The day started bright and early at 6:30 in
the city. An astounding 13 people showed their best and brightest morning
selves: Bird Studies Canada folks LeeAnn, Janine, Steven, Laura B, and me, longtime
Saskatoon birding gurus Stan, Nick, and Guy, grad students Katelyn and Kyla, and
CWS summer crew Paulson, Sarah, and Jacy. While everyone was waiting for my carload
to show up, they nabbed some nice songbirds including White-throated Sparrow,
Pine Siskin, and Red-breasted Nuthatch (that’s what I get for holding up progress).
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| You know you have a group of serious birders when there are four scopes in the trunk. |
Our first order of business was getting everyone properly
fed and caffeinated at Tim Hortons. We observed no birds while inside the establishment.
The convoy proceeded southward down Valley Road, stopping at
tasty-looking sloughs and marshes. We immediately flushed up an American
Kestrel while driving, and Western Meadowlarks were singing with such vigour we
could hear them while going 80 km/h on gravel with the windows rolled up. We
spotted a pair of Wood Ducks at a little slough, and picked up the first of
many Song Sparrows and Yellow-rumped Warblers while hoping for them to make a
second appearance.
Subsequent ponds held hundreds of ducks that have now
returned to the prairies. Each water body was packed to the brim with ubiquitous
Mallards, nondescript Gadwalls, ugly Northern Shovelers, teeny-tiny Green-winged
Teals, crescent-moon-faced Blue-winged Teals, adorable Buffleheads, chunky
Canvasbacks, smart-looking Redheads, and all three of the black-and-white Aythya ducks, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser
Scaup, and Greater Scaup. We got a nice flyby by a Wilson’s Snipe and picked up
a group of Tundra Swans.
We stopped farther south at Paradise Beach, the only nude
beach in the area (known to locals as Bare-ass Beach.) Luckily for us, it was 2
degrees C with a biting wind, so there was no need to be tactful with where we
were pointing our binoculars. We picked up a few Ring-billed Gulls, Turkey Vultures
flying over, and a Garbled Halfwit Marbled Godwit.
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| Our disorganized and motely crew of birders at the beach. Photo by Janine McManus |
Bare-ass beach had been bit of a bust, so we continued on
our merry way towards Pike Lake Provincial Park. On our way there, we flushed
up a pair of Say’s Pheobes from the side of the road! This was a surprising find
and was the highlight of the day for many of us. I finally remembered to
actually use my camera and I got a terrible photo of it.
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A member of the flycatcher family, you can tell a Say’s
Pheobe by its orange belly and brownish head and back. They prefer open habitat
and nest opportunistically in mailboxes, abandoned cars, and in last year’s
Barn Swallow nest.
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Just outside of the park, we stopped to creep on some bird feeders
and nabbed Common Grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds. We also got our first
Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. The two males were
having a drumming war, with one tapping on a power pole and the other
obnoxiously using a road sign like a pair of cymbals.
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Woodpeckers will drum to mark their territory in spring and
summer. In this particular turf war, the one using the road sign was probably
winning.
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Using the sneaky back entrance to Pike Lake, we
had a pair of very chatty Cooper’s Hawks suspiciously close to a very tidy
stick nest (probable breeding evidence for the Saskatchewan Breeding Bird Atlas!)
as well as a pair of Great Horned Owls with the female hunkered down on the
nest (confirmed breeding evidence!). One of the earliest raptors to breed in
Saskatchewan, Great Horneds are often incubating their eggs while snow is still
falling.
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| Great Horned Owl is not impressed. |
Once we were done admiring the raptors we went down to
scan the lake. We were hoping for Cinnamon Teal, but no such luck. I tried to
turn a Canada Goose into a Cackling Goose (their smaller, chunkier cousins) but
wiser voices (Janine) were not having it. We saw a few early Tree Swallows,
looking cold and miserable.
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| “Honey, why didn’t we stay in Cuba an extra week or two?” |
We rounded everyone up and started to mosey along the Pike
Lake Nature Trail. We picked up an Eastern Phoebe, a few Dark-eyed Juncos,
Downy Woodpeckers, and a shy Hermit Thrush skulking through the bushes. The
second highlight of the day was a fantastic closeup look at a Ruffed Grouse.
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The Ruffed Grouse, making no noise and pretending that he doesn’t
exist.
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Our next stop was Goose Lake, a shallow, smelly, muddy pond
(i.e. perfect habitat for shorebirds). Goose Lake did not disappoint, with a
smattering of lovely shorebirds pictured below. These birds eat the
mud-dwelling insects and worms, and each species has a unique beak length and
shape to optimize probing or scooping up their favourite meal. Each species
also had a uniquely annoying, caterwauling song.
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| The (usually) elegant American Avocet, here looking like it's harboring some suspicions. |
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| The gorgeous Black-necked Stilt. Black-necked Stilts and American Avocet females will often lay eggs in each other's nests (an act called brood parasitism). Unwitting parents will raise their adopted children as if they were their own. |
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| Willet |
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| Lesser Yellowlegs, master of the caterwaul, making its way north to the boreal forest. |
Goose Lake also had several raptors hanging around, including
a Peregrine Falcon, Swainson’s Hawks, and a Bald Eagle.
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| Swainson's Hawk |
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| Flyby by a beautiful Peregrine Falcon. Photo by Nick Saunders. |
Finally, we headed towards Blackstrap Reservoir
to pick up the American White Pelicans and hoping for a Herring Gull. Blackstrap
Provincial Park is known for its now-defunct ski hill, which is a mound of
dirt-covered trash above the river valley. We dipped on the Herring Gull, but picked up an unexpected
Forster’s Tern, another Wilson’s Snipe, and a lovely little flock of Bonaparte’s
Gulls.
At this point our crew had dwindled to the last 6 hardcore
let’s-go-for-100-species crew. Time was wearing on and the wind was picking up
again, so we snapped one last group selfie and headed for home, arriving back in
town just before sunset.
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| And then there were six. Photo by Guy Wapple |
Over pizza and beers at LeeAnn’s place (thanks Lee!) we got
our final tally: 98 species! Not too shabby if I say so myself! It was an
excellent day with lots of unexpected finds, and as summer comes nearer even
more birds will be returning to the prairies.
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| A great day of birding with a great group of birders. Photo by Nick Saunders. |
The final species
list
Snow Goose
Greater White-fronted Goose
Canada Goose
Tundra Swan
Wood Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ruffed Grouse
Horned Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Eared Grebe
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
American Avocet
Black-necked Stilt
Killdeer
Marbled Godwit
Pectoral Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Snipe
Solitary Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Lesser Yellowlegs
Bonaparte's Gull
Franklin's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Forster's Tern
Common Loon
Double-crested Cormorant
American White Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Bald Eagle
Swainson's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Great Horned Owl
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Peregrine Falcon
American Kestrel
Merlin
Eastern Phoebe
Say's Phoebe
Loggerhead Shrike
Blue Jay
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Common Raven
Horned Lark
Tree Swallow
Purple Martin
Black-capped Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
European Starling
Purple Finch
House Finch
Pine Siskin
Dark-eyed Junco
White-throated Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Common Grackle
Yellow-rumped Warbler
House Sparrow
