From: tony@zoo.toronto.edu (Anthony L. Lang)
Subject: Northern prairie trip summary (3 1/2 screens)
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 19:48:14 GMT
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology

In a quest to dispel the myth that the prairies are a boring 
place to bird (or do anything else for that matter), I submit
the following summary of the birds that I saw in my old
stomping grounds (southern Saskatchewan) in mid-July.
I will concentrate on highlighting prairie specialities.
The trip was for the purpose of attending a wedding and visiting
family, so not a lot of time was available for birding (4 half
days and 1 whole day).  Most of the birding was done in and
around the cities of Regina and Saskatoon.  Despite the
limited scope of the birding, I still managed to see (or hear) 117
species and, had I exerted more effort, I could have seen another
25 around Regina easily.  Had I had more time, I could have
ventured into the ranching country and badlands of the 
southwestern part of the province and picked up a dozen
more (like the VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWs that have recently
begun breeding in the province).  I did well in the GREBE
department: PIED-BILLED and HORNED GREBES,  and big colonies of
EARED GREBES.  I also scanned over a colony of about 500
adult and young WESTERN GREBES, but 
didn't pick out any Clark' Grebes (some were too far too see well).
I saw them with young there (Valeport marsh at the south
end of Last Mountain Lake - 25 minutes drive north of Regina)
last September.  Naturally one always sees lots of species
and numbers of dabbling and diving ducks on the northern
prairies, and this trip was no exception.  YELLOW RAIL was 
new for me, but none of the three birds that I encountered
calling would come into the clicking of stones and they
all skulked away when I walked to their calling locations.
Shorebird migration was already well underway (many birds
probably gave up on trying to breed this year with the
unusually cold conditions in the arctic), so I saw
10 species of migrants.  The highlight of shorebird watching
was seeing the locally breeding PIPING PLOVER.  They
were very cooperative at Chaplin Lake, where I saw 7
from the road.  If I remember right, Saskatchewan has the 
largest breeding population: about 300 pairs.  
BLACK TERNS were very common and BURROWING OWLS were not hard
to find despite their population decline: there were 2
families within 10 minutes drive of my parents' home in Regina.
Close to these were 4 pairs of LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE.  I
saw SEDGE WREN in the appropriate wet meadows 
with the Yellow Rails).  LAZULI
BUNTING was a lifer for me and there were also INDIGO BUNTINGs.
Hybrids are occasionally reported in this area.  Aside from
having a high diversity of ducks, grebes, and breeding shorebirds,
Jim Rising (of this department) has pointed out to me that
the northern prairies are characterized by a high diversity
of Emberizine sparrows.  By the same token, the American
southeast has a high diversity of Ciconiiformes (storks, ibises,
and herons) and Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest is characterized
by the Parulinae (Wood Warblers) being exceptionally well
represented.  To return to the list, Emberizines seen were:
RUFOUS-SIDED TOWHEE (mostly spotted race), CHIPPING SPARROW,
CLAY-COLOURED SPARROW, VESPER SPARROW, LARK BUNTING (relatively
common, debunking the local belief that they are only common
in dry years), LARK SPARROW, SAVANNAH SPARROW, BAIRD'S SPARROW
(common where the Piping Plovers were), SHARP-TAILED SPARROW
(in with the Sedge Wrens), SONG SPARROW, MCCOWN'S LONGSPUR
(the only passerine that will nest in a wheat field, besides
a Horned Lark), and CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPUR.  A little
bit more effort would have yielded a LECONTE'S SPARROW.  
This and the other wet meadow species were having a good
year with the exceptionally wet conditions.  
The other species seen were smattering of the raptors
that one would expect to see in the area, the 7 breeding
species of shorebird (AM. AVOCET, MARBLED GODWIT, WILLET,
WILSON'S PHALAROPE, KILLDEER, SPOTTED SANDPIPER,
UPLAND SANDPIPER), various
Tyrannids, Icterines, SPRAGUE'S PIPIT (hard get out of earshot
of them) and other odds and ends.  All in all, a very .
satisfying trip.  It was also interesting from the point
of view of the families that were well represented
(discussed above), but also with regards to the sheer
abundance and diversity of breeding birds within a short
distance of a middle sized city.  
-- 
Anthony Lang
Dept. of Zoology, Univ. of Toronto
tony@zoo.utoronto.ca
Newsgroups: rec.birds