with a range almost completely restricted to the boreal forests of Canada (Ficken et al., 1996). Secondly, chickadees in general are not migratory birds but are known to flock (Ficken et al., 1996). Chickadees are normally permanent residents that only migrate when harsh conditions restrict resources, consequently they may migrate out of their area in fall/winter, not normally in spring (Weir, 2008). Over the past year, there have been scattered sightings of Boreal Chickadees in the Ottawa area ranging from 1- 5 individuals, and most notably in November last year there were 5 window strikes for this species (Zbitnew, 2018). Sightings of boreal birds southwest are likely attributed to availability of food. Boreal Chickadees irrupt into southern Ontario due to shortages in the respective seed and fruit crops each species consumes (Weir, 2008). Raptors, owls and northern shrikes (Lanius excubitor) may also cause this species to migrate due to predation when their small mammal prey is scarce or hidden under deep snow (Weir, 2008).
My interpretation based on this knowledge is that due to the deep snow there was a lack of resources for both the Boreal Chickadees and their predators, thus causing their presence in the Ottawa area this spring. There is very little impact to anthropogenic life for the presence of Boreal Chickadees in the Ottawa area as these populations are low and infrequent. This local surprise in minimal but this could be a global change indicator (climate change) seen through the potential shift in Boreal Chickadee distribution (Hollling, 1896). However, in these small numbers and occurrences there are not enough data to support this definitively. Holling (1986) suggested that minor disturbances such as this would not impact the resiliency of this ecosystem.
I chose the following people to consult on my observation: The Wild Bird Care Centre located very close to the observation at 734 Moodie Drive, Nepean, Dr Julie Morand-Ferron of UOttawa, and Dr Mike Runtz of Carleton University. I attempted to contact a local expert of the area: The Bird Sanctuary to rule out the probability that Boreal Chickadees are more common in the area than recorded in literature. However I did not receive contact yet. Dr Julie Morand-Ferron is the University Research Chair in Cognitive Ecology at UOttawa who also studies ornithology. I was successful in reaching Dr. Morand-Ferron and she agreed that this was an interesting observation, but was more interested in the behaviour of the birds eating from my hand, than the presence of them in the area. We should be in contact next week to discuss the observation. She also recommended that I speak with Dr Mike Runtz at Carleton University. He is one of Canada’s most highly respected naturalists, nature photographers, natural history authors, and bird watcher since age five. My preferred consultant is Dr Mike Runtz because of his naturalist background I hope to get a holistic understanding of the observation and its impacts. I currently have not received any feedback from Dr. Runtz.
There is too little known from this one observation and minimal related sightings to make any strong conclusions of why there were Boreal Chickadees present in the Jack Pine area and what their impact will be. One can only speculate that it was attributed to the harsh winter, and this could be linked to climate change. It is also important to note that there are gaps in knowledge for Boreal Chickadee including winter feeding and flocking (Zbitnew, 2018). More research is required to fill the data gaps involving Boreal Chickadee flocking and feeding habits to confirm theories.
Tom Okey, LEO BC Coordinator, wrote:
The eBird database indicates the presence of Boreal Chickadees in the Ottawa area, and further south as well. A careful analysis of the eBird data on this species, using the large map view, may well reveal recent changes in phenology (seasonal timing) and spatial distributions that might relate to changes in weather conditions and community and trophic dynamics of this species. i recommend that Mandy examine those available data to look for recent shifting patterns of observations, keeping in mind trends in observing and reporting (trends in detectability). For example, four Boreal Chickadees were observed on the Jack Pine Trail in the early 1970s by three different observers. Other individuals were observed nearby during the late 1960s, and still a few others have been observed in years since that time. It may be profitable to examine these southern-edge Boreal Chickadee eBird data in relation to various atmospheric and ocean-atmosphere indices to evaluate if there are any correlations.
References
Ficken, M. S., M. A. McLaren, and J. P. Hailman (1996). Boreal Chickadee (Poecile hudsonicus), version 2.0. In The Birds of North America (A. F. Poole and F. B. Gill, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bna.254
Folke, C., Carpenter, S.R., Walker, R., Scheffer, M., Chaplin, T., & Rockstron, J. (2010). Resilience thinking: Integrating resilience, adaptability, and transformability. Ecology and Society,15(4), 1-9.
Holling, C. S. (1986). The resilience of terrestrial ecosystems: local surprise and global change. In Clark, W. C. & Mann, R. E. (eds.). Sustainable development of the biosphere. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press, 292-317.
Holling, C. S. (1986). The resilience of terrestrial ecosystems: local surprise and global change. In Clark, W. C. & Mann, R. E. (eds.). Sustainable development of the biosphere. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press, 292-317.
Zbitnew, G. (2018). The Cornwall Lab of Ornithology. Birds of North America. Retrieved from https://birdsna.org/Species-Account/bna/species/borchi2/introduction
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