Flycatchers, Swallows & More

I recently finished another May Day Bird count for the Saskatoon area. A good pal and I have done this count together now for the past 5 years and always have a blast.
Last year was exceptional , and because of the very late Spring , we had an amazing 140 species documented by the end of the day. This time the weather was against us, and it rained hard pretty much all day. This did not deter us though , and we stayed out from 7am till 7pm notching up 116 species in total.
We had some nice highlights including a (usually rare) eye-level view at an Olive-sided Flycatcher and many other hard-to find species such as Wood Duck, Dunlin and Sedge Wren.

This update includes a few soggy shots from the day, plus a few other new photos :

Olive-sided Flycatcher from the bird count






Alder Flycatcher from a recent morning at the Forestry Farm Park




Tree Swallow - The Swallows were having a real tough time on the day of the bird count and were pretty much grounded while it rained.


Bank Swallow



Tree & Cliff Swallow sharing same soggy perch




Horned Grebe from a recent visit to the Forestry Farm Park




Veery from the bird count



Dunlin in very poor light from the bird count




Wilson's Snipe from a recent drive in the country



Brown Thrasher from a recent river walk

Catching Up !

It feels like I haven't blogged in ages, but I have been out and about, birding and taking photos quite a bit in my spare time.
Migration is in full swing here and I have many new year birds that I will list later.
For now, I hope you enjoy some of my latest pictures , but be warned, there are lots for this update ! :

As usual, all photos are best viewed full size, by left clicking on them.

Red-winged Blackbird



Ruddy Duck



Moose



Chipping Sparrow




Least Chipmunk



Clay-colored Sparrow



Canvasback




Yellow-headed Blackbird




Red-necked Phalarope



Spotted Towhee



Sora



Beaver

Cooper's Hawk

Last week, I took a nice walk along the riverbank, and visited one of my favorite parks in town, Cosmopolitan Park. This can be a great place to find migrants and other choice species if you get there at the right time of day.
I was there fairly early in the morning, and had actually been there briefly a few days before, and had flushed a lone Cooper's Hawk, while walking one of the trails .
This time, I got very lucky, and caught sight of a Cooper's Hawk that had just caught its prey, and was busy plucking it to eat from an open perch that crossed overhead of me.
While he was busy, a second Cooper's was circling close overhead, so I'm guessing there is a breeding pair in the woods at this park.
I got a couple of photos from this vantage point, then watched the bird fly off to the higher canopy to finish its meal. I wanted to get up to the birds level, so had to scale the steep muddy bank and wedge myself up a tree and stay very still and quiet , while the bird did his thing..

Warning some of these photos are quite graphic !

Sharp-tailed Grouse

Well , for the third year in a row, I was lucky enough to witness the amazing, and sometimes comical spectacle of Sharp-tailed Grouse, doing their courtship and displaying rituals, sometimes known as 'dancing', at a pasture not too far away from town.

I hope you enjoy these photos ( left click photo for larger version ):

More Migrants Arrive

Well, we finally have some decent weather here in Saskatchewan, with clear blue skies, and the return of some much missed migrants.
I have been out a few times since my last post and am happy to report that the Pelicans are back in town already at the weir.
Tree Swallows have also just arrived, and now Swainson's Hawks are making an appearance.

A juvenile Thayer's Gull is now currently residing at the roost close to the QE2 Power Plant. While not as exciting as last years Slaty-backed Gull. It is still a good species, and one that does not occur very often here.

Other species I have seen since my last post include :

Northern Harrier
American Tree Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Bufflehead
Redhead
Canvasback
Northern Pintail
American Coot
Franklin's Gull


A pretty nice sighting the other day while out with a friend, was a lone male, breeding plumage Lapland Longspur that had somehow lost or abandoned his flock.
Usually one will see this species skimming fields in huge numbers, so to see one bird perched on barbed wire was a real treat.
This shot also shows how the species gets its name.. Look at those claws! :

Lapland Longspur



Here also, is an American Tree Sparrow , that came out from the bushes giving me a nice view :

Spring WAS here !

Only in Saskatchewan, can you get a snow storm in April !
Today we have gusting winds of up to 70kph and blowing snow and sleet...a great day to stay inside!

2 friends and I did an Owl survey the night before this storm kicked off, so its a good job we chose Wednesday night when there was hardly a breath of wind and clear skies.
We got lucky and managed to hear 5 Saw-whet Owls and about 7 Great Horned Owls on our stretch along an area called Wilson Lake, close to Sonningdale Saskatchewan.

Here's a Horned Lark from the same day my wife and I saw the Northern Shrike in my last post :

Spring Is Here !

Well, I've been away for a while , had a few rough things to get through over the past few weeks, including the latest which involved me breaking 2 ribs which is insanely painful! , but I will not bore you with the details, especially on a nature blog !

Going out for a nice drive with my missus this morning we found several newly arrived species , and I got a bonus by finding a lingering Northern Shrike, soon to be replaced by the arriving Loggerhead Shrikes any week now.

Highlights today were : ( * inidicates new for the year )

*Killdeer - 2 very vocal birds , one at Blackstrap another at Indi Lake.

Northern Shrike - This guy was a real songster, hanging out along Indi Rd.

*Great Blue Heron - 2 - This is the first time I've ever seen two of this
species, flying alongside each other. Seen over highway 11.

*American Kestrel - 1 male along the old Regina Highway

*Rough-legged Hawk - 1 perched bird near Dundurn

*Red-tailed Hawk - 5

*Western Meadowlark - at least 10

Horned Lark - 6

Mountain Bluebird - 1 male at Brightwater Marsh

*Northern Pintail - 35 at Brightwater

*Lesser Scaup - 2 at Brightwater

*Green-winged Teal - 8 at brightwater

*Snow Goose - 2,000 at Brightwater

*Greater White-fronted Goose - 250 at Brightwater

American Beaver - 1 at Brightwater Marsh

Coyote - 1 on the old Regina highway

Here's a photo of the Shrike :