I held my Great Canadian Birdathon on Saturday, May 30th — it was a cool and windy day but there were lots of birds to been seen!
The first bird I saw was a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird at my window feeder at 6 am. I saw two female hummingbirds throughout the day while in the house for snacks.
At the slough across from our house where I was able to find many species of waterbirds, including Cinnamon Teals, Black Terns, Yellow-headed and Red-winged Blackbirds, Blue-winged Teals, Wilson’s Phalaropes, and American Coots.
A female Yellow-headed Blackbird,
I walked over to the woods where I added Yellow Warbler, Baltimore Oriole, Song Sparrow, American Robin, European Starling, and Clay-coloured Sparrow. I think the strong winds prevented many birds from singing, so I wasn’t able to find many songbirds in the woods.
A Bonaparte’s Gull,
A Marbled Godwit,
A male Ruddy Duck,
A Red-necked Grebe,
I stopped at my grandmother’s yard where I saw lots of American Goldfinches and another female Ruby-throated Hummingbird.
A male American Goldfinch,
A female Ruby-throated Hummingbird at my grandmother’s feeder,
From my grandmother’s, I drove to the Vermilion Provincial Park. There weren’t as many species in the park as I was hoping for, but I was able to see Purple Martins, Yellow Warblers, a Great Blue Heron, and a pair of Northern Rough-winged Swallows (a life bird for me!).
I also saw this Canadian Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly in the park,
After the park, I drove north on the gravel roads hoping to find more species to add to my list. On my drive through the countryside I picked up Northern Pintails, Eastern Kingbirds, Ring-necked Ducks, two Snow Geese, an American Kestrel, and possibly the best bird of the day — a Loggerhead Shrike (another life bird) several miles north of my house.
The shrike flew across the road in front of my truck and then landed on a fence post. The photos are very blurry since the shrike was quite a distance off,
A California Gull with a duck egg,
A Canada Goose,
Altogether my Birdathon was very good and I tallied 76 species.
My goal for the Birdathon was originally $1,000, with my funds earmarked for the Beaverhill Bird Observatory and Bird Studies Canada, but thanks to great support and generosity, I’ve raised $1,750 so far. Thank you very, very much to everyone who has supported my birdathon this year, I greatly appreciate all of the donations and encouragement.
If you’d like to add more to my total for the worthy cause of bird conservation (and donations over $10 are tax deductible), you can visit my team page.
A list of all the species I saw on my Birdathon (in taxonomic order):
Horned Grebe, Eared Grebe, Red-necked Grebe, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Snow Goose, Canada Goose, American Widgeon, Mallard, Blue-winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal, Green-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler Northern Pintail, Gadwall, Canvasback, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Ruddy Duck, Swainson’s Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Sora, American Coot, Killdeer, American Avocet, Willet, Spotted Sandpiper, Marbled Godwit, Wilson’s Snipe, Wilson’s Phalarope, Bonaparte’s Gull, Ring-billed Gull, California Gull, Herring Gull, Black Tern, Rock Pigeon, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Pileated Woodpecker, Least Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Loggerhead Shrike, Warbling Vireo, Black-billed Magpie, American Crow, Common Raven, Purple Martin, Tree Swallow, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Barn Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Black-capped Chickadee, House Wren, American Robin, Gray Catbird, Sprague’s Pipit, European Starling, Yellow Warbler, Clay-colored Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Lincoln’s Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Western Meadowlark, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Brewer’s Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Baltimore Oriole, American Goldfinch, and House Sparrow.
Prairie Birder 