June Birds in Saskatchewan

 The beginning of June found us in Grasslands National Park, in the south west corner of Saskatchewan.  This is a region known for being dry but this year there had been enough rain that it was still green when we visited there.

It is prime breeding ground for Lark Buntings and we saw plenty.  The females are streaky brown and may be confused with the average sparrow to the casual observer, but the males really stand out.

We are always pleased if we see any close to home, but in the Grassland Park they were abundant.

I didn't photograph a single female among the crowds of white winged males.  We have to assume they were all nestled on their eggs in their hidden nests.

We saw (briefly) one life bird during our couple of days in the park.  It was a Rock Wren.  This one peeked over the tops of the rocks for a minute or less.  Ray glimpsed the whole bird, but alas, my camera did not.

There were also several Bobolinks, another bird we don't see often enough.

On our list of seldom seen birds was this Cinnamon Teal, a beautiful, and to us, rare duck.

Later in the month I photographed this hawk.  Given the amount of white, I am calling it a Ferruginous Hawk till someone tells me otherwise. One of my favourite things about these hawks is that their preferred lunch is a plump Richardson's Ground Squirrel, aka a gopher.  They do munch on the occasional meadowlark unfortunately, but birds are not their primary diet choice.

Every summer the Purple Martins inspect our yard.  They always reject our martin house, not surprising as you can see.  Not being a carpenter, I need to find a place to buy a new house. I like hearing their calls as they fly over and would welcome them as tenants.

The flycatcher family has the most species of any bird family in the world.  The Least Flycatcher is one that occasionally nests in our yard.

As farmers we are blessed with grassland as well as cropland.  This gives us the opportunity to see sparrows.  Native ones, not the House Sparrows that call our yard home.  This one is a Clay-coloured Sparrow.  Its song is an interesting buzzing sound.

I love warblers.  They are small and cute and don't sit still. Most of them nest in the forests three or more hours north of us but a few species are willing to spend the summers in southern Saskatchewan.  American Redstarts like this one will nest in the wooded areas, particularly provincial parks.

Some of these flycatchers are impossible to identify by sight, but by song this one identified himself as an Alder Flycatcher.  We met this guy in Spruce Woods Park in Manitoba.

Our last June bird is a Great Blue Heron.  I love herons.  (Okay, along with owls, warblers, tanagers, woodpeckers....)