Exploring Manitoba 
     
    
   
   
    
     The Manitoba Naturalists' 
     
     Society recently hosted the 
     
     Canadian Nature Federation‘s 
     
     10th annual general meeting 
     
     in Winnipeg. Over 300 people 
     
     from Newfoundland to British 
     
     Columbia participated in the 
     
     well organized event. The 
     
     conference began on Sunday, 
     
     August 24 with a number of 
     
     field trips. Naturalists had 
     
     the opportunity to visit a 
     
     tall grass prairie in its 
     
     original state, see aspen 
     
     parkland and boreal forest, 
     
     and inspect the pothole 
     
     country and large marshes 
     
     for which the Prairies, and 
     
     Manitoba in particular, are 
     
     noted. 
     
    
   
   
    
     One trip of special 
     
     interest took us to the 
     
     inland dune region of 
     
     Carberry where Ernest 
     
     Thompson Seton gathered 
     
     material for his books on 
     
     animal lore. The Carberry 
     
     Sand Hills lie on an ancient 
     
     delta formed where the 
     
     Assiniboine River flowed 
     
     into Glacial Lake Agassiz, 
     
     which at one time covered 
     
     much of southern Manitoba 
     
     and some of Saskatchewan. 
     
     as the lake receded hills 
     
     of sand were left exposed 
     
     to the winds. Today the 
     
     dunes, which endergo many 
     
     of the successional 
     
     patterns common to P.E.I.'s 
     
     coastal dunes, are partly 
     
     enclosed by Spruce Hills 
     
     Provincial Park. Part of 
     
     the area has been 
     
     recommended for permanent 
     
     preservation as an 
     
     ecological reserve by 
     
     International Biological 
     
     Programme workers. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The southern portion 
     
     of Manitoba is visited by 
     
    
   
   
    
     at least 311 species of 
     
     birds, and I had the 
     
     opportunity to Visit two 
     
     birding "hot spots". 
     
    

    
     The first of these is 
     
    

    
     the 35,000 acre Delta 
     
     Marsh, probably the most 
     
     famous marsh in the world. 
     
     Here waterfowl were ‘ 
     
     everywhere, and as one 
     
     interested in ducks I was 
     
     amazed by their numbers. 
     
     It was therefore humourous 
     
     to watch local birders 
     
     barely glance at the 
     
     mallards, coots and 
     
     gadwalls, but become quite 
     
     excited over a great blue 
     
     heron. ' 
     
    
   
   
    
     The second birders 
     
     paradise was the recently 
     
     created Oak Hammock Wildlife 
     
     Management Area with a mere 
     
     3,500 acres of marsh. Again 
     
     waterfowl were pervasive and 
     
     indeed, I confess, I got sick 
     
     of looking at American coots. 
     
     Migrating shorebirds were 
     
     feeding on the flats and 
     
     it was a sight to watch 
     
     prairie falcons sand them 
     
     into erratic flight. 
     
     Unfortunately the peregrine 
     
     flacons which had been 
     
     spotted earlier in the week 
     
     did not put in an appearance 
     
     that day. However, it was a 
     
     contentment to see the 
     
     numbers of merlins and 
     
     prairie falcons which did. 
     
    

    
     In terms of the beauty of 
     
     their flight, white pelicans 
     
     in flocks of up to 50 put on 
     
     quite a show for us. We also 
     
     saw the locally rare sharp- 
     
     tailed grouse, abundant 
     
     numbers of long— and short- 
     
     billed marsh wrens, yellow- 
     
     headed flackbirds, eared 
     
     grebes, and lots of hawks 
     
     including Cooper's, Swainson's, 
     
     redwtailed and two early 
     
     migrant routh-leggeds. The