Ocean Education Activities
Countless thousands of winged wanderers need
places to rest and refuel as they commute between Canadian
breeding grounds and wintering habitats in the United States
and Central and South America. Their survival depends on the
health of each stopover along the way.
En route from our Arctic shores to the distant
coast of Suriname, innumerable semipalmated sandpipers partake
in an all-you-can-eat feeding frenzy of aquatic invertebrates
on the sprawling mud-flats of the Bay of Fundy. The marshy
inlets of southern Saskatchewan's Last Mountain Lake offer
the endangered whooping crane a welcome break from its nearly
4,000-kilometre trek between Wood Buffalo National Park in
the Northwest Territories and Aransas National Wildlife Refuge
on the Texas coast. And for thousands of trumpeter swans coming
down from the Yukon and Alaska, the wet fields and estuaries
of British Columbia's southern coast are a winter oasis.
Sad to say, the coastal and inland habitats
most important to these avian migrants are often those hardest
hit by human activities. The loss of a single stopover could
mean many birds never reach their destinations. You can keep
them on track by conserving migratory habitats near and far.
- Identify birds that breed in or migrate through your area.
Choose one or more species, like the golden-plover or ruddy
turnstone, or a whole family of ocean-goers, such as sea
ducks, that depend on your flyway. Is your chosen species
listed as endangered, threatened, or vulnerable? If so,
why?
- Map out the flyway. Include breeding and wintering grounds,
migratory stopovers, habitat hot spots, and protected areas.
Learn everything you can about coastal and inland habitats
along the way. What part of your area does the species use?
Does that site need protection? Consult with experts, including
field-naturalist, fish-and-wildlife, and bird-watching groups,
plus government and non-governmental agencies. (See "Monitor
Marine Migrants" and "Biodiversity Field Study" for useful
tips on how to map out a migration.)
- Conserve key habitats along the flyway.
- Protect imperilled habitats. East Coast breeding beaches
used by the endangered piping plover are regularly overrun
by vacationers, pets, and all-terrain vehicles, which crush
this shorebird's well-camouflaged eggs. West Coast wintering
sites for such sea ducks as surf scoters, buffleheads, and
oldsquaws are threatened by oil spills, coastal developments,
chemical contamination, and other human threats. Volunteers
are monitoring and protecting these seafarers' breeding
and wintering areas. You, too, can promote the conservation
of habitat hot spots.
- Plant native cover and food crops. Check with local wildlife
biologists, naturalists, wildlife groups, or other experts
to find out what plant species would be ideal. Never introduce
exotic plants that could muscle out other species. Look
for fast-growing plants that are compatible with your area's
soil and climate, provide wildlife with food and cover,
and can survive with little or no maintenance.
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