Manitoba – The Final Frontier, Part 2 of 3, 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.

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.

This is the second of 3 blog posts summarizing the MB portion of the trip, covering June 2nd through the 5th. 

6/2 – Riding Mountain National Park

Earlier in our trip Brandon birder Gillian Richards connected us with local Riding Mountain birder Ken Kingdon to see if he could help us out in the park.  Better than that, Ken offered to show us around the morning of the 2nd, taking us to multiple stops north along Route 10.   

Our first stop was a short walk along Gray Owl dump road.  Here I added Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Cape May Warbler and Purple Finch.  (MB #165-167)  My Canadian province and territory map for Purple Finch is inserted below.  Provinces where I’ve seen this species are shaded in light blue – I’ve now seen Purple Finch in all 10 provinces.  Cross-hatched jurisdictions are those in the Purple Finch'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.

However, I missed the Siskins that everyone else heard.  Maybe I was distracted by the buzz of the hordes of mosquitoes.  Hopefully that wouldn’t come back to haunt me.

Next, we continued north to Bead Lakes for a longer walk through excellent boreal habitat.  It proved to be a great spot, with finds like Evening Grosbeak right in the parking lot, Hermit Thrush, Canada Jay, Canada Warbler, Mourning Warbler, Blue-headed Vireo, a heard-only Boreal Chickadee, Black-throated Green Warbler, and a calling Three-toed Woodpecker.  (MB #168-174)  Unfortunately we dipped on Winter Wren and Trumpeter Swan at an adjacent wetlands.  Ken also pointed out this tree to us – a bear had not only removed the bark near the top of the picture, but it had also rubbed on the bark below leaving some dirt behind.

Our next stop was at the far north end of the park at Crawford Creek.   I hadn’t picked out this site for a possible stop when I was planning the trip so I wasn’t sure what the targets might be here.  As we got out of the cars Ken said that this location was a reliable spot for Golden-winged Warblers, and before we left the parking lot we were hearing one singing nearby (MB #175).  We took a short walk and soon reached this classic Golden-winged habitat – an area of young deciduous trees with open grassy and shrubby patches. 

Soon we got visuals on one male with 2 others singing a short distance away.  I had planned to search for this species at a site on the eastern escarpment of the park – I didn’t realize they were at this site as well.   

We turned around and started heading south, soon reaching our next stop at Moon Lake.  Here we added 2 birds - a breeding plumage Bonaparte’s flew by just as we arrived, and we finally found Trumpeters Swans in the distance.  (MB #176-177)  We also took a short hike especially focused on Lincoln’s Sparrow and Wilson’s Warbler but with no luck.

Next we were on to the Boreal Trail, a site that has had quite a number of nice checklists in recent years.  Although the gate was closed, we assumed it was OK to walk in and take a short hike.   And we’re glad we did.  Here I finally heard multiple Pine Siskins, then an Olive-sided Flycatcher singing softly in the distance.  Then we focused on the willows and alders lining this fast-flowing stream and added both Lincoln’s Sparrow and Wilson’s Warbler. 

Then Bill got a brief look at a very dark woodpecker – sure sounded like it could be a Black-backed but we needed better looks.  Eventually we all got great looks at not one but 3 Black-backed Woodpeckers.  Seems early in the year to be a family group.  Could it be a small breeding colony?  (MB #178-182)

Our last stop of the morning was at a marsh just south of the park where Ken had had LeConte’s Sparrows recently.  The marsh and adjacent meadows seemed drier than normal – perhaps too dry for LeConte’s.  We listened intently for a while, and played some tape, but with no luck.  It was actually quite windy now, so we decided to come back in the evening to try again when the winds would hopefully be calmer. 

We thanked Ken for all his help in getting us on some great birds that morning, hoping that we might cross paths again some day.

After a quick lunch we decided to head to the west of the park, first to check out a report of 2 Connecticut Warblers.  Ken said that COWAs were not likely in the park anymore, so we were a bit skeptical.  The checklist area had some good habitat, but we couldn’t scare up a Connecticut. 

Then we were on to the dam at the south end of Lake Audy.  The area was quite birdy, and our first addition was a flock of 25 or so American White Pelicans on the north shore of the lake very far in the distance.  Good thing Pelicans are so large because they could have been as much as 2 miles away!  Much closer were several flyby Forster’s Terns followed by 2 Common Terns.  Six Trumpeter Swans were a nice sighting as they swam by.  (If only a 7th bird had joined them, we’d have had “7 swans a swimming”.)  And minutes later an Osprey and Bald Eagle flew by. (MB #183-186)  Finally, not new for my list, but still a nice find, was this Red-necked Grebe on its floating nest.

And as we drove from Lake Audy we encountered this Bear walking down the road shoulder right past us.  At this distance it’s nice to see the bear from the safety of a car.

That evening we went back to the marsh for another try for LeConte’s Sparrow.  Even though winds had greatly reduced, we still couldn’t turn up a LeConte’s.  Maybe water levels were just too low this year.  Next we planned to head to the area east of Lake Katherine for Woodcocks.  We were a bit early when we arrived in the area, so we headed to Lake Katherine and had a spectacular nighthawk show over the lake.  That was the highlight of the evening because we had no luck with the Woodcocks. 

I ended the day with 22 new species for my province list, bringing my MB total to 186.  Closing in on 200…

6/3 – Riding Mountain NP

This day was focused on sites along Route 19 on the eastern side of Riding Mountain.  My first key stop was at a stream-lined with willows, hoping for looks at Lincoln’s Sparrow or Wilson’s Warbler.  Unfortunately, those targets remained elusive, but I did have a Red-breasted Nuthatch calling in the distance (MB #187).  Ken had told us that the lack of a cone crop in the Park this year meant that Red-breasted Nuthatches (along with Crossbills) were very scarce, so I was happy to get this one.

A bit further down the road I had a Pileated Woodpecker calling in the distance – the first for the trip but not new for my list.  And as I neared Whirlpool Lake I spotted the first of 3 Wild Turkeys ambling along the road shoulder (MB #188).

Soon afterwards I reached Whirlpool Lake and the woodlands near the parking lot were quite birdy, including 13 species of warblers.  Plus this “scruffy” Canada Jay.

And the lake itself was very pretty.

I doubled back to Lake Katherine and did some quick birding along the trails there.  The highlight of this stop was an Olive-sided Flycatcher characteristically perched on top of the tallest dead snag.

Our last stop of the day was along Clear Lake where we heard another Boreal Chickadee though couldn’t get any visuals.  We called it quits early that day, taking the late afternoon off.    

 I finished the day with 2 additional species, bringing my MB list to 188.

6/4 – Riding Mountain, Portage-la-Prairie

The plan for the morning was to bird the East Escarpment of Riding Mountain along Route 361 out of McCreary.  But first we had to take a picture of the formal east entrance to the park.

Our key target along the East Escarpment had been Golden-winged Warbler, but of course we already found this one at the north end of the park.  Our other 2 remaining targets were Indigo Bunting and Eastern Towhee, both near the northern edge of their ranges.  Gillian had suggested a trail to take to find both targets, along with the Golden-winged.  So that trail was our first stop, and almost immediately after getting out of the car at the trailhead we heard a singing Eastern Towhee.  And then seconds later a singing Indigo in this habitat.  That was easy… 

We took a short walk along the trail adding a flyby Ruby-throated Hummingbird (MB #189-191) and an additional Indigo.  We didn’t have any Golden-wings though – good thing we got them earlier.  Though I’m sure we would have birded more of the trail if we still needed this target.

Next we headed to the former ski slope at end of the road.  One of our first observations here was of a mid-sized mammal walking up one of the slopes – perhaps a mink? 

Notable birds here were a cooperative Blackburnian Warbler, and another flyby Hummingbird.  It was interesting to imagine this spot during its skiing hay day.  Our last stop in the area was a short hike on the Oak Ridge Trail, with a half dozen Least Flycatchers being most notable,

After 3 ½ days at Riding Mountain NP, we were off to the Portage-la-Prairie area.  Gillian had helped to connect us with Cal Cuthbert who was a local birding expert in that area.   Not only does he know the area extremely well, he has an amazing property with widely diverse habitats and great birds.  But first, Cal took us to the Portage-la-Prairie landfill which is well-known for its gull flock and the potential for rarities mixed in.  When we arrived, we drove right up on the landfill, and had just an estimated 60 Herrings, 40 Ring-bills, and 10 Franklin’s.  That didn’t seem like enough critical mass to have any rarities, but we quickly picked up at least 4 immature Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 2 adult Californias, and this stunning immature Glaucous photographed by Anita. (MB #192-194)  

MB was my 5th province where I've seen Lesser Black-backed Gull - 4 of which as rarities (the dark blue shaded provinces in my map below).

Plus, we had one bird that I thought was a Thayer’s but eBird reviewers said it was a Herring.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get on the Thayer’s that Cal spotted when we first arrived.

After a most successful time at the landfill, Cal took us to a private location where he had Saw-whet Owls nesting in a nest box.  

We were lucky enough that this juvenile bird was peering out of the box when we arrived (MB #195).

Next Cal took us to the Delta Beach area at the southern end of Lake Manitoba.  Here we witnessed a spectacular shorebird show thanks to Cal taking us to numerous secluded vantage points along the beach.  At each stop along the lake there were hundreds of shorebirds foraging in front of us, and an almost constant movement of birds heading west in waves along the shoreline.  We estimated at least 5,000 birds were included, mostly Semipalmated and White-rumped Sandpipers among the 14 species of shorebirds.  Here’s a typical shot with Semis, White-rumps, and a Sanderling in the foreground, and a pair of Caspian Terns in the background (one Tern is standing directly behind the other – can you see the 4 legs?).

By the end of the afternoon I had added 3 new MB species – 2 Red Knots (MB #196), 2 Caspian Terns (MB #197 – the old ABA reporting threshold for MB), and 32 Black-bellied Plovers (MB #198).  But nearly all were chased away by a Peregrine (MB #199) – at least now we don’t have to spend time trying for that one in downtown Winnipeg. 

We ended up with 101 species for the day, including 14 species added to my province list which now sits at 199.

6/5 – Portage-la-Prairie

We met up with Cal early that morning and he took us to a wet grassy field that had been good for LeConte’s Sparrow in the past. 

Unfortunately, the local drought meant the field was drier than normal, but with the help of some tape we eventually found LeConte’s - in fact we got great views. 

That brought my MB list to 200 – my original goal for the trip.  And we hadn’t even reached Churchill yet.

Then Cal took us to a large lot heavily wooded with mature oak trees at the Young Husband Lodge, in hopes of finding White-breasted Nuthatch.

We not only were successful in finally finding the Nuthatch, but also had views of, and heard, a Great Horned Owl.  And as we were leaving the lot 4 Sandhill Cranes flew overhead.  (MB #201-203)

We went back to Cal’s amazing yard where we walked several trails and ended the visit with some leisurely birding on the back deck.

We bid farewell to Cal, and couldn’t thank him enough for his help and allowing us to visit his amazing property.

The it was off to Winnipeg where I had 3 possible targets – Cooper’s Hawk, Cardinal, and Red-bellied Woodpecker.  All had been seen several times recently at multiple parks in the city, but local directions were limited for almost all of them.  I decided to try Bunn’s Creek Centennial Park as perhaps the best bet, and we headed there for a late afternoon visit.  Unfortunately, we dipped on all 3 targets, but we added an unexpected singing Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (MB #204).

I added 5 to my province list for the day, bringing my MB total to 204. 

Great Plains Trip to North Dakota and Saskatchewan, May-June 2024 – North Dakota Summary

In 2024 I decided my trip would be to the great plains of western North Dakota and southern Saskatchewan.  Why those 2 jurisdictions?  In ND, although I already had a pretty good list with 206 species, I had recently dropped below my goal of seeing at least half of the species on the official state list.  With the official ND state list recently increasing to 417, I needed at least 209 to exceed that threshold.  In fact, ND was now my only state in the Lower 48 below that threshold, so there was an additional incentive to adding birds to my ND list.  As for adjacent SK, my province list was just 48 based on just 1 hour of birding time in 2018.  So I had huge potential for additional “ticks” in that province.

Given that SK is actually only adjacent to the western portion of ND, I decided that Minot in northwestern ND would be a good starting off point for the trip.  (Even though I had more state bird potential in the eastern part of the state.)  I came up with an itinerary of 3 days in western ND, 9 days across the southern tier of SK, then a final day for late migrants in western ND.  Based on the potential timing of migrants and arrivals of breeding birds in the region I decided to fly into Minot on May 23rd, and fly out on June 4th.  With the general outline of the trip completed, I reached out to my good friend David Donsker who goes with me on many of these trips, and he agreed to join me.

Now came the hard work of the detailed planning of the trip.  For ND, my research was focused on those specific target species that I still needed for my list, with data mostly coming from the eBird database.  And in the last couple weeks before the trip, I especially relied on eBird Needs Alerts though I still had to separate sightings in the western ND counties from those in the rest of the state.  With all that research I came up with a list of more than 35 new ND species that I had a realistic chance of finding, but my chances of seeing almost all of them were quite low.  As a result, I expected to find just 7 additions to my ND list, though I hoped for perhaps 9 or 10.

My research for SK was quite different.  There I focused on the best hotspots to bird, trying to find those spots with the greatest birding potential over the widest range of habitats.  But SK is a huge province (nearly the size of Texas), so I had to limit my birding to the southern portion of the province.  Again, the eBird database was my key resource.  Plus, as my trip neared, I reached out to Stan Shadick who runs a SK birding tour company who gave me great advice to help fine-tune my itinerary.  That final itinerary included visits to Chaplin and Reed Lakes for shorebirds, Grasslands National Park for a diverse set of grasslands species, 2 days at Cypress Hills Provincial Park for woodland birds including several species more likely seen farther west, 2 days at Duck Mountain Provincial Park for boreal species, and a day in the southeast corner of the state for more southern species.  I wasn’t sure how many new species to expect, but conservatively hoped for at least 100 additions to my SK list. 

To quote John Denver – “My bags are packed; I’m ready to go…”

This blog post summarizes the ND portion of our trip.  See my other blog posts for summaries of the SK portion.

May 23 – Arrival in Minot, Birding East of Minot

With a mid-afternoon arrival into Minot there would only be time for some brief birding that afternoon.  And given that it just started raining, we figured we’d focus on some shorebird spots.  Recent eBird reports included a nice location with 4 of my targets in Towner east of Minot, so that’s where we headed.  Along the way we stopped at one of the many prairie potholes in the area that had a few shorebirds and found several Spotted Sands and 1 Solitary Sandpiper (ND – new state bird #1).  Interestingly the Solitary, one of our first shorebirds of the trip, would also be our only one for the trip.  My state bird map for Solitary Sandpiper is inserted below.  The blue shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species in its regular range.  The 6 cross-hatched states are those in its normal range where I’ve yet to see it.  And the brown states are those where I’ve seen it as a rarity.

A few minutes later we arrived at the Towner spot where the targets had been reported and found what looked like good habitat, but only found a couple White-rumps and Semi Sands – and none of my targets.  That was a bit disappointing, but I still added one new bird to my list in that first partial day.

May 24 – Minot and Northern ND

The original plan for the 24th was to spend the early morning hours at the Minot Oak Park hoping for migrant passerines.  Then we would head to the Minot Sewage Lagoons for shorebirds, and then head west and south making several stops in route to Bismarck.  But we awoke to a driving rain storm (sometimes mixed with snow), strong winds, and only 40 degrees.  So we changed our plans to first bird the Minot Sewage Lagoons, hoping to be able to stay at least a little dry.  Here’s a picture of one of the 6 lagoons, each reported to be 160 acres in size.

 

 

I wasn’t sure of the strategy to bird the lagoons, but soon realized that we could drive along the northern edge of the complex overlooking the water to the south.  And with those strong northerly winds, we could bird from the car with the window on the lee (south) side of the car open giving us good views of the water.

There wasn’t a lot of shorebird habitat, but the best was in the corners of the enormous impoundments.  The first corner we came to had several Sanderlings in nice breeding plumage (ND #2), the first of 8 we had at the lagoons.  We looked out into the vast expanse of the lagoons and saw hundreds of Red-necked Phalaropes swimming about (we estimated 1,500 for the eBird checklist, likely a huge underestimate).  We then turned our attention to the gravel road in front of us and noticed flocks of swallows sitting on the road and the low fencing trying to get out of the weather.  There were a number of Eastern Kingbirds there as well, and an Empidonax that cooperatively stayed in the open long enough for us to ID it as an Alder Flycatcher (ND #3).  The only other target shorebird we came upon was a group of 3 Greater Yellowlegs, which turned out to be the only ones of the trip for this lingering early migrant (ND #4).  ND was the last of the continental 49 states where I still needed Greater Yellowlegs.

Although I didn’t need any of the regular waterfowl for my list, we couldn’t help but scan the impoundments and marvel at the numbers of ducks there.  Most every expected dabbler and diver was there, dominated by an estimated 750 Shovelers.

We felt like we had birded the lagoons pretty well just as the rain began to abate.  Instead of heading to Minot Oak Park we started our drive to the west to hit the other shorebird spots I had lined up.  In retrospect perhaps we should have headed to Oak Park since there was a considerable fallout of passerines reported nearby that day.

Our first stop was at an apparent Ferruginous Hawk nest right along Highway 2 to the west.  But before we got there we spotted a small Accipter flying along the road, which ducked into the brush perhaps in search of a meal – it was a Sharp-shinned (ND #5) – that was lucky.  A few minutes later we arrived at the coordinates for the nest and there it was – an enormous mound of sticks in a tree just off the highway.  But there were no obvious birds on the nest – had the young already fledged?  And just then an adult Ferruginous flew in and landed just a short distance away (ND #6).   While watching the hawk a Gray Partridge flew by – not new for my list but always good to see.  ND was my last state for Ferruginous Hawk in its regular range.

Our next 2 stops were lakes with good recent shorebird reports.  However, with all the rain that morning we couldn’t access Wassaic Lake due to impassable muddy roads.  Luckily roads were better into Causeway Lake, and we pulled in instantly seeing good numbers of shorebirds and waterfowl.  Just then the ducks took off as a Golden Eagle passed by (ND #7).  I wasn’t expecting that one!  We were just one full day into the ND portion of the trip and already had as many new ND birds as I had expected for the entire trip.  This was looking good!

Now back to the shorebirds - we had good numbers of Stilt Sandpipers and Semi Sands and the only Dunlins of the trip, and then finally spotted a lone Ruddy Turnstone on a nearby island (ND #8). It’s great to see this species as an inland migrant, though like many of the Arctic-nesting shorebirds I still need it in a number of central US states.

We were then on to one of my most anticipated stops of the trip – Little Knife Cabins in New Town.  In route we spotted yet another gigantic Ferruginous Hawk nest, this time with one of the birds on the nest.  The attraction in Little Knife Cabins was the home of Peder Stenslie with nesting Saw-whet Owls, and feeders with Pine Siskins and Red Crossbills.  With a bit of research, I found Peder’s contact information, and he invited us to his yard to see his birds.  After just a short wait Pine Siskins came into his feeder (ND #9) right on cue.  But the Crossbills hadn’t been around for a while and were a no show.  Then he took us on a short walk to visit the nest box, and there was an owlet at the opening of the box (ND #10) – too cute!  That was the first juvenile Saw-whet I’ve ever seen.

Our last stops of the day were near the Garrison Dam on the Missouri River.  We first headed to the tailrace area where birds often gather to feed on the fish that come down the spillway.  There we had an estimated 75 Forster’s Terns, 75 Ring-bills, 150 Cormorants, and 25 Pelicans.  But our targets here were the rarer Caspian Tern and Herring Gull.  But despite our best efforts the only Terns were Forster’s.  As for Herring Gull, I was principally looking for a larger, darker immature bird, but again with no luck.  But then I noticed a larger adult gull amongst the Ring-bills.  Luckily it kept circling among the gull flock and we both picked it up several times – it was a Herring Gull, surprisingly an adult (ND #11).  Only 5 more states to go to complete my statebird map for this species.

Next we were onto the boat ramp, where we had more of the regular species, including a large resting flock of birds on a distant island.  And our last stop was at the Downstream Marsh Trail with its recent Yellowlegs report.  But we only found Spotted Sand and Snipe, though the adjacent woodlands were full of Least Flycatchers and Yellow Warblers.

Although we came up empty on our last 2 stops, we were happy to have added 10 new ND birds in our first full day of birding.  Especially since we were challenged by the rainy and windy conditions to start the day.

May 25 – Bismarck and Southern ND

Our plan for the 25th was to start the day in 1 or more Bismarck town parks hoping for migrant passerines, then visit several wetlands for waterbirds as we made our way back north to Minot.  Our first stop was at General Sibley Park, where several of my passerine targets had been reported recently.  But the migrants that day were sparse – we found just 8 Swainson’s Thrushes, 1 Tennessee, and 2 Blackpolls.  Perhaps the passerine highlight was listening to Black-headed and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks singing nearly side by side.  It was a great opportunity to compare and contrast their very similar songs. 

We eventually made our way to the boat ramp where you could launch your boat into the backwaters and expansive marshes of the Missouri River. 

I scanned the marsh hoping to find my target Kingfisher, and noticed a hovering bird far in the distance.  At first I thought it was going to be a Kingfisher, but then I realized it was too small- it was a Least Tern! (ND #12).  It was later joined by a second bird which eventually flew right by us.  I sure didn’t expect that one.  Although Least Terns nest on the Missouri River in small numbers, there had only been one report in the area so far this year, and that was some 4 miles upriver.  ND was my 13th inland state where I’ve seen this species as a breeder.

Since there were few migrants in the park, we decided to pass on other passerine sites and instead switch gears to start visiting wetlands spots.  Our first stop was McKenzie Slough where several shorebird targets had been reported.  As we headed east on US 10 in route to McKenzie David and I both simultaneously spotted a large wader in the corn field right next to the road.  Although we only saw it for a couple seconds while driving by, we instantly knew we had a Sandhill Crane (ND #13).  In fact, David thought there might have been 3 birds.  Yet another unexpected bird with only a couple sightings in the area that month and none in the last 3 weeks.

A few minutes later we made it to McKenzie Slough, featuring extensive cattail marshes and large impoundments. 

We had a nice collection of marsh birds including Virginia Rail and 3 Soras, and numerous Marsh Wrens.  Waders featured a flock of White-faced Ibis and a Black-crowned Night-heron.  And in addition to the regular dabblers and divers, we spotted a flock of 5 lingering Snow Geese.  Though we spotted no shorebirds so nothing new for my list.

Our next stop was Horsehead Lake which is home to an isolated colony of Snowy Egrets.  We headed east on I-94 from McKenzie, and then started north on 30th Avenue to make our way toward Horsehead.  We hadn’t gone a half mile on the gravel road when a mid-sized white wader flew across the road right in front of us.  The yellow slippers on the black legs were the clincher that we had our target Snowy Egret (ND #14).  It was surprising to see one so far south as we were still more than 7 miles south of the closest earlier Snowy sightings.  I still need this species in a number of other inland states near the northern edge of its range.

As we continued north on 30th Avenue we passed by a homestead surrounded by a large number of mature trees.  We heard several Least Flycatchers calling so we decided to stop.  We had hardly gotten out of the car when we noticed a Common Nighthawk pass low overhead, joined by at least 7 others feeding in the area (ND #15).  We also had Eastern Pewee, Willow Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo and Swainson’s Thrush at this brief stop. 

Eventually we made our way to the southern end of Horsehead Lake and found a spot full of waders, including 2 Snowy’s, 6 Great Egrets, and 5 Black-crowned Night-herons.  As we continued north along the western edge of the lake we made several stops looking for a Trumpeter Swan that had been reported there recently.  But all the large white birds were White Pelicans.  Interestingly there were literally hundreds of Eastern Kingbirds along the way, with lesser numbers of Western Kingbirds mixed in, mostly perched low along the barbed wire fencing.  An amazing site!

We arrived at the eBird hotspot at the northwest corner of the lake (aptly named Horsehead Lake – Northwest), with a smaller body of water to the west, and the main body of the lake to the east.  The smaller lake was full of Terns, with an estimated 150 Blacks and 100 Forster’s.  I scanned a small sand bar that was full of roosting terns and spotted a darker-winged Common Tern in the group that really stood out amongst the extremely pale Forster’s. 

Then I turned my attention to this small unassuming island next to the road to the east that was perhaps a couple hundred feet long and 50 feet wide.

I started a quick binocular scan and spotted a flock of 8 striking breeding plumage Black-bellied Plovers (ND #16).  Then seconds later another flock of 20 Plovers flew in.  But as they turned I could see one had a dark rump – an American Golden-Plover was mixed in.  Here’s a phone-scoped shot of a couple of the Black-bellies with a Black Tern.

Then I started scanning the far side of the island and picked out a Ruddy Turnstone.  With scope views I found a flock of 9 Turnstones in total.  A bit later a flock of 20 more flew in to join them.  I turned back to where the Black-bellies were and only found a couple left.  But there were now good numbers of mid-sized peeps on the mud.  With longer wings and streaks on the flanks these turned out to be 20 White-rumped Sandpipers.  While I was watching that flock they took off and joined a group of similar sized peeps with dark rumps which turned out to be 42 Baird’s Sandpipers.  Then the entire flock took off leaving the island nearly devoid of shorebirds. 

And then we noticed a small group of white geese at the north end of the island.  They were mostly hidden in the vegetation so it took some time to get good looks at them.  I wondered in jest whether there might be any Ross’s mixed in.  And then the second goose I looked at raised its head to show its small blue-based bill with no grin patch – it was indeed a Ross’s.  Finally, I got good views at all the birds and counted 9 Snows and 2 Ross’s.  Amazing!

But it wasn’t over yet.  I turned back to the island where the Common Tern was roosting initially, and found a Hudsonian Godwit.  Then just a couple feet away we spotted a basic-plumaged Dowitcher that cooperated long enough to allow us to ID it as a Short-billed (ND #17).  I just need it in 4 more states in its regular range.

What a stop!  We ended up with 13 species of shorebirds during our 90-minute stop, though none of them stayed long.  And what a way to end our day.  With a good collection of both woodland birds and wetlands species we had a nice tally of 114 species for the day – 6 of which were additions to my ND state list.

May 26 – Minot, Buffalo Pound PP SK

The plan for the morning was to make stops for woodland birds in Minot and then one last stop near the border.  Then we would cross over into SK in the afternoon to begin the SK portion of the trip. 

Our first stop was at Minot Oak Park, which is a wooded downtown park that often had reports of migrant passerines and also Kingfishers.  In past years this has also been the best spot in the area for breeding Yellow-throated Vireos, but there had been no reports yet this year.  We had planned to visit this spot 2 days earlier but got rained out.  So we were anxious to finally get to bird this local hotspot.

We pulled into the parking lot just after dawn and had the park to ourselves.  And just minutes after we got out of the car we heard a nearby Belted Kingfisher (ND #18).  That was easy!  I’ve now seen this species in each of the 49 continental states and DC.

What a great start!  Now we just needed to find those Vireos.  But despite a slow 90-minute walk through the park we had just 3 species of migrants – Swainson’s Thrush, and Tennessee and Blackpoll Warblers.  And no Yellow-throated Vireos.  But just as we got back to our car, I heard a Mourning Warbler singing from low in the nearby brush (ND #19).  Although it sang off and on for at least 10 minutes we got just brief fleeting glimpses of this skulking bird.  I still need this species in many states where it is an elusive migrant.

Here’s a picture of the river in the background where we had the Kingfisher, and the brush in the foreground where we had the Mourning Warbler.  We should have just stayed at the car…

Although we missed our Vireo target at Oak Park we still had hope, because just the day before there was a sighting of a Yellow-throated Vireo at the nearby Minot Woodland Trail.  After a short drive we arrived at this second location and started to walk the trails, especially focused on riparian woodlands.  And within a few minutes we heard a singing Yellow-throated Vireo not too far from us (ND #20).  And as we walked back to the car we had a second singing bird.  But again, we had few migrants – just Tennessee and Blackpoll Warblers.  ND was my last state to see Yellow-throated Vireo in its regular range.

Our last ND stop of the day was at Wildwood Park in the northwest corner of ND near the Canadian border.  I didn’t know much about this site, and in had only a few checklists in eBird, but the spring checklists included a fair number of passerine migrants.  Sure doesn’t look like much based on the entrance sign.  (BTW – that’s a Vesper Sparrow singing on top of the smaller white sign.)

But once we drove in past the sign the road left the cultivated farmland and descended into a small river valley that was heavily wooded and had thick underbrush.  It was actually quite good landbird habitat.  Our best bird during our 90-minute stay was a cooperative Gray-cheeked Thrush (ND #21) mixed in with a group of 6 Swainson’s Thrushes foraging on the ground.  We also had a singing Eastern Wood-Pewee and a singing Yellow-throated Vireo – both being a bit west of their regular range.  Our only migrant warblers were 2 Tennessee’s.  Unfortunately, we never did have any decent spring migrant fallouts on our trip.

As we packed up and headed toward the Canadian border I continued to be amazed that I was able to add 21 new birds to my ND state list.  Especially after only expecting perhaps 7 new ones.  And we still had about a half day of birding in ND on June 4th after we returned from SK to try to add a few more. 

May 26 PM through June 3 – Southern SK

See my SK posts on my blog for summaries of our 9 days of birding in southern SK.

June 4 – Minot and PM Departure

With a 3 PM flight out of Minot, my original plan was to focus our June 4th birding on late arriving nesters to western ND, namely Indigo Bunting, Dickcissel, and Nelson’s Sparrow.  A review of eBird reports on the morning of the 4th showed that Dickcissels hadn’t yet arrived in the area.  And there was just one report of Indigo Buntings, but at Oak Park so they were likely migrants and not local nesters.  Though I’d have to keep my eyes (and ears) open in case we ran into a migrant bird.  But on a more positive note, there were 3 reports of Nelson’s Sparrows on the 3rd, just 30 minutes east of Minot.  And the best report was of a Yellow Rail an hour east of Minot.  There was also a Red-bellied Woodpecker on the 3rd at the Bison Plant Nature Trail in Minot.  That’s a species typically only seen in the southeastern corner of the state.  That gave me plenty of targets for a morning of birding.

My first stop was to try for the Yellow Rail.  Unfortunately, it had gotten quite windy overnight, and the winds were sustained at 15-25 mph when I arrived early morning at the marsh.  Although that made it tough to hear the soft call of the Yellow Rail, the habitat sure looked great.

I never came up with a Yellow Rail, though I heard Marsh Wrens and a Sora in the wetter sections of the marsh, Sedge Wrens in drier sections, and a pair of Wilson’s Snipe apparently in courtship. 

But the best highlights weren’t from the marsh at all, but instead from a narrow strip of woodlands along the southern edge of the marsh.  Here I heard 2 Veery’s, 2 Northern Waterthrushes, and a Black-billed Cuckoo that called off-and on the whole time I was there (ND #22).  A nice consolation.

Then I was onto the 59^th Street Wetlands where 3 Nelson’s Sparrow had been reported the day before.  I pulled up to the drier eastern edge of the marsh and almost instantly heard a Nelson’s calling (ND #23).  I ended up hearing 3 birds at this end and a 4th at the other drier end of the marsh.  Those were the first inland (nelsoni) Nelson’s Sparrows I’ve found on their breeding grounds in the US, though I’ve seen inland Nelson’s in migration and on their wintering grounds in several states.

But the best was yet to come.  While looking over the marsh I was shocked to see a Mockingbird flying by low over the vegetation.  I watched it for nearly 30 seconds, clearly seeing the large white wing patches and white outer tail feathers.  It had a slow wingbeat unlike the whirr of wings of a flying Shrike, and it lacked the black mask of a Shrike (ND #24).  Ironically the rarest bird of the trip turned out to be a common year-round resident back home.  ND is the 6th state where I’ve seen Mockingbird as a rarity.

My last stop was at Bison Plant Nature Trail where the Red-bellied Woodpecker was reported the previous day.  There I ran into Ron Martin, co-author of the “Birding North Dakota” field guide.  They were his reports of Yellow Rail and Nelson’s Sparrows from the day before that I was chasing.  He mentioned that earlier in the morning he had had the Red-bellied near the trailhead.  I went back to that area and wandered around for a while finding a nice singing Lazuli Bunting.  Its song is very similar to an Indigo, so it got me excited for a bit until I spotted it.  Then I ran into a small foraging flock and thought maybe the Red-bellied might join them.  Sure enough, within a few minutes I heard the Red-bellied Woodpecker calling a short distance away (ND #25).

Summary

What a great way to end my trip, with the last 2 additions being rarities.  I expected 7 new birds for my ND list, hoped for 9, and added a whopping 25!  I guess I shouldn’t have been so pessimistic about my chances.  I had a total of 159 species on my ND checklists.  My eBird trip report for the ND portion of the trip can be found at -   ebird.org/tripreport/250883

That brings my ND state list to 230, a respectable total for just 3 short trips to ND over the years.  That should keep me safely above my goal of half of the official ND state list for quite a while.  And once again my state lists for all the Lower 48 are higher than half of each state’s official list.

Here is a link for my eBird trip report for the 222 species we found on the entire trip -   ebird.org/tripreport/246436    The Canadian portion of the trip is summarized in other posts on my blog.

Saw-whet Owl, Henderson County, NC, April 9, 2020

One of my key local targets now that I’ve moved to the mountains of western NC is Saw-whet Owl.  Although they are occasionally found as a wintering bird throughout the state, they are most often encountered in the NC mountains.  The following information on Saw-whets in the NC mountains comes from “Birds of North Carolina: their Distribution and Abundance”  (http://ncbirds.carolinabirdclub.org/view.php?species_id=341) -

Breeder in the higher elevations; winter resident over most of the region. Uncommon to fairly common in the breeding season along the southern Blue Ridge Parkway (Great Balsam and Pisgah ranges) and in Great Smoky Mountains NP, above 5,000 feet. Generally uncommon elsewhere in spruce-fir stands, being found at essentially all such stands (Black Mountains, Grandfather Mountain, Roan Mountain, Long Hope Valley, etc.). Also apparently nests in some hardwood stands, such as Pickens Nose (Macon). On the breeding grounds, arrives probably in Mar. At lower elevations, probably Oct into Apr; abundance poorly known in winter, though likely not truly rare except at lower elevations.

A month or two ago I ran into local birder Eric Smith while we were birding Jackson Park.  At the end of our walk Eric told me about a calling Saw-whet Owl he had had at his house almost all summer long in 2018.  But Eric doesn’t live in the higher mountains – he lives in east central Henderson County at about 2,000 feet in elevation.  They’re not supposed to be nesters at those lower elevations.  When we parted ways Eric agreed to get back in touch with me if his Saw-whet happened to return. 

I stayed in touch with Eric subsequently, sharing recent sightings and trading ID tips.  Then on April 8th Eric contacted me to say he had just seen a Saw-whet at his house – his first observation since the calling bird 2 summers ago.  That sure was intriguing to say the least.  He was happy to have me come by his place and try for it, and although I was skeptical about whether we might re-find it, I decided to give it a try the very next night. 

I arrived at Eric’s house at about 8 o’clock on the 9th to give it a go.  Three other birders were there as well, and we all promised to maintain our social distancing while trying for the little owl.  Eric’s property is located just a bit north of Big Hungry Road near the Green River Gamelands, one of my favorite birding spots.  He has tremendous habitat, though the woodlands are mostly deciduous with a few white pines and hemlocks.  There are certainly no spruce-fir stands which are the preferred Saw-whet nesting habitat.

We waited a while hoping for some spontaneous calls, but with no luck.  Then one of the other birders, Vicky Burke, played some tape, but still no response.  Again we waited hoping for some calls.  Then at about 8:40 Vicky played some more tape but still no replies.  One of the other birders mentioned he was going to give up.  And just then we heard 2 “toots”.  We looked at each other – what was that?  I mentioned that I had experience with Saw-whets responding with a single toot, so just maybe we had our bird.  Then we heard 2 more toots.  Then after a short break there were 3 more toots.  We indeed had the Saw-whet Owl!  We played some more tape but to no avail.  It certainly wasn’t the long call you hear on the tapes or hear when the bird is calling spontaneously, but it was enough for a solid ID.

Many thanks to Eric Smith for inviting us to his yard and sharing his special bird!

The next day I did a bit of research to try to understand if Eric’s Saw-whet could still be a migrant or whether it was a possible breeder.  I was principally trying to estimate when the last migrant Saw-whet might leave our region.  In other words, was yesterday’s sighting late enough in the year that the migrants have already left, implying that the bird would be a possible breeder. 

I went onto eBird to see when migrant Saw-whets might leave the area using eBird’s “Explore Species” function.  This function allows you to create a bar chart for a specific region – county, state, country.  The complication is that if you select a region where Saw-whets are both migrants as well as breeders, then the eBird data won’t easily separate sightings of migrants vs. breeding birds.  For instance, the North Carolina bar chart has sightings for every week of the year except the 3^rd week of March, with almost the same frequency each week. That means you can’t separate the summer sightings of breeders up in the mountains with wintering and migrant birds throughout the state.  I then selected Henderson County and there are only sightings in 4 weeks – 1^st and 3^rd week of Feb., 3^rd week of Nov., and now the 2^nd week of April (of course Eric’s sightings from Summer 2018 aren’t included).  So there’s not nearly enough Henderson County data to make any conclusions.

So next I started looking at other nearby states at roughly the same latitude, hoping to find states where Saw-whets winter and migrate, but don’t breed.  I can’t use data from VA and TN because they are breeders in the mountains of both states.  So I started looking a bit farther away and found these 6 states where there are no Saw-whet observations from the summer (suggesting no breeding).  The last spring sightings in each state are –

·       KY – end of March

·       AL – 3rd week of March

·       AR – end of February

·       DE – end of March

·       IN – 3rd week of April

·       KS – 3rd week of March

With the exception of IN, Saw-whet migration in all these states appears to be over no later than the end of March.  Which of course is at least two weeks before the observations of the bird at Eric’s house.

My conclusion – Eric’s bird on April 8th and 9th is not likely to be a migrant, and is instead a summering bird.  That would mean it’s either already breeding, or could be a bird actively looking for a mate.   

A few years ago I met a birder in SD that was managing a whole line of Saw-whet nest boxes, and had pairs nesting in many of the boxes.  The species wasn’t even known to nest in SD until he put up his boxes and met with considerable success.  Just as in SD, perhaps this secretive little bird may well be more common in the area than we think.  And small colonies of birds might well be breeding outside what we think of as their normal range – including at or near Eric’s place.

I pulled this information from owlpages.com –

Northern Saw-whet Owls nest in old woodpecker cavities, (primarily those made by Pileated Woodpeckers or Northern Flickers) or in natural cavities. They will also take to nest boxes quite readily. Nest trees are often dead and nest heights average 4 to 6 metres above ground. Nesting occurs between March and July.

Maybe they would use nesting boxes if they were put up nearby in Henderson County.

Saw-whet Owl was #290 for my NC state list.  My statebird map for Saw-whet is inserted below.  States highlighted in blue are those where I’ve seen or heard this species; cross-hatched states are those where it is regular though I've yet to see or hear it.  This is a wide-ranging species, though really difficult to find.  So although I’m happy to have seen or heard it in 15 states, I still need it in more than 20 others.