A new yard bird and a Lifer all in one

Black-billed Cuckoo

Not a really good photo, but this fellow seems to have an aversion to being seen. I'm happy he stopped at the top of this tree as long as he did.

How do they keep their balance?

Brown Thrasher, singing.

American Robin, juvenile.

Red-eyed Vireo

At least, I'm pretty sure it is, though you can't see any red eyes in any of my photos. These were taken  May 28.  At first glance, I thought it was a warbler, but this morning I happened to glance at this photo

and the word vireo popped into my head. A search through Sibley's assured me that Red-eyed was the only possibility for our area and the bird's appearance.

 

Unless of course, it is a warbler.

This is not our first Red-eyed Vireo, we first ID one at Sask Landing Park when we thought the robins were singing all day long, but they weren't. These are my first photos of them, however.

May Birds: mostly around our yard

Though May is usually our biggest birding month, this May was a little disappointing in the birds we saw. We did add at least one bird to our life list, Stilt Sandpiper, though my photos aren't worth showing. There were far fewer yard birds, and those that passed through often stayed only one or two days (or hours.)

Some of my favourites are here.

White-crowned Sparrow

We had one or two of these here for several days, though I only saw a couple of their near cousins the White-throated.

Red-necked Grebe

On Luck Lake

 

Yellow-rumped Warbler

A quarter mile from our yard in a wildlife planting.

 Swainson's Hawk 

A common sight along the road at the end of our lane.

 Harris's Sparrow

 

Wilson's Phalaropes

When I glimpsed these from the car window I thought they were something new, but after backing up to the slough, lo, they were phalaropes with legs! So often they are swimming and their legs are invisible.

Vesper Sparrow

I just heard a sad report that one out of eight species of birds is in danger of extinction. They did not name species, but I am very sure this prairie sparrow is not one of them. We see them everywhere.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

An exciting visitor to our yard, but he apparently didn't like the accommodations because I only saw him for an hour or so one morning.

Baltimore Oriole 

We think this Oriole and her mate are still in our yard, though I've been outside so little lately I can't be certain. However, she has not returned to my oranges since the first couple of days, and the male turned up his nose at them from the beginning. 

The American Goldfinch in the background, while he ignores the oranges, is a faithful visitor to my nyjer seed. I saw 2 pairs yesterday, June 19, so assume they are nesting.

 

Barn Swallow

We always have several pairs nesting in the yard. I make sure the garden shed door stays closed after two years where the babies broiled from the heat of the metal roof. Ray even leaves the large overhead shop door open a few inches so the parents can swoop in and out to feed the babies in the nests they persist in building in there.

 

We have our regular yard residents of course, among them the Yellow Warbler, House Wren, Brown Thrasher, Grey Catbird, Cedar Waxwings, and American Robin, as well as the birds I wouldn't miss if they were gone, the Common Grackles, House Sparrows, and Brown Cowbirds. It is never quiet in our yard.

First of the Year

A very windy day brought us our first Pine Siskin.

Can the Goldfinches be far behind?

Spring Birding

It's been a long winter so it was satisfying to go for a bit of a bird search Sunday afternoon.

We identified about 47 species, which for Ray and I is a fair day. It used to be a great day but as we learn more birds our lists have gotten longer. Given that we rarely left our vehicle, that there was a bit of a breeze, and that we covered about 170 km in 4 hours, I am pleased with our results. Nonetheless, we think of so many birds we could have seen and didn't.  Where were the Partridges? the Willets? the Buffleheads? and of course, there were dozens of blurs of brown that will remain forever unidentified sparrows.

Here are some of the photographic highlights.
Mallard Ducks:

Horned Grebe

Lesser Yellowlegs (or at least that is my ID)

Savannah Sparrow

I am particularly pleased with this sparrow photo because Ray took it and it is clear. All the sparrow photos that I took on Sunday show a blurry brown shape in front of a clear vision of grass or gravel. And with the same camera.

These three birds along with another Killdeer and a Wilson's Snipe appeared to be waiting for a bus in the parking lot by the pavilion at Gardiner Dam. We watched them for several minutes and they never moved or appeared to notice that we were there. This was just the third White-crowned Sparrow I've seen this year.

Lastly, not only on this post but on our trip, is what I judge to be a Swainson's Hawk. When it comes to identifying birds, I am at my worst when it comes to hawks, but I feel that the dark bib on this fellow along with the white on his face confirm him as Swainson's. A hawk identification book is in my future.

Other notable birds of the day were our first glimpse of a Loggerhead Shrike at the end of our lane. We've had shrikes here for years, so it is exciting to see that at least one has returned. We also saw a single Mountain Bluebird during our travels, another of my favourite birds.

Red Polls at our feeders

The most interesting bird we've had at feeders in the last few weeks have been the Redpolls. Most of them are undoubtedly Common Redpolls. And, at the moment, they are common. I've counted up to 40 at the feeders at one time, but I know they are also in the lilacs on the west side of the house and in the trees in the garden. It would be fun to try to estimate how many are in the yard, but despite the calendar date of April 15, the snow drifts are keeping me from too many forays into the further reaches of our yard.  I am enjoying the birds at the feeder however, even when they scrap with each other, which is most of the time.

The males get the most attention. How can they help it with their bright colours? In the beginning we seemed to have many times more females, but the numbers have been much more even since the beginning of April. I'm wondering if this meant that many of the birds were actually immatures that didn't have their full colour yet, or if the males were eating at someone else's feeder?

  The females are less red, but generally have more striping.

 And then there are the Redpolls that are even less common. I feel this bird is likely a Hoary Redpoll. It has little striping on its sides and the pink is much paler.

 And this bird may well be a female Hoary Redpoll. Compared to the one eating the suet above, she is very light, though she has darker striping than the one above that I assume is a male Hoary.

Now in my list of most common to least common, here is my most favourite of Redpolls. While some are red and some are pink, this male is

 

orange!

Birds on Winter Holidays

It seems we are usually too busy to bird when we are at home, so when we go away it becomes a priority. I would love to see tropical birds, but a lot of what we see in Central Mexico are birds, like us, escaping the cold Saskatchewan winters.

We drove to Herbert last spring to see a White-faced Ibis and were excited to see one from a great distance. Yesterday in Mazatlan, Mexico, we saw one less than 20 feet from us. Colours not quite as pretty as the rust of the breeding bird, it was still a very pleasant find. And much smaller than I had expected.

Beside the same small water body, we also saw an American Bittern. This is a bird I don't think I've ever seen in Saskatchewan, though its voice is more often encountered. For a reportedly shy bird, it stayed in sight long enough for me to take several photos. Of course there were no slough reeds for it to hide in here, though I must say, at one point it tried anyway.