Species at Risk in Nova Scotia IDENTIFICATION & INFORMATION GUIDE
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Species at Risk in Nova Scotia IDENTIFICATION & INFORMATION GUIDE Species at Risk in Nova Scotia IDENTIFICATION & INFORMATION GUIDE This guide was created for folks in Nova Scotia, like Harold and © Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute (MTRI), 2008. Diane, who want to learn more about the endangered species that Species at Risk in Nova Scotia - Identification & Information Guide live on the land around them: All rights reserved. This product is not to be sold or reproduced without permission from MTRI. Major funding for this initiative “Surveying for species at risk is an exciting adventure…because we was provided by Parks Canada's Priority Investment Fund for Species at Risk Recovery are looking for the most rare and fascinating creatures in Nova Scotia. When we find one we observe and appreciate it, but do our This guide is printed in Canada on FSC certified post consumer recycled paper. best not to disturb it…this way we can help a lot while having as little impact as possible" This field guide is also available online! - Harold & Diane Clapp Visit www.speciesatrisk.ca to view, download, or print an electronic version of this guide (online you can zoom in on the high resolution photos to see more detail). Since the status of species changes over time, as does our knowledge about them, we will provide web updates that reflect new information as it becomes available. DESIGN: TODD Graphic, www.toddgraphic.ns.ca N O N N I K C M R E F I N N E J i © Some Faces of the Species at Risk Community ii TOM HERMAN (ACADIA) BRENNAN CAVERHILL (PC) & VOLUNTEERS STEPHEN FLEMMING (PC) & TEAM JOHN GILHEN (NS MUSEUM) & TEAM JEFFIE MCNEIL (PC) RUTH NEWELL (ACADIA) & NATURALISTS SHERMAN BOATES (NS DNR) DUNCAN SMITH (PC) & VOLUNTEERS DUNCAN BAYNE (NSNT) & NATURALISTS ROB CAMERON (NS DEL) & TEAM TERRY POWER (NS DNR) & TEAM MARK ELDERKIN (NS DNR) SAMARA EATON (NS DNR) TED D’EON (STEWARD) NORM GREEN (FRIENDS OF KEJI) ANDREW BOYNE (CWS) JULIE MCKNIGHT (CWS) WENDY RODENHIZER (BCAF) & TEAM JUNE SWIFT (STEWARD) CANADIAN SEA TURTLE NETWORK TEAM SHALAN JOUDRY (L’SITKUK) & TEAM AMANDA LAVERS (MTRI) SUE ABBOTT (BSC) & GUARDIANS GERALD DOLLIVER (STEWARD) How this field guide came to be At our first volunteer appreciation night, a steward approached me with an idea. He thought something that could really help people interested in nature would be a field guide that not only provided a comprehensive list of all the species at risk in the province but also a little information about them. His main point was that he would be more comfortable informing authorities about a possible sighting if he had some certainty that he had accurately identified it. This immediately made me reflect on my high school days when the most empowering thing I received was a Peterson Field Guide to the Birds. I started to identify things, I started to feel some sense of ownership, I started to recognize that maybe I could contribute. It was a field guide. But it was empowerment. This guide is a tool for stewardship. It is an opportunity for you to learn more about the species that help make Nova Scotia the very special place it is. I encourage you to look carefully around home and during your travels throughout the province. The very first step in conservation is knowing where the species are. For my part, I am continually humbled by how little we know, despite great efforts to understand. Your contribution could be very significant, and I think it is only fitting that the very people who suggested the field guide in the first place also located a new population of Blanding’s turtles in the Tobeatic. STEPHEN FLEMMING Stewardship is an ownership of responsibility, a sense of advocacy, for nature. By all means, feel free to share the information in this guide, and the learning that you have made along the way, with as many people as you can. We have many challenges facing us, with a growing world population, climate change, and habitat destruction, to name only a few. But I know that if we pull together, and share what is special about species at risk, and what they tell us about our world, we can make a difference. We are making a difference! So, hats off to Harold & Diane Clapp! Great idea. Thanks for finding the turtles. Hope this works for you. To everyone else, enjoy the guide and consider yourself a part of our team. © JM, 2007 Stephen Flemming Species at Risk Scientist, Parks Canada iii iv Table of Contents Birds Introduction ........................................................................ i Piping Plover Charadrius melodus melodus 7 Some Faces of the Species at Risk Community ..................... ii Red Knot Calidris canutus rufa 9 Message from Stephen Flemming ........................................ iii Table of Contents ................................................................ iv, v Roseate Tern Sterna dougallii 11 What are Species at Risk? .................................................... vi Chimney Swift Chaetura pelagica 13 How are they protected? ...................................................... vii Common Nighthawk Chordeiles minor 15 Who are they? ..................................................................... vii Olive-sided Flycatcher Contopus cooperi 17 Why are they important? ..................................................... viii What threatens their survival? .............................................. viii Barrow’s Goldeneye Bucephala islandica 19 Where do they live? ............................................................. viii Bicknell’s Thrush Catharus bicknelli 21 Do you have them on your property? ................................... viii Harlequin Duck Histrionicus histrionicus 23 What if you observe one? ..................................................... ix How can you help? ............................................................... ix Ipswich Sparrow Passerculus sandwichensis princeps 25 How to use this guide ........................................................... x, xi Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus anatum 27 Note: Rusty Blackbird Euphagus carolinus nigrans 29 Species are ordered within each group by status (Endangered, Threatened, Special Concern), then Short-eared Owl Asio flammeus 31 by common name in alphabetical order. Mammals Reptiles Blanding’s turtle Emydoidea blandingii 33 American Marten Martes americana 1 Eastern Ribbbonsnake Thamnophis sauritus 35 Canada Lynx Lynx canadensis 3 Wood turtle Glyptemys insculpta 37 Mainland Moose Alces alces americana 5 Fish Plants - Atlantic Coastal Plain Flora Atlantic Whitefish Coregonus huntsmani 39 Pink Coreopsis Coreopsis rosea 63 Atlantic Salmon Salmo salar 41 Thread-leaved Sundew Drosera filiformis 65 Lichens Water-pennywort Hydrocotyle umbellata 67 Plymouth Gentian Sabatia kennedyana 69 Boreal Felt Lichen Erioderma pedicellatum 43 Golden Crest Lophiola aurea 71 Frosted Glass-whiskers Sclerophora peronella 45 Redroot Lachnanthes caroliana 73 Ghost Antler Lichen Pseudevernia cladonia 47 Tubercled Spike-rush Eleocharis tuberculosa 75 Insects Eastern Lilaeopsis Lilaeopsis chinensis 77 Long’s Bulrush Scirpus longii 79 Monarch Butterfly Danaus plexippus 49 New Jersey Rush Juncus caesariensis 81 Molluscs Sweet Pepperbush Clethra alnifolia 83 Yellow Lampmussel Lampsilis cariosa 51 Marine Species at Risk Leatherback Turtle; North Atlantic Right Whale; Northern Bottlenose Whale; Blue Whale; Porbeagle Plants Shark; White Shark; Winter Skate; Cusk; Northern Wolffish; Spotted Wolffish; Striped Bass; Short-finned Mako; Atlantic Wolffish; Atlantic Harbour Porpoise; Atlantic Cod; American Eel; Blue Shark. 85 Eastern Mountain Avens Geum peckii 53 Extirpated & Extinct Species Ram’s Head Lady Slipper Cypripedium arietinum 55 Eastern Wolf; Woodland Caribou; Atlantic Walrus; Grey Whale; Sea Mink; Labrador Duck; Passenger Pigeon; Great Auk; Eelgrass Limpet. 87 Rockrose Helianthemum canadense 57 Notes and Acronyms .................................................................. 88 Eastern White Cedar Thuja occidentalis 59 Acknowledgements .................................................................... 89 Prototype Quillwort Isoetes prototypus 61 v What are Species at Risk? vi The following table depicts the different jurisdictions, legislations, Species at risk are plants and animals that are in trouble, and need assessment bodies, and primary status categories for species at risk in our help. There are over 500 in Canada and more than 40 have Canada and Nova Scotia. already been recognized in this province, in addition to around 20 in our surrounding waters. Every one of these species is in danger of Jurisdiction Legislation Assessment Status disappearing from Nova Scotia, Canada, or even the entire planet. Body Categories Extinct, Extirpated Species are assessed by experts, at national and provincial levels, who Committee On the Canada Status of Endangered Endangered identify which species are at risk and in need of conservation and Species at Risk Act Threatened (SARA) Wildlife in Canada Special Concern recovery efforts. Each species is placed in one of the following six (COSEWIC) status categories, which describes how much trouble it is in: Not At Risk EXTINCT: No longer living anywhere on the planet. Extinct, Extirpated Nova Scotia Nova Scotia Nova Scotia Endangered EXTIRPATED: No longer living in a particular region Endangered Species at Risk Species Act Threatened (province, country) but still exists elsewhere. (NS ESA) Working Group Vulnerable ENDANGERED: Facing imminent extinction. Not at Risk THREATENED: Likely to become endangered if limiting factors