“Cape May in the cottonwood (points left), Bay-breast in the willow, Blackpolls in the pines behind.” It’s a busy May morning in the leafy woodlot at Long Point Bird Observatory (LPBO). We’re being guided through the soundscape of soft, high-pitched call notes of warblers that all sound exactly the same to the rest of us. Who is this dude? “Oh, that’s Stu, he’s the Observatory warden.”
Wow—some talent, I’m thinking to myself. Not many people have the ability to instantaneously interpret the cryptic language, music even, of warbler calls without seeing them. Later that day, he was by his car with his telescope. Both are covered in badges, stickers and memorabilia from bird observatories and birding adventures around the world. It didn’t take long to realize that birding is the beating heart of Stu’s very being.
Photo: Matt Fuirst
As soon as he graduated, he became the full-time Landbird Programs Coordinator in 2004. This new role involved running the observatory’s three research stations along with managing the Latin American Training Program and the Young Ornithologist Workshop. He has since worked tirelessly to develop and enshrine LPBO is a world-class research, training and education centre.
His passion for bird migration at Long Point had already taken root, he was a migration ecologist long before it became a term, and it was about to take both Stu and our organization on a journey we could scarcely have dreamed of. He teamed up with Dr. Phil Taylor at Acadia University, and Dr. Chris Guglielmo at Western University, to do his Masters, studying how Swainson’s and Hermit Thrushes and Black-throated Blue Warblers use the Long Point area as a stopover on migration.
Swainson’s Thrush. Photo: May Haga
But it was how he did it that was truly ground-breaking. With Phil, Chris, and other collaborators, he piloted the application of an old wildlife tracking technology—radio telemetry—in an entirely new way. This was the beginning of something really big: the initial “proof of concept” which led to the creation of the Motus Wildlife Tracking System. In a little over a decade, this system has become a community of >3,000 people spanning 34 countries, tracking more than 60,000 birds, bats and larger insects of 475 species through 1,000 projects using 2,350 currently active receiving stations, pumping out a new scientific publication every other week.
Stu has been at the centre of Motus since day one, and has orchestrated its growth into one of the world’s largest collaborative research and infrastructure networks, and the largest open database of animal movement data in the world. His exploits with Motus and other training and migration ecology projects have taken him to the far western reaches of Alaska to document the long-distance journeys of Blackpoll Warblers, studying shorebird ecology on the coast of James Bay, throughout the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America, to the extreme Tip of South America to study overwintering needs of Red Knot and Hudsonian Godwit. A phenomenal achievement!
Motus-tagged Blackpoll Warbler. Photo: Stu Mackenzie
Mackenzie family Birdathon 2023. Photo: Stu Mackenzie
You would never realize that he is a natural introvert, because his passion for birds and place always bursts through. Some wear their heart on their sleeve; Stu wears Long Point on his, quite literally (as a tattoo). He and his family – Laura, Llewella, Ewan, and their dog Alba, are a loved and respected part of the community fabric. He is the best in the business at sharing his deep knowledge of birds, migration, and Long Point’s myriad connections with others. He is not only Birds Canada’s Ambassador to Long Point, he is Long Point’s Ambassador to Canada and the world. Hats off, for Stu Mackenzie.
