Lac La Peche

My wife and I recently returned from a trip to Lac La Peche which is a resort with Cabins and a reasonable sized lake, close to the town of Blaine Lake, Sask.
This is now the 3rd year in a row we have holidayed there and its always a great place to stay for a few days and relax.
As far as photography and birding goes, this year proved a bit difficult as I only had only one decent day of weather..
A tornado tore through some unfortunate towns further north and we got the tail end of it, with gusting winds and some heavy rain. The power also went down for 6 hrs !
Highlights for this trip included my first ever look at a Great Crested Flycatcher, while other nice species included : Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Purple Finch, Coopers Hawk, Belted Kingfisher, Ruby-throated Hummingbird and Cape May Warbler.

Here are some photos:

Belted Kingfisher - For the first time in years, a pair of these handsome birds were actively fishing along the lake. Getting this photo took a lot of patience as these are extremely flighty when approached :



Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - I was happy to get these two juveniles on the same tree :



Eastern Phoebe - I found 4 of these Flycatchers during our stay :



Warbling Vireo - These respond very well to 'pishing' (imitated bird call). As you can see I didn't need the zoom lens for this one :



Great Crested Flycatcher - I first discovered this bird deep in the woods, but unlike the Vireo I could not get close to it at all. Even so, he was the highlight of the trip for me :

Backyard Birds During Fall Migration

Every year around this time, I look forward to seeing what will visit our backyard as Autumn approaches.
This is a big update ( 24 photos ) with many species that stopped by during the last week of August until present. One species ( Eastern Kingbird ) was new for the yard , others are migrants just passing through, while a couple are more familiar 'old friends' that will stick around right through Winter.

As usual all photos can be enlarged to full size by left clicking.

Starting with the Warblers.....

Wilson's Warbler:

Male




Female



Cape May Warbler :



Mourning Warbler :




Tennessee Warbler :





Magnolia Warbler :



Blackpoll Warbler :



Yellow Warbler :




And now everything else ...

Red-breasted Nuthatch :



Pine Siskin :





Swainson's Thrush





Black-capped Chickadee :



Least Flycatcher :



Red-eyed Vireo :







Eastern Kingbird :

Birding Meewasin Park

At 8am I set out to Meewasin Park which is situated in
the city's north west and runs along the river. It has Poplar and Aspen trees, Chokecherry, Buffalo Berry , Silverberry. Willow and Red Osier Dogwood shrubs to name but a few.
I spent a few hours there, with my primary goal to find as many migrants as I could.
The Meewasin trail here just keeps on going, and I actually had to turn back after awhile otherwise I'd have gotten carried away and ended up having supper there.
When I first arrived at the park, it was alive with Robins. Probably 70-80 of them . It was hard to separate the occasional Catbird or Thrasher at times because they were in almost every tree or bush often with 2 or 3 young in tow.
On the east side of the riverbank I watched as a flock of Crows, 100 strong,took to the skies as a Great Blue Heron disturbed by their flight, veered off in another direction.
The only other birds I saw over the river were 5 White Pelicans and a couple of hunting Northern Harriers.
I did find a few Warblers under the tree canopy, but photographing them was pretty much impossible as they were 30ft up in the air flitting from branch to branch.
My prize for the day was finding two Olive-sided Flycatchers, one of whom was still giving its " Quick Three Beers " call, which I had only ever heard on a cd before, so that was great.

Here are a few of the highlights followed by some photos :

Black & White Warbler - 2 females
Magnolia Warbler - 1 female
Tennessee Warbler - 6
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 5
Wilson's Warbler - 1 male
Blackpoll Warbler - 1 fall plumaged male
American Redstart - 1 male, 2 females
Yellow Warbler - 6
Warbling Vireo - 4
Red-eyed Vireo - 2
Olive-sided Flycatcher - 2
Alder Flycatcher - 1
Least Flycatcher - 2
Northern Flicker - 4
Hairy Woodpecker - 1
Great Blue Heron - 1
Northern Harrier - 2
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 1 female
Purple Finch - 1 heard
House Finch - 60+ !
American Goldfinch - 2
Pine Siskin - 6
Baltimore Oriole - 1
Spotted Towhee - 1

Olive-sided Flycatcher :



Warbling Vireo :



Red-eyed Vireo :



American Robin ( juvenile ) :

More from Gabriel Dumont Park

Things were quite slow the other day when I went to the park, and it sure was hot. Maybe this was a factor. Still , I managed to get a few photos ...

House Wren - This adult was feeding bugs to its young :



Yellow Warbler - I saw a Tennessee Warbler at the park feeding close to this guy, but it didn't stick around for a photo op :




Eastern Kingbird - This youngster was sat out in the parking lot, and I had to get it to safety by placing it in some bushes away from the cars. Its parents soon found it, and all was well :



Cedar Waxwing - There are still many of these around. This was was perched high overlooking the river :



Clay-colored Sparrow - yet another one of these abundant birds. I liked the background on this one though , so couldn't resist taking the shot :

Old Regina highway again...

After a nice afternoon at Blackstrap Lake, my wife and I went home via the old Regina highway.

Here are a few photos...

Pied-billed Grebe - This was one of four juveniles in a slough :



Red-tailed Hawk - These Hawks seldom sit still for a photo. I was happy with this flight shot though :



Western Kingbird - not the best of perches ( sitting on an electric fence ! )but these are a beautiful flycatcher :



Brown-headed Cowbird - yet another youngster. We had one of these in our backyard this morning feeding on the ground with the House Sparrows :

Boundary Trail

Last Friday, a friend and I drove out to an area south of the city known as Boundary Trail.
It consists of a narrow stretch of land surrounded by Willows and Aspen with two sloughs on either side of the 'road' which then leads to a bigger marshy area.
I was hoping we'd find a Black-crowned Night Heron or maybe a Kingfisher, but that wasn't to be the case, although we did find a few nice things...

Highlights were 3 Northern Harriers , 2 very vocal Alder Flycatchers ,a few young Common Yellowthroats, a Pied-billed Grebe , a lone female American Redstart and a very handsome Prairie Falcon.

Here are 3 photos :

Northern Harrier - This juvenile was performing some impressive aerobatics :



Common Yellowthroat - one of a few Juveniles in the area :



Great Spangled Fritillary - It was nice to see one of these beautiful butterflies :

Gabriel Dumont Park - Part 2

Here are a few more images from my recent trip to the park ...

House Wren - One of many fledglings still around :



American Robin - yet another youngster :



Comma - The park is a good spot to find Butterflies this time of year :



Cabbage White - possibly the most abundant butterfly at the park - they don't often sit still though :



Eastern Kingbird - These will be leaving soon, and are already starting to flock :



American Goldfinch - This one had just had a bath and was drying off :



White-tailed deer - This was a surprise. I turned a corner and there she was :