Nature
Notes for August 26, 2016
In
early July, I had the good fortune to be able to explore a birding area that I
had never visited. For ten days, my husband and I birded in southern Alberta
and Saskatchewan, chasing down bird species of the dry mixed grass prairie. The
range of some of our target species just barely extends into southeastern
Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan.
While
Ontario was having the worst drought in years, southern Saskatchewan was having
the wettest year in 20 years. Areas that are usually semi-desert were still
green instead of the more usual dry brown. This may have helped the birds, as
insect food might be more abundant than in a dry year.
Since
I had not birded in prairie habitats prior to this trip, many of the species were
new to me. For example, Western Meadowlark is a common bird in the grasslands.
It looks almost identical to Eastern Meadowlark, but its song is very
different.
Clay-coloredSparrows were probably the most common sparrow we found, as common as Song Sparrowsare here. Clay-coloreds prefer open habitats with small bushes. It seemed that
the bush only needed to be a one-foot high sagebrush to be attractive to the
sparrows.
I
didn’t realize before this trip just how important the prairie sloughs are to
breeding waterfowl. Sloughs (pronounced “sloo”) are shallow marshes in the
prairies which often dry up during the summer. Some had cattail edge and small
shrubs surrounding the open water. This is the breeding area for many of the
duck species that are seen in southern Ontario only in migration. On our
ten-day visit, we found 15 species of ducks in these wetlands.
American Avocet
photo © Rob Lonsberry Photography
As
well as ducks, several shorebird species use these sloughs. American Avocets, a
handsome, long-legged wader, were present in many ponds. More recently, they
have been joined by Black-necked Stilts, another long-legged wader. Only in the
past 20 years have the stilts become regular breeders. Willets are another
shorebird that breeds in the prairie sloughs.
Yellow-headed Blackbirds are sometimes more common than Red-winged Blackbirds in the cattail
edges of these wet spots. Adult males are spectacular, with a completely bright
yellow head and black body.
We
visited Old Man on His Back Prairie and Conservation Area, a reserve southwest
of Eastend, Sask., which for 20 years has been owned and managed by the Nature
Conservancy of Canada. In 2003, NCC introduced a herd of genetically-pure
plains bison to OMB. NCC manages the property as a working ranch and showcases
the positive relationship between agricultural land use and land conservation.
We did see the bison, briefly and from a distance. Much to my surprise, Common Nighthawks were roosting on the rail fence surrounding the Visitors Centre. We
could have spent much more time than we did here.
We
explored secondary roads south of the Cypress Hills to the U.S. Border in both
Saskatchewan and Alberta. Here, we found many Lark Buntings, McCown’s Longspurs
and Chestnut-collared Longspurs, McCown’s Longspurs are listed at “uncommon and
local” in our most modern field guide, but we were fortunate enough to find 30
or 40 in a large flock. These were along a road that was posted as passable
only in a four-wheel-drive vehicle if there was rain.
The
reason for the timing of this trip was the annual conference of the North American Bluebird Society which was held at the Ellis Bird Farm near Lacombe,
Alberta. The common bluebird here is Mountain Bluebird. We saw more Mountain
Bluebirds along roadsides in southern Saskatchewan than we did at the
conference.
Ellis
Bird Farm is home to a large Purple Martin colony, an increasingly rare bird in
Ontario. Researchers, who were studying these birds, gave presentations about
their work. Some of the birds have been tagged with geolocaters which can
record what routes they take to their wintering grounds in the Amazon basin and
back to Alberta.
I’ve
only touched on a few highlights of our trip. If you meet me in the street, be
prepared to spend a little time if you ask me about it. My exuberance might
result in information overload.
