Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Simpson (Aug 12/05) - Whether they know it or not, song birds in the Fort Simpson area have been under surveillance.

A team of a dozen researchers from across Canada are about to wrap up three-months of observatory work. They have been collecting data on how corridors and forest edges affect nesting success.

Jeff Ball, a Ph.D. student at the University of Alberta, has been leading a field study on song birds in the Fort Simpson area since May. Based out of the campgrounds, the team has worked 10-12 hours daily for up to 11 straight days.

They selected six plots, five of which are along the Enbridge pipeline.

The biologists have been looking at nests along the pipeline corridor and, for comparison, other nests up to 500 metres from the right-of-way, according to Jeff Ball, a Ph.D. student at the University of Alberta.

Swaths, like the pipeline, cut through bird habitat allow for changes such as more light, minor temperature differences, altered vegetation growth and greater access for the song birds' predators such as hawks, grey jays and owls, Ball explained.

As of last week the researchers had recorded 142 successful nests - where at least one chick survives - compared to 105 failed nests, either due to predation or abandonment.

Ball said he hopes to determine whether birds at the edge of forest display behavioral differences such as producing fewer young or feeding them differently.

Information has been collected by personal observation and by the placement of video cameras.

"I can't tell you any conclusions because I don't know any. But we sure have a mass of data to look at," Ball said, noting that it's a five-year project.

'Untouched forest'

The monitoring will be repeated in coming summers at locations in Alberta, B.C. or the NWT with greater industrial activity. The Fort Simpson area was chosen as the first site because it's accessible and yet "one of the last great vestiges of untouched forest," he said.

The biologists found a rich population of song birds in the Deh Cho.

They identified 25 species including yellow-rump warblers, American robins, Swainson thrushes, chipping sparrows and ovenbirds.

A copy of Ball's annual reports and his thesis will be sent to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The baseline data may prove useful for measuring the impact of climate change in a decade or two, he suggested. Doug Tate, a conservation biologist based in Fort Simpson, said bird population diversity highlighted by the study could also be used in promotional material for tourism.

"Bird watching is supposedly one of the most popular recreational activities," he said.