Great Plains Trip to North Dakota, Saskatchewan, and a bit of Manitoba, May-June 2024 – Canada Summary, Part 1 of 2

Each Spring I take an extended birding trip to work on my state and province lists.  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 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.  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 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 route 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 first half of the Canadian portion of our trip; my next post summarizes the second half.  See my previous blog post for a summary of the ND part of the trip.  The eBird Trip Report for my ND stops can be found at -   ebird.org/tripreport/250883

May 26 – Minot, ND AM, Buffalo Pound Provincial Park SK PM

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 part of the trip, especially focused on Buffalo Pound Provincial Park. 

The SK portion of the trip started off with a bang!  Literally seconds after going through the Canadian Customs facility we heard an Orchard Oriole singing – that’s one we thought would be a challenge for us at the end of the trip in the southeast corner of the province.  And a few minutes later, while sitting at a red light in downtown Estevan, we heard Chimney Swifts calling overhead.  That’s another difficult bird for which we had planned a special effort later in the trip.  Otherwise, as we made our way to Buffalo Pound we checked off a few common new province birds, along with a few notable ones like Gray Partridge and our only Bonaparte’s Gull of the trip.  Along the way we also had several Pronghorn Antelopes running alongside the road.

Buffalo Pound is a large provincial park northeast of Moose Jaw featuring an extensive cattail marsh, a 20-mile long man-made lake, and some woodland oases surrounded by rolling farmland.  Although it was likely that we might not get anything here that we wouldn’t get elsewhere on our trip, it was still a good birding spot, and provided a timely break in our driving as we headed west. 

Our first stop was the enormous cattail marsh, including a long floating boardwalk that stretched well into the marsh. 

With some coaxing we counted 7 Marsh Wrens, a Virginia Rail, 2 Soras, and 7 Yellowthroats.  Feeding over the marsh were an estimated 75 Black Terns and 5 Forster’s Terns.  As we headed back to the car we passed by a nice stand of brush and trees harboring Least and Alder Flycatchers, Spotted Towhee, and Tennessee Warblers.  A couple stops along the lake yielded at least 55 Western Grebes, along with a couple paler ones which we tried unsuccessfully to turn into Clark’s Grebes, a flock of White Pelicans, and a smattering of dabbling and diving ducks.  All in all, the site was quite birdy.  And the Marsh Wrens and Virginia Rail turned out to be the only ones for the trip.

I ended the day with 84 species for my SK list, adding 36 new province birds.

May 27 – Chaplin and Reed Lakes, SK

Chaplin Lake in Chaplin and Reed Lake in Morse are well-known as major stopover spots for migrant shorebirds heading to and from their Arctic breeding grounds.  Chaplin Lake has 2 viewing points separated by an island that is excellent for grassland birds.

We arrived early in the morning before the daytime winds had picked up so we decided to focus on the grassland species first.  In several stops we found 7 Upland Sandpipers, 3 Marbled Godwits, 3 Chestnut-collared Longspurs, 3 Sprague’s Pipits, 7 Baird’s Sparrows, and a Sharp-tailed Grouse.  Not bad for a hotspot known for its shorebirds!  Here’s a shot of one of the Godwits acting like a grassland bird instead of a shorebird.

Now it was time to concentrate on the shorebirds.  When we neared the southern of the 2 viewing points we could see that it was absolutely loaded with shorebirds.  Most of the birds were in one area feeding on what must have been a hatchout of some type of insect.  We estimated that there were at least 2,000 Red-necked Phalaropes in this one feeding frenzy.

Others chowing down included 75 Stilt Sandpipers and 100 Sanderlings.  Two nearby Piping Plovers were a nice treat as well.

After spending quite a bit of time taking in the spectacle, we turned back to the northern viewing point and added a few more including “just” 200 more Phalaropes and 50 Semi Sands.  It’s amazing that we had great numbers and diversity of shorebirds at our 2 stops, but these locations only provided access to a very small portion of the lake.

Next we were on to Reed Lake, a 30-minute drive to the west.  Access was quite a bit better here, predominantly provided by a north-south causeway road that roughly bisected this enormous lake.  Biggest numbers here were 120 Stilt Sands, 250 Sanderlings, and 100 Semi Sands.  Reed Lake is also well known for its migrant Red Knots, though they are rare virtually everywhere else inland on the continent.  And with some work we picked out several breeding-plumaged birds in the distance.  Then we started to pick them out right next to the road along the causeway, giving us a total of 14.  Here’s a shot of one with just my iPhone – no magnification included.

Also right along the road were 5 Ruddy Turnstones.  Later on in the mudflats we spotted a small group of 4 Golden-Plovers, and a larger flock of 42 Black-bellied Plovers.  All were in striking breeding plumage. 

Willets were relatively common both at Chaplin and Reed Lakes.  And many were calling, giving us the opportunity to listen to the differences between the calls of these “Western” Willets and the “Eastern” Willets we’re more used to hearing.  Calls of both birds sound like pill-will-willet, but in the Western birds the second note is accented and the first note is quite a bit softer.  Eastern birds have similar accents on all 3 of the first notes.  Something like “pill WILL WILL-et” for western birds and “PILL-WILL-WILL-et” for Eastern birds.  With such significant differences in calls, bill shape, plumage, and breeding and wintering ranges, I’ve got to wonder why they haven’t been split into 2 species.

A final stop at Reed Lake was at a viewing tower on the northwest edge of the lake.  Notable birds here were 5 Piping Plovers, including 2 pairs in courtship.  Otherwise, it was more of the same. 

We finished the key shorebird portion of the trip with 18 shorebird species, dominated by an estimated 2,600 Red-necked Phalaropes.  And that was just in the small portion of the lakes to which we had access.

Our B&B that night was in Val Marie, just a 10-minute drive from Grassland NP, our main stop for the nest day.  The B&B was called the Convent Inn, a renovated former convent which was nearly 100 years old.  Rather rustic on the outside but nicely renovated inside.

The small town of Val Marie, with a nice oasis of planted trees surrounded by native prairie, can be a good migrant trap.  We took a little stroll through town, finding a feeding station with a feeder full of Pine Siskins, and an orange nailed to a fence visited by at least 4 Baltimore Orioles.  Though despite our best efforts we couldn’t turn any of them into a Bullock’s.  We also had a Broad-winged Hawk passing through, and a Swainson’s Thrush in town, but as was our experience in ND, we had limited migrants.  We also kept our eyes and ears open for Red-headed Woodpeckers that were reported in Val Marie last year but with no luck.  Though we had our first Eurasian Collared Doves of SK, not surprising given the setting of this small town in the prairie.  And as a reminder of our surroundings, we had a Marbled Godwit and Wilson’s Snipe calling nearby as we walked around town.

I added 30 to my SK list that day, bringing my total to 114.  Red Knot was #100.

May 28 – Grasslands National Park, SK

Our visit to the West Block of the Grasslands NP was perhaps my most anticipated birding stop of the trip.  I just love those grassland birds!  The principal way to bird the park is to drive the Ecotour which runs through the middle of the main section of the West Block, making frequent stops along the way.  There are also a number of trails that emanate from the Ecotour, but if we were lucky, we could probably find most of our targets right along the road. 

One of those targets – the Thick-billed Longspur – was actually best seen just outside the park.  Based on 2023 eBird checklists, the Longspur was principally being reported north of the park along the gravel road that becomes the Ecotour once it crosses the park boundary.  Surprisingly, the habitat there was farmland (wheat stubble on one side and young wheat crop on the other) instead of native prairie.

But despite what seemed to be questionable habitat, we quickly picked up Chestnut-collared Longspurs especially in the wheat stubble, and then got quick views of Thick-billed Longspurs on the grassier side.  From a distance the face and chest pattern almost looked like a Chickadee.  I was able to grab a couple phonescoped shots of this Thick-billed.

We made a couple more stops in this area, and before we even reached the park proper we had 2 Marbled Godwits, 9 Chestnut-collared, 3 Thick-billed, 1 Sprague’s Pipit, 3 Grasshopper Sparrows, and 3 Baird’s Sparrows.  This one Baird’s sat in the open, albeit in the distance, just long enough to grab this marginal heavily cropped phonescoped photo.

Our first key stop on the Ecotour within the park was the Top Dogtown, a large prairie dog town.  This spot is advertised the key spot for Burrowing Owls in the province, and it only took us a bit of scanning before finding this Owl (not the best picture though because of the harsh early morning sunshine).

As we watched the Owl we heard a Rock Wren singing in a ravine nearby.  Later we also found a Long-billed Curlew feeding in the dog town.  It flew off just after capturing a tasty morsel, perhaps to feed its young at a nearby nest.

One of our last key targets at Grasslands NP was Sharp-tailed Grouse.  We were told that a Grouse lek was located near stop #5 on the Ecotour.  As we pulled up to the parking lot we quickly picked up a group of grouse just a few feet away.  We counted 36 birds doing their dance to attract females.  It was quite the show!  This one bird was most cooperative.

The lek was near a wetlands that had a number of dabbling ducks and a few Wilson’s Phalaropes.  There was also a male/female pair of Scaup that we initially just wrote off Lessers which had been quite common on our trip so far.  Then we took a closer look and realized that both birds had very rounded heads and the male’s back was only slightly darker than its sides – we had a pair of rare Greater Scaup.  While we studied the Scaup an American Bittern called nearby.  Not exactly birds we expected in the grasslands.  But more typical of the grasslands habitat was this rattlesnake safely sunning itself a short distance away along the road.

Soon after we exited the park via the south end of the Ecotour a flock of 7 Lark Buntings flew over the road.  Then we spotted another female that eventually posed for good looks.  Good thing they have large white wing-patches making them easy to spot and ID even in flight.  And speaking of easy birds to ID in flight, a bit further down the road an adult Red-headed Woodpecker flew right in front of us, heading for a line of trees planted in the middle of the prairie. 

Our last stop for the park was the Two Trees Trail, where we hoped to find a few wayward migrant passerines.  The parking lot was next to what appeared to be an old shelter belt of mature trees and shrubs planted around a house that no longer existed.  With a quick walk we found several Brown Thrashers and a Catbird, and a somewhat unusual female Orchard Oriole.  And as we left the trees David spotted this Great Horned Owl high up in a cottonwood.

Our last stop of the day was at the Shaunavon Wetlands.  Although we didn’t find any new birds there, there were good numbers of dabbling and diving ducks, along with some shorebirds.  It was a nice break on our drive to our hotel in Maple Creek.  And as we headed into the hotel we heard a nearby House Finch, the 11th new bird for the day, bringing my SK list to 125.

May 29 – Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park – West Block

The text in the bird list for Cypress Hills Park describes it as “an island of forest in a sea of grass”.  Located near the southwestern corner of the province, the park has a West Block and a Center Block separated by grasslands.  The woodlands are home “for many species usually found in the foothills and forests far to the west and north”.  A good example is the Dusky Flycatcher.  The following range map from the Sibley app shows one isolated area for breeding Dusky Flycatchers straddling the SK/AB border located squarely within Cypress Hills Park. 

If you want these typically “western” species for your SK province list, you have to go to Cypress Hills.  The forests are also good for more widespread woodland birds.  And since to date we hadn’t spent much time in forested habitat in SK (I didn’t even have a Chickadee yet!), there was significant opportunity for new province birds at the park.

But there was one factor beyond our control – the weather.  As we left the hotel near dawn a cold rain was just beginning, and the sky just got darker as we headed toward the park.  Remarkably, just as we got to the edge of the park the rain stopped and we were hopeful we had gotten ahead of the weather. 

The first area we came to consisted of a number of switchbacks as the road climbed up into the mountains.  Here we got two of those Cypress Hills western specialties – Red-naped Sapsucker and MacGillivray’s Warbler, which actually were quite common in the park.  Along with others like Red-breasted Nuthatch and Veery, and yes finally Black-capped Chickadee.

Once we got to the top we were in a grassy plain with just a few shrubby trees.  From here we made our way to Fort Walsh, which based on the eBird hotspot data, was one of the best birding spots in the Western Block.  We were the only car in sight as we arrived in the parking lot for the fort’s visitor center, with the renovated fort down below in the distance.

By the time I made my way to the fort the rain had started and stopped twice, but I wasn’t as wet as this bedraggled Chestnut-collared Longspur that cooperatively foraged in the gravel walkway right in front of me.  Although the Longspur was not unusual, the Lark Sparrow that joined it at one point was a rarity per eBird.

Fort Walsh is perhaps the best spot in SK to find Violet-green Swallows, so I was on alert when I spotted my first Swallow when I reached the fort – but it was a Tree.  Later I found Barns and Cliffs before I finally found several Violet-greens, all apparently nesting within the fort.

With that target out of the way, I took a trail into the woodlands behind the fort, adding several Redstarts, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Western Pewees, and Least Flycatchers before reaching a small clearing in the woods.  And as expected, I had a Dusky Flycatcher calling from the edge of the clearing in this perfect Dusky habitat.  Interestingly it turned out to be the only one for the trip despite being in good habitat for a couple days.

This area is also known to have a high density of Mountain Lions, so I decided not to tempt fate any further and turned around to walk back to the car.  Along the way I had several singing White-crowned Sparrows and 2 pairs of beautiful Mountain Bluebirds.

Having gotten most all of the targets expected at the fort, we now turned our focus to the western part of the block with some more good habitat and where Western Flycatcher has nested in recent years.  But as we tried to turn west our gravel road turned to dirt and there was a sign warning that the road was impassable when wet.  We ran into another birder at this point, Tom Hince, who also had wanted to try for the Western Fly.  He was familiar with the area and said in no uncertain terms that we shouldn’t try to drive on the muddy road given the recent rains.  

That was disappointing – not only to miss out on the possibility of the Western Flycatcher, but also we had planned to spend the rest of the day birding the excellent habitat in that area.  (It’s notable that although Western Fly’s did come back to the area, they were not reported this year until June 6th – so we likely would have been too early for them if we had gone.)  What should we do with our suddenly free time?  We could head back to Fort Walsh and bird the trails there some more.  A second option could be to head to the Center Block and bird that site.  But we had planned to bird that area all day tomorrow.  Or we could go to a new spot not on our original itinerary.  Tom suggested going to Swift Current and bird the sewage lagoons and adjacent landfill where he had had some good birds a couple days earlier.  It was a bit of a drive, but we had the time so decided to head to Swift Current.

Just as we pulled up to the Swift Current landfill a pair of Gray Partridges scurried under the gate right in front of us.  That was a good start.  Then we turned our attention to the active face of the landfill where we estimated 1,000 California and 100 Ring-billed Gulls were feeding or roosting.  Surely there would be something else mixed in, but despite many scans we couldn’t find a rarity.  Then we focused on the sewage lagoons and found an estimated 300 Franklin’s Gulls, and a smattering of waterfowl, but nothing unusual. 

At that point a birder drove slowly past us and stopped a short distance down the road by some wetlands.  “Bird the birders” as I always say, so we headed toward her to see what she had found.  On our way a flock of 6 White-faced Ibis flew by, and when we pulled up to her we spotted a pair of Black-necked Stilts – both are pretty rare in the province.  

The wetland had a nice collection of shorebirds, including 4 Black-bellied Plovers and the only Lesser Yellowlegs we had for the trip.  All in all, a pretty nice stop making lemonade out of a bunch of lemons. 

That gave me 17 new birds for the day, bringing my SK list to 142.

May 30 – Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park – Center Block, SK

Our plan for the 30th was to spend most of the day birding the Center Block of Cypress Hills, then start making our way east toward tomorrow’s destination.  It was 40 degrees and raining when we left the hotel.  By the time we made it to Cypress Hills at 6 AM it was 33 degrees and the rain had turned to snow.  It was coming down hard enough that visibility was limited at times.  Rather than hiking in the cold and snow we decided to bird from the car, and over the next 3 1/2 hours we slowly drove along most every mile of road in the park.  Despite the weather challenges we picked up several new birds like Western Tanager (another of the park’s western specialties), Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and a migrant Gray-cheeked Thrush.

By 9:30 the snow had finally decreased to just some flurries, so we decided to do a bit of hiking on the park trails.  Even though it was still in the low 30s.  The first trail we took was the Woodlands Trail which ran through stands of mature conifers.  Unfortunately, this habitat wasn’t very birdy, so we headed to the Windfall Trail that had more open habitat.

Soon after starting this latter trail David spotted a Three-toed Woodpecker.  Eventually we got great looks at this male bird as it flaked small chunks of bark off nearby trees.  A few minutes later while playing some tape for Golden-crowned Kinglets a Saw-whet Owl started to call.  I couldn’t turn off the Kinglet call fast enough!  That was quite the surprise!  Other more expected species included numerous Least Flycatchers, Red-naped Sapsuckers, Wester Pewee, and Red-breasted Nuthatch.

We came back to our car which was parked along Loch Leven and noticed quite a bit of activity over the lake.  First we picked out 2 Forster’s Terns.  Then we spotted a Great Blue Heron, and shortly thereafter an Osprey.  All seemingly out of place for this small, isolated lake.  Then a kettle of 8 Turkey Vultures passed overhead.  And as we walked back to the car we heard several Red Crossbills flying by.  And all of this in just a couple of minutes of birding.

The last part of the Center Block we birded was at the south end near Lake Lomond and the Highland Trail.  Several pairs of Ring-necked Ducks were our first for the trip.  Near the beginning of the Highland Trail we found 4 Juncos feeding in the open.  After some back and forth we decided they were of the Pink-sided race.  We only made it a short way on the trail when the sky darkened and it started to hail on us.  We had rain, sleet, snow, and now hail on this unsettled weather day.

By mid-afternoon we had pretty much birded most of the Center Block, so we started our trek east.  Our last stop of the day was at Francis Lake just north of the town of Herbert.  The original plan was to visit this spot for 3 specialties - Ibis, Stilts, and Cinnamon Teal.  But of course, we already had the Ibis and Stilts the day before so our last key target here was Cinnamon Teal.  When we arrived at this expansive wetlands the winds were absolutely howling.  The best habitat was to the west, which was looking right into the wind.  As I put it in my eBird checklist – “Excessively strong winds – viewing next to impossible”.  But we still needed to try to find the Teal, so we thought we’d just drive along the road and bird from the car with only one window down at a time.  Remarkably at our first stop there was a drake Cinnamon Teal quite close to the road.  However, unfortunately it flew shortly after we spotted it, but it was still there long enough for a good ID.  We had some distant Ibis as well, but given the conditions we didn’t linger to try for better views.

I added 11 more to my province list that day, bringing my total to 153.  #150 was Turkey Vulture.

 

See my next blog post for a summary of the second half of the Canada portion of the trip covering May 31st through June 3rd.

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.