Manitoba – The Final Frontier, Part 1 of 3, May-June 2025

When it came time to start planning my big spring 2025 birding trip the destination was quite obvious – it had to be Manitoba.  That was my last state or province that I hadn’t birded extensively.  To paraphrase the Star Trek intro – Manitoba, the final frontier.  (Then again I haven’t yet birded Canada’s more distant and less accessible territories – Nunavut, Northwest, and Yukon.)

With an existing province list of just 61, there were lots of potential new province birds waiting for me in MB.  And if I flew into Grand Forks, ND, I could also fill a few gaps in my MN and ND lists before or after the MB portion of the trip. 

I reached out to my good birding friends Bill and Anita Hooker who went with me on my trip to FL back in January 2025, and they agreed to come along on this trip as well.  It was all coming together.

One last big picture decision to make was whether to include a trip to Churchill in our MB itinerary.  I’ve heard so much about Churchill over the decades, starting back in the late 1900’s when Ross’s Gulls nested there.  I know Ross’s haven’t been seen there in a while, but birding continues to be great there.  So we talked ourselves into making the extra round-trip flights from Winnipeg to Churchill, though it made for a pricey add-on to the trip.

I spent several months planning the trip, including searching for the best birding hotspots in MB to maximize our species total, and looking for specific one-off targets near Grand Forks in MN and ND.  I came up with a 13-day itinerary where I could add at least 140 species in MB to break 200 for the province, add perhaps only 4 in ND, and hopefully 2 in MN.

These next 3 blog posts summarize the MB portion of the trip, with this post summarizing our birding efforts from May 29th through June 1st.  The previous post summarized the MN and ND legs of the trip.

5/29 – Southwest MB – Grasslands

The MB grasslands are located in the far southwestern corner of the province.  After a morning of birding in eastern ND, and a 4-hour drive to reach MB, we knew we wouldn’t be reaching the area until mid-afternoon on the 29th, which wouldn’t be the best time to listen for singing prairie birds.  Instead, we would go to the best prairie spots early the next morning, and look for a couple specific non-singing targets on the afternoon of the 29th – Burrowing Owl and Ferruginous Hawk.  Burrowing Owls are exceptionally rare in MB, and their locations are a well-kept secret.  But most sightings in previous years appeared to be in the Broomhill area so that would be our target search area.  On the other hand, our other target, Ferruginous Hawk, has nested for several years at a well-known location in the grasslands.

We arrived at the border at 2:30 PM, and as we were being interviewed by a Canadian customs officer we were serenaded by a Least Flycatcher and a Western Kingbird.  That’s a nice initiation to MB!  My Canadian province and territory map for Least Flycatcher is inserted below.  Provinces where I’ve seen this species are shaded in light blue – I’ve now seen Least Flycatcher in all 10 provinces.  Cross-hatched jurisdictions are those in the Least Flycatcher’s regular range where I’ve yet to see it.  I’ve never birded in Canada’s three northwestern territories (yet!) so none of these will be shaded in for any of my Canada maps.

We then started our drive to Broomhill through farming country with patches of prairie and wetlands.  With just 61 species on my province list, most everything we saw was new.  We picked up a few dabbling ducks, Coot, Pied-billed Grebe and Black Tern in pothole ponds.  And added Swainson’s Hawk, Western Meadowlark, and Bobolink foraging in the fields.  Plus some typical “road” birds like Mourning Dove and Brewer’s Blackbirds.  By the time we reached the Broomhill WMA I had added 17 new province birds, bringing the total to 78.

We drove around the roads in the WMA looking for overgrazed fields with animal burrows where Burrowing Owls might be taking up residence.  We first found one overgrazed cattle pasture in the distance but saw no holes or dirt mounds.  Then after a bit more driving, we came upon what looked like the perfect field – overgrazed with little vegetation, and a colony of ground squirrels with quite a number of burrows.  But despite extensive scanning we couldn’t locate any little Owls.  As of mid-June there are still no sightings of Burrowing Owl in the province with the exception of one in April far east of the grasslands. 

But not all was lost as we searched for the Owls, as we added 17 new species to my MB list while driving through the area.  Key additions were birds of the prairie like Upland Sandpiper, Willet, Horned Lark, and Vesper, Clay-colored, and Grasshopper Sparrows.  That brought my list to 95. 

Next we were on to the site of the Ferruginous Hawk nest, mentioned in several eBird reports as located in a nearby cottonwood.  There were only a couple cottonwoods at the site, so it didn’t take long to locate the large stick nest.  Here’s a distant shot of one of the adults on the nest.  The haze in the picture is from thick smoke that was in the air due to the many forest fires ongoing throughout MB.

As we situated ourselves to get a better look we flushed a Sharp-tailed Grouse that surprisingly landed high in the same cottonwood where the Ferruginous nest was located.  And finally, a perched pair of dark-phased Red-tailed Hawks in the distance was a nice find. (MB #96-98)

With our birding done for the day, we headed into the little town of Melita to check into our hotel.  Our two key targets in Melita were Eurasian Collared-Dove and Chimney Swift, both near the edge of their ranges.  As we drove through town I noticed a bird perched on top of a telephone pole, which a quick binocular view revealed to be the Dove.  Collared-Doves are considered to be a rarity in MB per Sibley's range maps.  Hence the reason why it's shaded using a darker blue color as compared to lighter blue in the western provinces where this species is regular.

A bit later we spotted Swifts flying around the town museum, which not surprisingly has a large chimney.  While riding around town we added several others like Purple Martin, Starling, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, and Ring-necked Pheasant.  (MB #99-107)

While riding out of town we spotted this statue.  We were told that summers in Melita are warmer than anywhere else in MB.  So warm in fact, that you could grow bananas there.  At least that’s what we were told.

In our late afternoon of birding in MB we had 63 species, adding 46 species to my province list.  And including our initial stops in ND, we had 112 species for the day.

5/30 – Second Day of Grasslands with Nearby Riparian Areas

For our big day of grassland birding we headed to a roughly 4-mile by 2-mile area west of the small town of Lyleton.  In the last few years this area has had the greatest concentration of our target species, though there had just been 1 or 2 checklists so far this year.  On the way to the area, we spotted a couple Gray Partridges along the roadside – a very nice start.

Soon we arrived at Road 4N, with excellent prairie habitat on both sides.  And after a short ride we spotted the first of several Chestnut-collared Longspurs.  Finally, 1 sat cooperatively on the fence just a short distance away for photos.  As I admired this gorgeous bird I noticed something white moving in the grass in the background.  I changed my focus and realized that the moving white objects were the tails of dancing Sharp-tailed Grouse.  We had just found a large lek!  Here’s a shot of the prairie where the Grouse were displaying in the distance.

As we watched the Grouse dancing I picked up 2 singing Baird’s Sparrows on the other side of the road.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t get any visuals of them.  A bit further on we heard a Sprague’s Pipit calling high overhead.  And with a bit of work I was able to spot a second silent bird hovering well above us.  As we were leaving the area we lucked onto a Loggerhead Shrike perched on the fence, giving us a clean sweep of our prairie targets.  Rounding out our additions for the morning were Brown Thrasher and Cedar Waxwing in small wooded islands, and a Wood Duck in a nearby pond.  I've now seen Wood Duck in each province in its regular range except Alberta, plus I've seen it as a rarity in Newfoundland.

That gave me 8 new species, bringing the MB total to 115.   

Next, we visited a number of riparian areas along the Souris River that can form nice oases of trees surrounded by the prairie.  By far the best stop was at Coulter Park.  The site has quite some history, as reported by the Manitoba Historical Society Archives – “In November 1928, pioneer Francis Coulter donated to the Arthur Pioneers Association this site south of Melita where he had settled, in April 1882. It became known as Coulter Park, or Sourisford Park, after the nearby crossing on the Souris River.”

The heavily wooded site was quite birdy, starting with the Say’s Phoebe we saw right in the road as we arrived, along with calling Willow Flycatchers.  This is one of the few places to find these species in the province.  We also added Yellow-throated Vireo, Orchard Oriole, Great Crested Flycatcher, Great Blue Heron and Rough-winged Swallow to my MB list. (MB #116-122)

On an evening walk in the heavily wooded Gerald W. Malaher PWMA I didn’t add anything new for my list.  But I did have a calling Merlin, confirmed by Merlin.  (I’ve always secretly wanted to have Merlin identify a calling Merlin.)

Although we quit birding in the heat at lunchtime (remember that Melita Banana Belt story?), we still had 75 species for the day, and I added 15 to my province list, bringing the total to 122. 

5/31 – Whitewater Lake, Oak Lake

This was our first of 2 key days on our trip for waterfowl, shorebirds, and other wetland species.  While doing eBird research on Whitewater and Oak Lakes I reached out to local birder Sandy Hominick for birding advice.  And she in turn connected me with Gillian Richards.  Gillian is a regional reviewer and knows the area like the back of her hand.  But better than just giving us advice, Gillian offered to bird with us around the area – an offer that would prove to be invaluable to us.  Gillian would bring Sandy and their friend Jackie Dixon along as well, giving us lots of eyes to look for our targets.

Our birding started in the parking lot of our Melita hotel with a calling Kingfisher (MB #123).  Then after a short drive, we arrived at our meeting place along the west side of Whitewater Lake, with extensive mudflats that were loaded with shorebirds.  This was just the first of many stops that Gillian led us to around Whitewater Lake.  Here’s one of the best shorebird spots on the north side of Whitewater Lake.

And a shot of the flats at Sexton’s Point that were also full of shorebirds.

By the time we were done birding in and around the wetlands on both the north and south sides of Whitewater Lake I had added 25 new species.  Of our 18 species of waterfowl key additions included Eared and Horned Grebes, Ruddy Duck, American Wigeon, Ross’s and Snow Geese.  And our 17 species of shorebirds featured these additions - Avocet, Sanderling, Dunlin, Red-necked Phalarope, Stilt Sand, Baird’s and Pectoral.  Gulls and Terns were represented by Ring-billed, California, and Forster’s.  And passerines included Nelson’s Sparrow and Lark Sparrow. (MB #124-149)

Next, we were onto the Bethel Road woodlands where as predicted we added breeding Red-headed Woodpecker.  Here’s one of Anita’s pictures of the Woodpecker.

Plus we heard, or should I say “felt”, a drumming Ruffed Grouse (MB #150-151)

Our last few stops of the day were around Oak Lake where I added Western Grebe and White-faced Ibis to my province list (MB #152-153).  And I couldn’t pass on pictures of this distant but cooperative Red-necked Grebe, even if it wasn’t a new species. 

We ended the day with 106 species, including 31 new birds for my MB list, now standing at 153.  I can’t thank Gillian, Sandy, and Jackie enough for all their help!  We would never have been able to find all those great birding spots, and great birds, on our own.

6/1 – Brandon, Riding Mountain NP

We were lucky enough to have Gillian and Sandy offer to show us around the Brandon area the morning of the 1st.  But before we could make it out of the hotel parking lot I added a new bird - a singing House Finch (MB #154).

Our first stop was the Wesman Salvage hotspot where we picked up a rare Red-breasted Merganser which had been spotted there recently (MB #155).

Next, we headed to Douglas Marsh, home of the Yellow Rail.  I couldn’t resist taking this picture of the Douglas Marsh sign with the morning sun eerily shining through the heavy smoke from nearby forest fires.  We probably should have worn masks.

It was a long shot, but we played some tape anyway hoping for a Yellow Rail to respond.  We also tried Le Conte’s Sparrow but with no luck.  Sure looks like a nice marsh though.

Our next stop was the Douglas quarry with its many manmade ponds and lakes.  At one of our first stops we were lucky enough to have an American Bittern fly overhead (MB #156).  Later we found a second one along a small stream.  Plus we got nice looks at this Bank Swallow colony. 

Our last stops of the morning were along the Glenboro bluebird box trail where we hoped for both Eastern and Mountain Bluebirds.  But our first addition was a singing Eastern Wood-Pewee.  Later we finally ran into our first Eastern Bluebirds, and eventually a nesting pair of Mountain Bluebirds. (MB #157-159) Here’s a distant shot of one of the Mountain Bluebirds in the smoky haze.

And a picture of a most cooperative Lark Sparrow – not a new one but still an attractive bird.

It was now time for us to leave the southern tier of MB and start heading north to Riding Mountain NP.  We couldn’t thank Gillian and Sandy enough for all their help putting us on so many birds over the last day and a half!  Here's a shot of the 3 of us - very happy birders!

We arrived at Riding Mountain in the mid-afternoon heat (though at least the smoke had abated).  After a short break at the hotel rooms, we took a stroll around the property picking up Dark-eyed Junco and Common Nighthawk.  (MB #160-161)  Then a quick ride around town and the Wasagaming Campground yielded some nice warblers like Magnolia (MB #162) and multiple Tennessees and Blackburnians. 

Next we were off to the trails around Ominnik Marsh, where we picked up Virginia Rail (MB #163) but couldn’t find the recently reported nesting Trumpeter Swans.  Would we need a return trip to find them? 

And our last new species of the day was a pair of Common Mergansers swimming in the waves of Clear Lake in the distance (MB #164).

We finished the day with 90 species, adding 11 to my province list, now standing at 164.

5 “State" Birds in Washington, D.C. and 2 More in VA, December 2015

On most of my recent trips to Baltimore to visit relatives I’ve done at least a little birding in Washington, DC, VA, and/or WV to try to fill gaps in those “state” lists.  Although I had exceeded the old ABA reportable threshold in all 3 some years back, my key goal was to be at least 15 over the threshold in each location.  I reached the “reportable plus 15” goal in WV in 2014, but I was still short by 2 in DC and 3 in VA.  So that meant I needed to focus my Baltimore-area birding on DC and VA on future trips.

With an upcoming trip to Baltimore in December 2015, I set up eBird Needs Alerts for both DC and VA to see what might be around.  I was surprised to see that recent reports included no less than 7 possible “state” birds in DC and another 5 possible state birds in northern VA.  And many had been seen multiple days so they might well be chaseable.  I also sent a note to local DC birder Paul Pisano and he was most helpful giving me some micro-directions on each of the DC targets.  But as the trip neared, the reports on all but 3 species stopped coming in, and even a few negative reports were posted.  I was now less optimistic, but still hoped for 2 new birds each in DC and VA.  Armed with the latest information I set up an itinerary starting with birding in 5 locations in DC, followed by birding at 3 locations in northern VA, which would give me a chance at all 12 recently, or at least somewhat recently, reported target birds.

I started my trip at the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in the northeast corner of DC, arriving there about 20 minutes before dawn.  The prime targets here were an American Bittern, Purple Finches, and Ravens.  Although all had been reported regularly a week earlier, there were negative reports for all 3 species in the last 5 days.  In fact, given the negative reports I even wondered if I should make a stop here at all.  But ever the optimist, I began to walk slowly along the main trail in the pre-dawn light making my way toward some ponds that had been the favorite spot for the Bittern.  I was only part way down the trail toward the ponds when I stopped to check out some gulls flying overhead.  Just then a bird flushed from a small area of cattails not a few feet away – it was the Bittern.  I probably would have walked right by it had I not stopped for the gulls.  A nice rarity for DC (a “write-in” in eBird) and my first new DC bird.  This has been an elusive species for me across the country, even though it is regular throughout most regions (see my statebird map below).

I continued out to the boardwalk listening intently for calling Ravens or Finches but to no avail.  I then headed back toward a spot where an unconfirmed Orange-crowned Warbler had been reported the previous day.  There was a nice flock of White-throats and Juncos there, but no warbler, though a singing (!) Hermit Thrush was nice.  And then I heard the faint “tick” calls of Purple Finch overhead, and looking up I saw 2 birds passing by (#2).  Not a rarity but still a tough bird in DC, filling in the last gap in the northeast portion of my statebird map.

I headed out of Kenilworth very happy to have seen 2 of my 3 targets, which frankly were 2 more than I expected.

Next stop was the Rock Creek Golf Course where a Red-headed Woodpecker had been reported for 2 consecutive days a week ago, though there were no updates in the last 7 days.  Luckily a specific location was mentioned, and I was able to quickly find the dead tree where the bird had been seen.  But the best I could do was to find a Pileated in the distance.  I walked a bit farther down the fairway and heard a Red-belly and a Flicker  Then in the distance I heard several familiar Red-headed call notes that the BirdTunes app calls “rattle calls” (#3).  DC was the last gap in the eastern part of my statebird map for this species.

The next target bird was a Mute Swan that had been reliably seen around Theodore Roosevelt Island in the Potomac River.  It had most recently been seen on the east side of the island, viewable from Rock Creek Parkway, and Paul Pisano’s suggestion was to drive slowly down the Parkway and look toward the island as I drove past the Kennedy Center.  Sounded simple enough, as long as I could look for the bird safely in DC traffic (when was the last time anyone drove slowly down any parkway in DC?).  As I neared the island I hoped for a place to pull over, or that there would be a red light to stop traffic - but it wasn’t to be.  Luckily as I got to the Kennedy Center I was able to slow down a bit, looked to the right, and there was the Swan swimming close to the island (#4).  DC was the last northeast “state” where I needed this species.

Then I was on to Hain’s Point where a recent report included 7 Lesser Black-backed Gulls mixed in Ring-billed Gull flocks.  I drove around the perimeter of the park and saw very few gulls at all.  The best I could do was to find a late Laughing Gull in a small mixed gull flock.  So lacking the critical mass of gulls, I headed out of the park rather than searching any further.

My last DC stop was the LBJ Memorial Grove, which is on an island on the western edge of the Potomac River, just barely in DC.  For about 10 days an Orange-crowned Warbler had been seen here with a mixed Chickadee/Kinglet flock.  Amazingly an American Redstart had also been seen in this or a nearby flock.  The Orange-crowned was reported to be rather easy to find in brush immediately north of the parking lot, while the Redstart was only seen infrequently in the same general area.  Within a minute of getting out of my car I heard some Chickadee calls and quickly found a mixed flock of Chickadees and Kinglets in the brush just north of the parking lot.  Fully expecting to find the Orange-crowned with them, I looked through the flock multiple times, presumably seeing each bird in the flock several times, but the target bird was nowhere in sight.  The flock moved on to the east, but was soon replaced in the brush by another mixed flock.  This group included the typically harder to find Redstart which gave excellent views.  Although the Redstart is a rarer bird in winter than the Orange-crowned, I have seen Redstart in DC in the warmer seasons, and needed the Orange-crowned for my DC list.  So I decided to try to re-find the first Chickadee/Kinglet flock to see if the target bird had joined them.  I eventually re-found the flock in some pines to the east, and after a little searching found the Orange-crowned Warbler mixed in (#5).  How did I miss it when I first looked through that flock?  My statebird map for this species is very spotty in the east where it is uncommon or rare, though not surprisingly I’ve seen it in most of its regular western states.

I left DC with 5 new birds – much better than the 2 that I expected.  And 4 of these (Bittern, Red-headed Woodpecker, Swan, and Orange-crowned), along with the Redstart, were “write-ins” on eBird.  It was a nice start for the day, and now it was on to VA.

The first VA stop was at the Belle Haven area along the Potomac River in Fairfax County, where there had been 2 recent reports of Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and one of a cooperative Merlin.  When I arrived at midday the tide was high but falling and I could only find about 50 gulls, and nothing unusual.  Over the next 45 minutes more gulls flew in, but they were just the regular suspects.  And there was no Merlin in sight.  I considered staying longer in hopes that more gulls might arrive as the tide continued to drop, and maybe even the Merlin might appear.  But with 2 other stops to go, I decided to head out.  Interestingly, I made a stop here at Belle Haven on my last trip to northern VA in January 2015, and searched for but missed these same 2 species on that trip as well.

Next on my itinerary was Huntley Meadows Park where multiple Rusty Blackbirds had been reported most every day over the last couple weeks.  I had birded this park a couple times before, and knew that there were lots of wet swampy woodlands that would be ideal for Rusty Blackbirds.  But since no specific locations for the Rusty’s were mentioned in the eBird posts, I was concerned about how long it might take me to find them – if I found them at all.  As I arrived I went to the nature center thinking that I might find a park worker who might be able to give me some suggestions on the Rusty’s.  But before I could ask the worker behind the desk I noticed another birder and asked him about the birds.  It turned out that he had just completed leading a birdwalk at the park, and had had several Rusty’s that morning.  He took me to the spot where he had seen Rusty’s mixed in with Red-wings perched in some low trees, but we only found 1 Red-wing.  I decided to wait at this spot hoping the birds might return.  Over the next 15 minutes small groups of Red-wings flew in, and finally a lone female Rusty Blackbird joined them (VA statebird #1).  That fills a big gap in my statebird map, though I still need this species in 3 other states where they are regular.

My planned final stop was to be at turf farms in Fauquier County, about a 90-minute ride to the southwest.  There had been a recent post from Grassdale Road in the middle of the turf farms with 26 American Pipits and 5 Vesper Sparrows – 2 of my target birds.  But I had had reservations about heading to this spot from the beginning – the sightings were listed in just one post, there were no details on the birds, and it was a long ride away.  And now with my misses as Belle Haven, I wondered if I should head back there to see if my luck might improve instead of heading to the turf farms.  But the turf farm post was only 3 days old.  Plus I had birded a nearby spot at the turf farms last winter and had had good luck there with Horned Larks and Lapland Longspurs.  So I decided to stick with my original plans and headed to the turf farms.

The first thing I did when I arrived was to slowly drive the mile-long road to get the lay of the land, with car windows open to listen for Pipits, and also watching for sparrows that might flush from grasses along the roadside.  But I heard just 1 Horned Lark and found no sparrows at all.  On my way back I stopped several times to listen even more intently, but only heard one sparrow which turned out to be a Song.  I was now close to the beginning of the road sitting in my car wondering what to do next.  Then I heard a couple call notes that sounded Pipit-like coming from quite close to the car.  I got out and scanned the grass and found an otherwise silent flock of 14 Pipits foraging in the grass near the road (#2).  If that bird hadn’t called I likely would have missed them altogether.  I now only need American Pipit in 6 more mainland states.

With a few more minutes before I had to head back, I took the short drive to the spot I birded last winter with long-shot hopes I might run into Vesper Sparrows there.  And although I found a flock of at least 20 Savannah Sparrows, none had white outer tail feathers.  So Vesper Sparrow would have to wait for future VA trip.

I ended up with about 65 species for the day, including 5 additions for my DC list and 2 for my VA list.  My DC total is now 183, 18 over the old 2011 ABA threshold of 165 – of course exceeding my somewhat arbitrary “reportable plus 15” goal.  But a more up-to-date threshold could be calculated if one could find the total DC list.  With some research on the web I found out that the total DC list as of 4/19/15 was 334.  Dividing that number by 2 as the ABA used to do to calculate the thresholds, that would equate to a new threshold of 167.  In other words, 4 more species have been added to the DC list since 2011.  I would imagine my 183 will be safely over newly calculated DC thresholds for many years to come. 

My VA list is now 246, which is 14 over the 2011 ABA threshold of 232.  As of December 2015, the total VA list had increased to 471 resulting in a new threshold of 235.5.  So the VA list would have to increase by 22 before I would no longer reach the “reportable” threshold.  And although that sounds like a big number, the VA list increased by 7 from 2011 to 2015.  At that rate the threshold would pass my total in about 15 years.  Seems like even 15 over the old threshold might not be enough in VA.