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.