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.

126 Statebirds and Reportable in North Dakota, Including Maybe a Mega-Rarity, May 2014, Part 1 of 2

Each year I take an extended birding vacation somewhere to work on my various statelists, and hopefully move a step closer to my lifelong goal of reaching the old ABA reportable goals in each of the lower 48 states and DC (“lower 49”).  This year it was to the Great Plains in North Dakota, Montana and South Dakota.  This entry to my blog summarizes the results of the ND part of the trip; other posts discuss MT and SD.

ND was one of 2 last states where I had very small lists – with just 78 I would have lots of statebirding potential.  So I started to put a plan together to bird as many habitats as possible in central and western ND.  I spent quite a bit of time reviewing a relatively recent birdfinding guide for ND, got some excellent input from local birders, and also gathered some information from e-bird.  I eventually set up an itinerary with 4 days in western and central ND, with an optimistic goal of adding at least 100 statebirds, especially concentrating on those birds most likely to be in the western part of the state.  Since the old ABA reporting threshold is 199, I would likely come up a bit short of threshold (or so I thought).  So I would eventually need to come back to ND, likely to look for the species more typical of the eastern US.  As for target species, I didn’t have any likely lifebird targets.  But I was hoping to see Baird’s Sparrow, which is on my lifelist but based on just one sighting in January 1994 in AZ, which I’m now unsure of.

Day 1 – Fly to Bismarck and Drive to Bottineau

After a long day of flying, and miserable connecting times, I finally landed in Bismarck just before dinner.  Because I needed to make a long 3 ½ hour drive to Bottineau which was my starting point for the next day, I was planning to make only one brief birding stop that day at the Minot sewage lagoon.  As I drove through Bismarck I realized the foliage on the trees was typical of mid-May back home when migrant passerines were at their peak.  So I was hopeful that I had timed the trip to coincide with some good migration.  I felt even better about my timing when I heard a singing Tennessee Warbler as I drove through a suburban part of Bismarck.  But just a few miles north of Bismarck I realized that there were now few leaves on the trees.  And within an hour north of Bismarck there were almost no leaves visible on any bush or tree.  Was I too early?  Would I miss many of my hoped-for migrants?  As I continued my drive I started to think that I would never reach my goal of 100 new birds.  But maybe I would have a better shot at some of the late wintering birds, like some waterfowl and sparrows.  In any case, it was pretty disappointing as I realized the vegetation looked more like early April than mid-May. 

When I arrived in Minot I made the short 10-minute side trip to the Minot sewage lagoons which had had some pretty good birds recently.  But there were only a few Lesser Scaup, Eared Grebes, and some dabblers on the water, and almost no shorebirds along the edges.  I did pick up Spotted Sandpiper there – notable only because ND was my last of the lower 49 for this species.  I also had a couple Wilson’s Phalaropes and a Least Sandpiper, but otherwise it was really slow.  

The trip finally started to pick up north of Minot when I realized that many of the flooded fields along the highway had at least a few shorebirds.  At one stop while looking at several peep species, a breeding plumaged American Golden Plover passed through my binocular field.  Striking bird!  There were 6 birds in this small flock, which were the only ones for my trip.  A little farther along while on SR5 I passed through Clark Salyer NWR and I noticed some white geese on the shoreline.  With a quick stop I found a flock of 15 Snow Geese, along with 1 White-fronted Goose.  I’ve found quite a number of out-of-season summering White-fronted Geese across the country, and I’ve now seen this species in quite a number of states.

About half of these birds had broken wings, likely injured during the past hunting season and destined to spend the rest of their lives at the refuge.  By the time I rolled into my hotel in Bottineau I realized that there were no leaves anywhere – ugh.  I ended the day with 12 new statebirds which was a pretty nice start all things considered.

Day 2 – Passerine and Shorebird Fallout in North-Central ND, And a Visit to Manitoba

I planned to spend much of this day in the Turtle Mountains just a few miles south of the US-Canada border in north-central ND.  This area has nice woodlands, and I was hoping for some good passerine migrants, especially eastern ones.  But not only did the Turtle Mountains look like April, but it felt like April – it was 45 degrees, low overcast, breezy, and drizzly.  En route to my first stop at Wakopa WMA I had a couple good birds – a pair of Ravens were nice, as was a flyby Peregrine Falcon (my only one of the trip).

When I arrived at Wakopa just after dawn my expectations for migrants were low.  But as soon as I opened my car door at my first stop I heard numerous warbler chips – mostly Yellow-rumps.  I was on the western edge of a large lake, and there was a constant stream of birds moving south down the western edge of the lake.  And with no leaves anywhere, they sure were easy to see.  I spent at least 3 hours at Wakopa and was amazed at not only the number of passerines, but also the diversity.  And I got most of my key eastern targets.  The numerous Yellow-rumps were joined by Black-and-whites, Palms, Orange-crowns, Yellows, Blackpolls, Redstarts, and Ovenbirds, along with a Nashville, a Chestnut-sided, and numerous Northern Waterthrushes likely on territory.  There were many Swainson’s Thushes – at least 50 - and several Veerys.  Vireos included several Warbling’s and Philadelphia’s, and a couple Blue-headeds.  Flycatchers were mostly Leasts, with one Yellow-bellied and one Eastern Pewee.  Larger migrants included several Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and Baltimore Orioles.  A sole Ruby-throated Hummingbird and a couple Broad-winged Hawks were cooperative key targets near the western edge of their US breeding range.  Sparrows included several late White-throats and Lincoln’s.  It was quite a show!  Though I felt sorry for these passerines who couldn’t be finding many insects to eat.  As the morning progressed most were feeding on or near the ground which likely was a bit warmer and had a few more insects.  As for waterfowl, most lakes had singing Common Loons, and each lake had exactly one pair of Red-necked Grebes.  I left the area feeling very good about my results.

Next stop was at the International Peace Gardens, which is another wooded area, half in ND and half in Manitoba.  One of my key areas of interest there was a grove of planted conifers.  A quick walk around the firs yielded one male Cape May and one male Bay-breasted, along with an immature male Purple Finch – exactly the kinds of birds I was hoping for there.  Other new birds were Magpies, and my only Eastern Phoebe and Merlin of the trip.  I’ve now seen Eastern Phoebe in most all states where it is a regular nester. 

Since it was only around noon and I was running ahead of schedule, I decided to make a short foray into Manitoba.  Since that was my first time ever in that province, every bird was new.  I spent just an hour in the Manitoba portion of the International Peace Gardens and picked up 40 species.  At one point I was just 100 yards north of the border when I watched a flock of Franklin’s Gull fly overhead to the south – adding them both to my Manitoba and ND lists.  Most MB species were similar to the ones I had earlier, except for the Gray-cheeked Thrush which was my only one for the trip.

After coming back through the US immigration checkpoint, I worked my way to the west to Willow Lake for some water and marsh birds.  But as I arrived at a marsh which was supposed to have Nelson’s and LeConte’s Sparrows, I noticed numerous small passerines feeding low right along the edge of the marsh.  They turned out to be warblers – I estimated 100 Yellows and 50 Yellow-rumps.  Most were oblivious to me as I walked up to within 10 feet of the activity.  These birds too must have been having troubles finding insects in the cold weather, so this slightly warmer perimeter of the marsh must have had a few more insects.  As I stood there watching the activity a different species popped into the open – it was an Oporornis with white arcs above and below the eye.  A MacGillivray’s Warbler – a good bird for ND!  I’ve seen MacGillivray’s in most states in its regular range, and now also in ND and MA as a rarity.

And the marsh was full of marshbirds too – Soras were calling constantly greatly outnumbering the pair or Virginia Rails, and Sedge Wrens everywhere in the wet grasses.  But no Nelson’s or LeConte’s.

A bit farther along I got to a place with a distant view of the island way out in the lake with a number of nesting species.  I picked out both Forster’s and Common Terns, my first California Gulls and Avocets, along with many Cormorant nests.  I also had a small flock of Bonaparte’s Gulls which were the only ones for my trip.  And the lake had my first Horned Grebes in with the numerous Eared and Western Grebes.  Another nice stop!

It was now late afternoon and time to make my 2+ hour drive west to Kenmare, ND to prepare for the next day.  Soon after I started the drive I realized that not only was there a big passerine fallout occurring in the area, but there was a big fallout of shorebirds as well.  Every flooded farmer’s field (and there were many of them) had at least a few shorebirds, and there were numerous shorebirds in the air.  I made many stops along the way picking up good numbers of the regular species like White-rumps, Baird’s, and Stilt Sands, and Avocets, along with a few Pectorals, Dunlin, and Long-billed Dowitchers.  I also had a flock of 11 Hudsonian Godwits and a flyover flock of 4 Long-billed Curlews.  Although curlews are regular in all western states, I still need this species in a number of different states.

As I continued west I neared a concrete culvert over a grass-lined stream running north-south.  Up ahead I could see 3 mid-sized shorebirds (that I thought were likely yellowlegs) flying northbound low along the stream.  I continued to watch these birds as they gained a bit of altitude just enough to pass up and over the culvert.  They passed over the culvert just as I reached the culvert such that I was looking at them directly out my driver’s window.  I got a close look at one of the birds, and my initial thought was that this wasn’t one of the shorebirds I was tracking because it was completely black below.  My initial split second thought was that maybe it was a blackbird.  But then I noticed it had a long dark bill and long pointed wings, and realized it was indeed a shorebird, and it was one of the 3 I initially watched from a distance fly up the creek.  This bird was basically flying along with me for maybe 3 seconds, before it continued to fly north and I lost it.  I quickly reached the conclusion that a shorebird that was all black below and long bill could be a Spotted Redshank!  I pulled off the road just to the west and spent the next 30 minutes scanning the creek below, both to the north and to the south, but found no shorebirds at all.  One that got away!

A bit farther along I got to the Clark Salyer NWR where I had had the Snow and White-fronted Geese yesterday.  There were now close to 100 white geese, so I decided to check for a late Ross’.  And sure enough, there was one in with the Snows.  Another of my targets was Eurasian Collared Doves, and as I continued to drive west I was surprised that I hadn’t seen any yet.  So as I drove through the net ND town I made a small detour and instantly saw several ECDs – my 38th state for this species.  And as I finally pulled into Kenmare it was almost dark, but I had some Purple Martins at a box right next to the motel.  A very nice way to end the day.  I ended up with 139 species and an amazing 72 new birds for my ND statelist.

Day 3 – Lostwood NWR and Stops in Northwestern ND – Plus a Stop in Saskatchewan

Lostwood NWR was well-advertised, in fact famous, for being the spot in ND to see Baird’s Sparrow, Sprague’s Pipit, Piping Plover, and Nelson’s and LeConte’s.  Though I had heard it hadn’t been as good for Baird’s in recent years.  So I planned to spend much of the day at the refuge for these and lots of other marsh and grassland targets.  I left my hotel pre-dawn, and as I walked to the car I heard a calling American Bittern – not a typical bird for the middle of a small town but this was very close to marshes of Des Lacs NWR.  Later that morning I would have numerous calling Bitterns at Lostwood.  This bird hasn’t been as cooperative for me in many other states as shown by all the gaps in my statebird map below.

The route to Lostwood was in the heart of heavy fracking activity in the Bakken shale.  As I drove along in the darkness the flares burning off the gases lit up the area and were visible for a considerable distance on this morning with a new moon.  At one point I counted 8 flares visible just directly ahead of me (who knows how many there would have been if I had scanned the entire horizon).   Later I came to some road construction, or should I say de-construction.  The paved road was gone, and the “road” was nothing but loose soil, undoubtedly a project to replace roads destroyed by all the heavy truck traffic.  In the pitch black I wasn’t sure where the road ended and the adjacent prairie started.  Little did I know that these several miles of what was supposed to be paved road would turn out to be my worst road conditions of the trip.

When I finally made it to Lostwood the skies were getting light, and there was a very heavy fog making viewing distances extremely limited.  Plus the car thermometer said it was just 30 degrees. 

As the sun began to rise I saw this rainbow caused by the fog – pretty cool.

My first stop was at the Sharp-tailed Grouse lek which I was told was the best spot in the refuge for Baird’s Sparrow.  The good news was that I counted 18 grouse still displaying on the lek although this was now late May.  The bad news was that despite over an hour of trying there were no Baird’s Sparrows.  I then doubled back to “the” location in the refuge for Sprague’s Pipit (the tower seen in the distance in the fog picture above).  But just like the Baird’s attempt – no luck.  At the end of my trip I talked to one of the refuge employees about missing the Baird’s and Sprague’s and he told me that the refuge is no longer managing the prairie for these species.  Both require recently grazed or burned prairie, and throughout the refuge all I saw was lush, tall vegetation.  Makes one wonder how the refuge is managing the prairie for in the first place.  Maybe it’s for all the Clay-colored and Vesper Sparrows which were abundant throughout the prairie.

There were some positive highlights to this stop though.  First, I saw at least 3 Short-eared Owls flying over the prairie in the early morning.  And I also heard 2 LeConte’s Sparrows in wet grassy areas accompanied by numerous Sedge Wrens.  I also saw 4 Piping Plovers including 2 in courtship at the alkaline ponds where they nest.  The water levels in these ponds were generally too high for shorebirds, though I did find 2 very distant Red-necked Phalaropes at one spot.  Plus one sparrow flock along the road that I ran into consisted of 6 White-crowns and 1 Harris’ – all very late.  Otherwise the refuge was pretty quiet.

As I exited the refuge I made a quick tour around the refuge buildings where there are a number of planted bushes and trees, hoping for migrants.  There were a few flycatchers and warblers here and there, but not much.  That is until I reached the end of my loop around the buildings when a small bird flew by me and landed just 15 feet away from me – a male Black-throated Gray Warbler.  Quite a rarity for ND!  I’ve now seen this species as a rarity in MA, GA, and ND, along with all the states in its regular range.

Since I struck out on Baird’s Sparrow at Lostwood, I headed west to 3 other locations where Baird’s had been reported in the past, or were mentioned in birdfinding guides.  The first was at Smishek Lake, though I never found any worthwhile habitat.  Next was Alkali Lake, where again prairie grasses were too tall and lush for Baird’s.  Though a male Cinnamon Teal was a nice find here.  Next was Lake Zahl where again the prairie grass was tall.  But I decided to walk along a 2-track between the prairie and a farmer’s field, where I finally found the first Chestnut-collared Longspurs for ND.  On a lark I tried playing some Baird’s Sparrow tape while looking at my map to figure out my next stop.  When I looked up there was a Baird’s perched on a barbed wire fence just 20 feet away providing great views of what turned out to be the first of many for the trip. 

My next planned stop was west into Westby, MT, but since I was running a bit ahead of schedule I wondered if there was another stop nearby.  Then I looked at the map to realized not only was I again close to the Canadian border, but this time it was Saskatchewan – another province I had never been to.  So after another 1-hour trip into Canada I had 48 species as a start to my SK province list.

Just after crossing back into ND I noticed a bare tree with a nest containing large Great Horned Owl babies.  Another target crossed off.  I was now starting to realize I was doing really well toward my goal of 100 new birds in ND.  Though I only got 13 new birds on Day 3, I now had 97 new species for ND, and portions of 4 more days of ND birding to go.  I needed 24 more to get to the reportable threshold.  Could I get enough to be reportable in ND?  I made a list of my remaining targets, and began to change my strategy from birding general locations or habitats, to instead focusing on finding specific species.

Northwestern South Dakota Grasslands – 22 New State Birds, May 2014

Each year I take an extended birding vacation somewhere to work on my various statelists, and hopefully move a step closer to my lifelong goal of reaching the old ABA reportable goals in each of the lower 48 states and DC.  Way back in February when I started to think about where to go this year, my thoughts kept coming back to MT and ND because those were my last 2 states where I had very small lists.  And then when I realized that several possible birding locations would put me only a short drive from SD, I considered a short extension to work on that list as well.  I had a respectable 181 in SD, though had never birded the northwest corner of the state where many of the grassland species breed, so I had a fair potential there as well.

There was no SD birdfinding guide to consult, so I reached out to the SD listserve for advice.  I got several very helpful replies, including one from Dave Swanson who was in the process of writing a guide for SD.  He sent me drafts of siteguides for two sites in the area which were most helpful.  I also was able to connect with Charlie Miller who was the local expert for birds in the area.  In addition to his excellent local knowledge, he was also known for the Saw-whet Owl nesting boxes he had constructed and mounted to trees in the Custer National Forest.  He offered to bird with me in the area, and take me to see the owls.  So I set up a plan for a short trek into SD consisting of two half days, with a goal of adding at least 15 birds to my statelist. 

Day 8 – PM – Custer National Forest and Locations en Route to Lemmon

I entered SD after a successful morning in Rhame Prairie in ND, and soon met up with Charlie.  Our first stop was in the Picnic Spring and Cave Hills portion of the Custer National Forest.  This area is an elevated island of ponderosas and deciduous trees that rises out of the prairie.  Soon after we arrived we had a Say’s Phoebe perched on a cliff edge (statebird #1), and a singing Lazuli Bunting (#2).  We then hiked around in the area a bit and I was lucky enough to spot a soaring Golden Eagle (#3 – and the only one on my trip), and then a cooperative Mountain Bluebird (#4).  I added Mountain Bluebird to all 3 states on my trip, so I have now seen this species throughout most all of its regular range (see my statebird map below).

Birding was a bit slow – it was a hot afternoon – so we got in the cars and headed a bit south and were surprised to spot a lone Avocet (#5) in a small pond.  Charlie then took me to a cliff where Prairie Falcons had nested last year.  And sure enough, they were back again this year (#6).  Couldn’t have gotten these without Charlie’s local knowledge. 

We were then headed to Gardner Lake, principally to try for Brewer’s Sparrow in the sage along the lake entrance road.  But I mentioned to Charlie that I needed some shorebirds for my SD list, so along the way he took me to a small pond where he had seen some recent shorebirds including Avocets that morning.  The Avocets were gone (good thing we saw that one earlier), but we had a few distant shorebirds that had not been there that morning.  In with the Stilt Sandpipers was a Semi Sand (#7) and a Pectoral (#8).  We then headed to Gardner Lake and started to play some tape in the sage area.  It took a while, but eventually we noticed a small sparrow fly in just a short distance away.  And then the Brewer’s Sparrow popped up for a quick view (#9).  Charlie suggested a quick stop at the lake just to see what might be around.  In addition to the regular dabblers, there were 8 Aechmophorus grebes.  The first seven were Westerns, and the 8^th kept diving and didn’t give me good views.  I told Charlie that it was most unlikely that this would be a Clark’s but I wanted to be sure.  And just then it surfaced and stayed up long enough to give me a good scope view – it was indeed a Clark’s Grebe (#10).  That was a surprise.  Along with my sighting in MT, I now have pretty good coverage for this species.

We then headed to the Slim Buttes portion of the Custer NF, which is where Charlie had his Saw-whet boxes.  By far the highlight of the SD part of the trip was when Charlie took me to 2 boxes with active Saw-whet nests.  In each case the female was poking her head from the box when we arrived (#11). 

Charlie needed to monitor the status of the young, and when he opened the box the female would fly out and sit just a short distance away while the box was opened as in this photo taken with my iPhone.

The last new statebird was a not so cooperative Rock Wren that only called once (#12) from some seemingly nice cliff habitat.  Other notable birds were the only 2 Western Tanagers of the trip and a colony of White-throated Swifts (also the only ones for the trip). 

I thanked Charlie for all his help and started the drive northeast to my motel in Lemmon.  Along the way I was driving through some nice cropland and flushed a pair of Gray Partridges and then another one (#13).  That was only my 5^th state for this species that has been elusive for me in the past, though I saw it several times on this trip.

And later I passed by a flooded field with several Marbled Godwits acting like shorebirds instead of prairie nesters (#14).  It was another excellent end of the day.

Day 9 – Morning in the Grand River National Grasslands

When I came out to the car at dawn the ground was wet from a little rain overnight.  Plus the sky to the west and north was extremely dark and I could see numerous lightning strikes.  I didn’t know it at the time but just 8 hours earlier a rare tornado had hit the town of Watford City just about 150 miles northwest of Lemmon.  The clouds I was seeing were undoubtedly part of the same storm system that caused the tornado.

My first quick stop was to check Flat Creek Lake along SR73 for waterfowl and I found a pair of Buffleheads (#15) along with the normal dabblers.  I then headed east into the grasslands at Pasture 7, and as soon as I crossed into the National Grasslands there were numerous Chestnut-collared Longspurs right in the road as if to greet me (#16).  And a short distance farther I stopped and heard the first of many Baird’s Sparrows I had that morning (#17).  Baird’s was a key target of mine on this trip and I heard and/or saw it numerous times in all 3 states.  Although SD was only my 4th state for this species, I’ve now seen it in virtually all of its regular breeding and wintering range in the US.

It was also amazing how many Upland Sandpipers there were – 5 or more per mile.  With two key grassland targets out of the way I headed to a spot where a Sharp-tailed Grouse lek was supposed to be located.  Along the way I stopped briefly at a wet grassy area where a Sedge Wren was singing (#18).  And on the other side of the road was a singing Dickcissel which was a good bird for this location, though not a statebird.  I eventually got to the lek spot and sure enough there was 1 Sharp-tailed Grouse sitting on the crest of the hill (#19). 

Next stop was Lemmon Lake on the east side of the Grassland to try for my last missing waterfowl – Canvasback.  As I was getting closer to the lake I looked back to the west and the clouds were getting more ominous, and the lightning more frequent.  Plus there was this odd low white cloud that was in front of the dark clouds called a roll cloud. 

In any case, the lake was at least 8 miles from paved roads, and I didn’t want to be too far out on the dirt roads if a rain storm should hit.  So I only made a quick stop at the lake and left as soon as I spotted 2 male Canvasbacks (#20).  On the way back to the main road I had one singing Sprague’s Pipit (#21), heard more Baird’s Sparrows, found another Sharp-tailed Grouse lek, had numerous Upland Sandpipers, a few Marbled Godwits, and many longspurs.  It was quite a spot for prairie birds.  I now have Sprague’s in all 3 of its nesting states and 2 states where it is a winterer or migrant.

 

The last stops were to the west to Shadehill Reservoir and the campground at the Hugh Glass Recreation Area.  With one brief stop there didn’t appear to be much on the lake, so I headed directly to the campground.  Migration was pretty much over by now, so I wasn’t surprised that I didn’t have many migrants in the woods and brush around the campground.  Though eventually I ran into a small group of Empids which looked like Willows.  Then one started to sing a good Alder Flycatcher song (#22) which is pretty far west of its normal migration route.  I reported the others as “Traill’s” Flycatchers as who knows which species these silent birds were.  My statebird map for Alder is pretty spotty at least partly due to the fact that these birds are frequently silent during migration.

  

As I was heading out of the campground I heard what I thought was a Lazuli Bunting singing.  It was close to the road so I made a quick stop to track it down and realized it was a Lazuli x Indigo hybrid.  The upper chest was blue instead of rusty red with just a couple rusty feathers on the sides, and the belly was white.  Pretty neat bird on my last stop in SD before heading back into ND.

I tallied 111 species in two half days of birding in SD, including 22 new statebirds.  That gives me 203 for my SD statelist - my 46th state over 200.  And of course I’m closing in on the ABA threshold of 216.  I still need a number of eastern birds in SD, so I’m thinking that a trip to the eastern edge of the state in spring migration might be enough to reach and then exceed the reporting threshold.