An Introduction to the Great Lakes Marsh Monitoring Program

by Christian Wormwell

Healthy wetlands in Ontario are home to dozens of species of birds and amphibians that many Ontarians may never get a chance to see. Marsh birds like Yellow Rails are notoriously difficult to spot – the Cornell Lab of Ornithology says that “if you're looking at a rail in the open, it's almost certainly not a Yellow Rail.” Even the relatively bolder species of rail like the Virginia Rail or Sora spend most of their time hidden in the reeds, outside of the view of the prying eyes of predators or nature enthusiasts. Wetlands are extremely vulnerable and have been declining in size and quality around the world due to human influence. This makes monitoring these secretive wetland species even more critical.
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To do this, we needed to find a way to monitor these wetland species across our vast provinces in a single season each year. To address this, Birds Canada, a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of birds and their habitats, created the Marsh Monitoring Program. This program enlists volunteers to survey wetlands around the Great Lakes, Quebec, and the Maritimes for the purposes of tracking populations of wetland birds. It has since expanded to include frogs and toads in some locations.

​Protocol involves visiting wetland locations in mornings or evenings in spring and stopping at predetermined points overlooking wetland to count birds or amphibians seen or heard within the wetland. Emphasis is placed on ‘focal species’ which are recorded in more detail as these species provide an essential ecological function or are excellent indicators of essential habitat conditions. Examples include American Bittern, Least Bittern, American Coot, Common Gallinule, Sora, Virginia Rail, and Pied-billed Grebe. These rather secretive birds sometimes respond to audio recordings of their species with calls of their own so volunteers can play audio clips to coax the focal species into responding. This allows surveyors to determine their presence in the marsh.

The surveys offer some rare glimpses of handsome marsh denizens. Though heavily cropped and not crystal-clear, this photo of a Least Bittern is the best I could ask for.

I volunteered to survey for the first time in 2021. On my very first survey trip at the first point on my route, I had a wonderful encounter with a focal species. When my speaker belted out the pig-like grunting of a Virginia Rail, the same sound emanated from the marsh. A little grayish bird came tumbling over the reeds – a Virginia Rail, presumably looking to find the other rail it heard from the speaker. It was my first time seeing one in person and I was taken aback by how small it was, as the photographs I had seen online gave the impression of a heavy, plump, nearly chicken-sized bird. It certainly appeared a bit portly and had a chicken-like gait, but could have easily fit in my hand. To my surprise, the bird continued right out of the reeds and onto the mud in full view no more than six feet in front of me. It looked around, did a sort of twirl (showing that it actually was not much wider than the reeds when faced head-on), made that unusual pig-like call again, and scampered back into the cover of the marsh. All this happened within a matter of seconds. Of course, the data collection is the focus of the surveys, but the opportunity to spot otherwise-secretive marsh birds keeps it from feeling like work at all.

The splendid view of the marsh from the last stopping point of my survey route this year.

Birds Canada releases a report on the data collected from the Great Lakes Marsh Monitoring Program each year. In 2020, the program celebrated its 25th year and released a report in the form of a digital flipbook, chock-full of data collected by volunteers over a quarter of a century. It can be viewed online here: https://www.birdscanada.org/3d-flip-book/great-lakes-marsh-monitoring-25-year-report-flipbook/

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​About the Author

Christian is currently a student in the Environmental Technician program at Niagara College, pursuing a career in ecology. Though interested in all forms of nature, he is most fascinated by the biodiversity of southern Ontario and fish and plant species around the world, evident by his enthusiasm for aquariums and growing native plants. He hopes to generate a greater understanding of how humans can grow alongside natural ecosystems well into the future.