Life Sciences Unit: Current Research:
Sprague's Pipit
| In the spring and summer of 2009, Dr. Glenn Sutter, Curator of Life Sciences at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, helped to coordinate a study looking at the effects of pipeline development on the Sprague’s Pipit, a threatened sparrow-sized songbird that breeds in native grassland. The study focused mostly on the Saskatchewan portion of the new “Alberta Clipper” pipeline, which cuts across the northern edge of the Pipit’s breeding range. To collect information about Pipit nest success and breeding behaviour near the pipeline right-of-way, more than a dozen researchers from TERA Environmental Consultants spent many hours using a rope-drag technique to find Pipit nests and looking skyward to map the position of singing males. |  |
Photo by Bill Burt |
| On all accounts, the field season was a tremendous success. The crews located and monitored over 100 Pipit nests, which are always hidden in thick grass and very difficult to find. They also mapped dozens of breeding territories – another achievement given how hard it is to spot male Pipits as they sing up to 100 metres overhead. All of this information is now being compiled and will be analyzed over the winter months, adding important details to our knowledge of Pipit ecology. |
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For further information contact the Curator of Life Sciences.