Downy Woodpecker

Things are a little slow right now, and a little cold too! We had a ton of snow dump on us a few days ago, which meant lots of shoveling and helping people to get their cars unstuck.
The great thing about Saskatchewan, as well as the wildlife, are the wonderful people, who always rally together in times like this.

Here's a female Downy Woodpecker from a recent look around Pike Lake :

More Winter Birds...

Here are a couple more birds I've found over the past week. These two were at Pike Lake :


White-breasted Nuthatch :



Common Redpoll :

Recent Findings

Well, after the fun of the Christmas Bird Counts and finishing up 2009 short of my goal of 250 species found in Saskatchewan (but snagging a still-respectable 249), the last Christmas count until next December was at Pike Lake.
Myself and my 3 compadre's had an excellent day, notching up 24 species, which I think was an all time high for that particular route.

Highlights were :

Great Horned Owl
Pine Siskin
Pine Grosbeak
Purple Finch
Common Redpoll
Pileated Woodpecker

Earlier this week, a friend and I took a drive up to Candle Lake on the hunt for some Willow Ptarmigan that were reported to be in the area.
Of course, things don't always turn out how you would envision, and the search
for the white grouse proved fruitless.
Still, during our hours spent walking and driving around the area, we did pick up
a few nice things.

Highlights were :

Great Gray Owl - My first Great Gray of the year was sat on a low perch, but did
not take too kindly to us and took of as soon as we slowed the land rover down
for a closer look.

Northern Hawk Owl - 2 of these beauties. One which was quite co-operative late
in the afternoon.

Great Horned Owl - A very miserable looking Owl who did not like the falling
snow , was perched in an aspen stand, along the forest edge.

Northern Goshawk - A juvenile bird perched high on a lookout tree.

Pine Grosbeak - 7

White-winged Crossbill - 15

Common Redpoll - 6

Boreal Chickadee - 2

Strangely, we did not see any grouse the whole day, not even the local Ruffed and Spruce. Of course they were there somewhere, they just decided they wouldn't grace us with their presence !


Here are some new photos :

Cedar Waxwing



Northern Hawk Owl




White-tailed Deer



Cottontail Rabbit

Happy New Year !

Happy New Year to all !

Thanks again to all my faithful blog readers and friends. Have a great one !

Here is a new shot of the Short-eared Owl I recently found at Gardiner Dam.

Christmas Bird Count Highlights

This is Christmas Bird Count time, and upon writing this, I have completed 6 of them, each with their own highlights.
I still have 2, maybe 3 more to go up until the 2nd of January, when the last one will be at Pike Lake.

For most of the counts the weather has been pretty tolerable. I remember, much of last years count-weather was absolutely freezing, with wind chills of minus 50 degrees centigrade or more in some cases.

Some of the best birds I've seen over the last 6 counts done this season have been :

Townsend's Solitaire
Red Crossbill
White-winged Crossbill
Pine Grosbeak
Common Redpoll
Northern Shrike
Northern Goshawk
Pine Siskin
Snowy Owl
Great Horned Owl
Glaucous Gull
Harris's Sparrow
American Robin
Merlin
Cedar Waxwing
Golden Eagle
Bald Eagle
Sharp-tailed Grouse
Gray Partridge


Here are a few new photos from the counts done so far :

Red Crossbill





Red-breasted Nuthatch



Townsend's Solitaire

Merry Christmas

I would like to thank all my blogger, and birding friends and every other single visitor to this webpage during 2009.
Let's hope that 2010 is an even better year for birds and wildlife !
I have already completed 3 Christmas Bird Counts and am almost out the door to begin my 4th.
After that, will leave 3 more counts up until January 2nd finshing up at Pike Lake.
I have 11 more days to see if I can find 2 new species by Dec 31st, and reach my highest ever Saskatchewan Year List of 250 , but its quite a tall order and I might be shooting a little high :-) Watch this space !

Here is a Harris's Sparrow from the fall that I have not posted before that has a Christmas-like quality to it.

All the best for 2010 and thanks again !!

Great Horned Owl

Here's a Great Horned Owl from last Sunday near Martensville, Sk.
I'm lucky there was some blowing snow at the time the photo was taken. A shame we can't get that nice effect in all our Owl photos !

PS. My Saskatchewan Birds 2010 Calendar will be here tomorrow, so folks who live locally can email me to collect theirs in the afternoon. I will priority-ship the calendars to my friends in the US, to hopefully get them their orders before the 25th.
Sorry for the delay, they will be mailed out much earlier next year !

( Click to see full size )