Ray and I have looked for Townsend's Solitaires several times, notably in February of 2021 in really, really cold weather. But never found it. Townsend's Solitaires are not actually supposed to live in Saskatchewan. They migrate through here in a diagonal shortcut from B.C. and the Yukon and a few like it and stay for the winter.
This map was copied from my favourite bird site, All About Birds. Please go visit them. Just not right now.
Earlier this month we found a Townsend's Solitaire in Lethbridge, Alberta, when we went straight when we were supposed to turn right. It was obviously intended. Ray saw the bird fly through a yard; a couple of minutes later we tracked it down on the top of a tree. Because we were not expecting a lifer but returning from the Good Friday service at church I was missing vital equipment, my camera. Binoculars were at hand, however, and the identity was confirmed. We drove to our daughter's house, rapidly collected the camera, left behind a granddaughter who has not yet caught the birding bug, and returned to find the bird gone from the top of the tree.
Well, what could you expect?
Then a short journey down the street and back revealed the bird across the road sitting on a roof. I'm never excited about a bird on a roof, unless it is a lifer, and this one was.
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Yes, it is a fairly nondescript bird, especially on a cold, cloudy day when it was supposed to be spring. However, a close inspection reveals two important field marks, a white eye ring and a gold patch on the wing. (All About Birds calls it a buffy patch but I saw it and I call it gold.)
Our next Townsend's Solitaire sighting will be in Saskatchewan on a sunny day. It will be sitting in the open on a branch eight feet off the ground and twenty feet away. And I will have my camera.
Or at least that's my plan.
