Birding in our pasture

June 26 Ray and I spent several hours walking around in mostly native areas of our pasture in the Rock Point area of Saskatchewan near Macrorie.

The wild flowers were out in profusion, among them many, many Western Red Lilies.

Roses were blooming on plants much too small to be called bushes.

The most common bird we saw or heard was the Savannah Sparrow.

But the most exciting was my first ever LeConte's Sparrow.  It was sitting on a crossbar by the gate where we had stopped. Ray saw it before we got out which was great as we didn't scare it away.  He had to take all the photos because he was on the right side of the vehicle with his window open.  I really wanted to get out where I could see the bird without the windshield in the way, but being sure it would fly, I stayed put.  And so did the bird.  For more than 3 minutes.

We were also privileged to see three species of grebes, most with babies, a family of Northern Flickers and several Killdeer. 

Including the birds we identified on the drive to and from the pasture, we counted 44 species.  Not too bad for a Sunday afternoon close to home.

Here's one of the Lark Buntings that have taken up residence a few miles north of our farm.

May Birding

May is an excellent month for birding in Saskatchewan.

The shorebirds are coming through on their way to their nesting grounds, including this Solitary Sandpiper.

 

Our part of Saskatchewan, the West Central grasslands, can also be a good place to see birds like this Long-billed Curlew.

and this Sharp-tailed Grouse.  We've seen a lot of Sharp-tailed Grouse this spring and wonder if our easy winter made a difference in their numbers.

Though we live in the prairies, we are fortunate to get some forest birds when they migrate through twice a year.  I especially appreciate the ones that sing during migration, like the White-throated Sparrow.

The Rose-breasted Grosbeaks didn't sing much, but they looked beautiful.

 

This year the Pine Siskins outdid every other migrant in numbers. The birds are almost invisible in this photo, but there were dozens of Pine Siskins on our patio May 24, and close to 40 of them were in this picture.

We gained a couple of lifers this month. One was this Ovenbird.  We first saw it under a bush and thought we were chasing a thrush, but when we got a better look here was this lovely little warbler.

There were lots of thrushes around, too, of course, just for a couple of weeks. When you look at this Swainson's, you see the similarities.

 

I can't post photos of all one hundred or so birds we saw this May so I'll end with a couple of our regular yard birds.  Here I was being eyed by a Least Flycatcher.

 And the Baltimore Oriole who never wants to eat the fruit or jelly I have for him, but sings throughout the day from the poplars around the yard.  (and sometimes from this oak)