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Janet Ng on Surveying Waterbirds by Kayak
Taking to the water to count migratory birds
© Eileen Ramirez Hughes
Wildlife biologist Janet Ng works for the Canadian Wildlife Service. And for her waterbird surveys, one of the most important tools of her trade is a kayak. Many species that breed in the Arctic pass through lakes in southern Saskatchewan on their way north, making it a great place to survey the birds’ populations and track how they’re doing year to year. But some birds are hard to see, hidden in cattails. So counting them by kayak gives biologists a chance to observe more birds.
BirdNote®
Janet Ng on Surveying Waterbirds by Kayak
Written by Conor Gearin
This is BirdNote.
[American Avocet calls]
Wildlife biologist Janet Ng works for the Canadian Wildlife Service. And for her surveys of waterbirds, one of the most important tools of her trade is a kayak.
[Paddling sounds]
Janet Ng: Part of my job, which just sounds so fantastic to say out loud, is to actually like kayak lakes and water bodies and go survey and count birds.
[Paddling sounds]
Janet Ng: We usually head out first thing in the morning. The calmer the water, the better. When you start a waterbird survey, you're pushing offshore with your kayak, that's the start of a really great day. You don't know what birds you're gonna see. You don't know how the day's gonna turn out. But — but you know that your job that day is to go count birds on the water.
[American Avocet calls]
Many species that breed in the Arctic pass through lakes in southern Saskatchewan on their way north, making it a great place to survey the birds’ populations and track how they’re doing year to year. But some birds are hard to see, hidden in cattails.
Janet Ng: And so the kayak gives us the advantage of being able to like duck in front and weave between and really get us into habitats to actually see some of these birds.
[Sora calls]
[Paddling sounds]
Janet Ng: Knowing how many birds are coming through week to week and what species — when they come through and how many are coming through — is super critical to understanding, you know, how are they doing.
Janet Ng: I make it a point to enjoy my job, because I feel like it's very exceptional. And so I don't take it for granted.
For BirdNote, I’m Conor Gearin.
###
Senior Producer: John Kessler
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. American Avocet ML334005531 and Sora ML60635831 recorded by John Patterson.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2023 BirdNote October 2023
Narrator: Conor Gearin
ID# ngj-01-2023-10-05 ngj-01
Conor Gearin
Writer NarratorSights & Sounds
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