*** Thanks to Dominic Cormier for joining The Wandering Tatlers Birdathon team this year, helping us raise funds for the TLBO from from his prairie home in Saskatoon! The below writeup was written by Dom and the accompanying photos are his as well. Enjoy***
Spring on the prairies can be eventful weather-wise. Last week swung from a sweltering 32 degrees on Tuesday, to snowing on Friday. I waited out the cold snap, and with southerly winds overnight Saturday, and a high of 16 for Sunday, I was ready to do my biking birdathon.
I woke up early Sunday to a reading of 1 degree, but stepping outside in my toque and down jacket, spring was clearly in the air. Blackpoll and Tennessee Warbler song hit my ears, and the smell of warm moisture felt just right. A low back tire required some 5:30 am pumping to get the air and blood flowing, but then I was off on my trusty bike, loaded with water, snacks, binoculars, and my equally trusty Kowa scope resting in my pannier.
My first order of business was the nearby President Murray Park. An oasis of White Spruce trees on the prairies, it has a knack for drawing passing boreal migrants, and even nesting crossbills. Migrating Swainson’s Thrush dotted lawns as I biked by. A Veery singing in a nearby alley was a surprise, and I was happy to spot my only Grey-cheeked Thrush of the day among the Swainson’s. The quiet of the city early on a Sunday was rather refreshing. I quickly found the regular cast of common birds, Black-capped Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Black-billed Magpie, House Finch and the like, and my ears picked up the local White-winged Crossbills in the far corner of the park. My peace was momentarily disturbed by some dude trying to hawk me stolen goods in the otherwise empty park. If you try to assure me something isn’t stolen, make sure the security tag isn’t still attached to the pants you are wearing!
Leaving him behind to plead with the magpies, I headed to the river’s edge, pedaling under towering elms in full leaf-out dripping with singing Tennessee Warblers. More Swainson’s Thrush kept me company as I passed. A slow smile spread across my face. I had picked a good day for a bike-based Birdathon!
The South Saskatchewan River runs through Saskatoon, and is almost entirely bordered by green space and the Meewasin trail, a well maintained trail network. Kudos to whomever had the foresight and will to make that happen. Big days are a mix of the auditory and visual, and the riparian woods were alive with the song of Yellow Warblers and Least Flycatchers. My ears also picked up the odd Warbling Vireo, American Redstart, and more Blackpoll Warblers. Blackpolls seemed to be at every forested stop I made, as they journeyed from the northern Amazon basin to the Boreal forest. I was jazzed to find an Olive-sided Flycatcher, a scarce spring migrant through town, making a similar journey. After the snow on Friday, I was happy to brush off the odd mosquito and other small flies getting in my face. Along with a singing Northern Waterthrush, a migrating Alder Flycatcher at the water’s edge, and the aforementioned Veery and Olive-sided Flycacther, I knew I was going to have a better birding day than last year. 2020’s 17th of May birdathon was a tad too early for most neotropical migrant birds coming through Saskatoon. The grey and windy conditions that day also didn’t help.
I biked northward on the trail to the locally famous weir along the river, where the always reliable American White Pelicans obliged my birding efforts by being, well, reliable. Nothing like destructive human infrastructure to provide great fishing opportunities for voracious pelicans. Spotted Towhees sang from the now more scubby thickets, and I spotted a lone Double-crested Cormorant resting at the sandy tip of Goose Island. Tucked up against the bank of the island among the geese and common puddle ducks, was a male Hooded Merganser. Not a species I had expected, as most have gone off to breed at beaver ponds far from town.
I crossed the river at one of the many concrete spans, and biked north for many kilometers on open paths cutting through mixed greenspace. I periodically stopped to scan the river, and listened to birds singing from the trees and shrubs at the water’s edge. Grey Catbirds sang their jumbled tunes, and Brown Thrashers did their best bird impressions. Flashy Baltimore Orioles flitted from riverside cottonwoods, and a striking male Rose-breasted Grosbeak ate buds from a flowering crabapple. I was surprised to hear the call of a Western Kingbird atop a hardwood. Two more joined the first, temporary sentinels passing through town.
As I came to the north end of the Meewasin trail, it was time for some species-specific planning to bear fruit. I had previously scouted out a Purple Martin nesting house in a backyard along the trail, and knew a pair of Euraisian Collard-Doves frequented the neighbouring yards. Sure enough, two Purple Martins came soaring into their house just at the right time, and a dove cry drew my eyes and binoculars to its perched form on a rooftop. Passing between houses and a small patch of grassland, Clay-colored and Chipping Sparrows were everywhere, and I finally found my only White-crowned Sparrow of the day mixed in with them. This is a common migrant, but May 23rd is getting late to find them still hanging around town.
Cutting back into the thick riparian forest of the river’s edge, more orioles, grosbeaks, and Yellow Warblers filled the air. An Ovenbird sang from the tangled undergrowth, and two Black-and-white Warblers worked the scraggly trunks above my head, giving me a modest 9 species of warbler for the day. After getting a bit muddy, I emerged back onto the dry open prairie and pedaled hard to a small wetland network just north of town where ducks and other fowl awaited.
For the next hour, I circled cattail ponds looking for Marsh Wren and Nelson’s Sparrow. The cattails and wet verges of the ponds were devoid of both wren and sparrow, but I heard and saw a few Sora, and found a nice Swamp Sparrow. I watched a male Ruddy Duck make its bizarre mating noise, and checked off Red-tailed Hawk, Swainson’s Hawk and Northern Harrier in quick succession. It can be surprisingly easy to miss raptors on a big day, and such would be the case for me as I struck out on Turkey Vulture, Cooper’s Hawk, and Osprey by day’s end.
With midday approaching, it was time for the proverbial ace-in-the-hole of my birding big day. A nearby lake, part of a natural area called the Northeast Swale, teems with waterfowl and migrating and local shorebirds during spring. The whole area gets its fair share of human traffic, but not this lake because access is tricky. Rolling up with great anticipation, I was dismayed to find someone already there poking around the best shorebird spots. A quick binocular scan for shorebirds seemed to confirm the worst. The mudflats looked mostly empty. The shorebirds had obviously been scared off by this person, I concluded. Many choice words were uttered to the wind; an uncouth lament at the this interloper’s disturbance. It’s funny how something so benign can rattle the spirit. Nonetheless, I reset my expectations and set about scoping the lake for ducks, of which there were plenty. I also started to pick out distant shorebirds along the edges. A nice flock of Stilt Sandpipers and a lone Black-bellied Plover accompanied the local American Avocet, Willet, Wilson’s Phalarope, and Marbled Godwit pair. Lesser Yellowlegs, and a few Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers materialized out of the void. Small flocks of Red-necked Phalaropes danced across the lake, and one Pectoral Sandpiper rested among the shoreline vegetation. I looked up from the scope to realize a flock of Black Terns had descended on the lake, and were making short work of emerging insects. All the while, the ducks coated the lake, hundreds of birds of 13 different species. In a small puddle, three Short-billed Dowitcher methodically probing the mud would be my last new shorebird species.
I biked southward back to town, passing through the rest of the Swale where I nabbed my only pair of Horned Grebes, and a lone Ring-necked Duck; surprisingly uncommon compared to their much more ubiquitous cousins the Canvasback, Redhead, and Lesser Scaup. I also saw my only European Starling of the day. Believe it or not, this was a stakeout bird nesting in a building surrounded by last year’s canola stalks. Starlings are rare urban birds here, preferring to stick to their agricultural haunts. As the last Vesper Sparrows and Western Meadowlarks sang on the grassy edge of the swale, I cut through new cookie cutter homes to the local park/zoo. Packed with people on a nice Sunday afternoon, I was only interested in spotting a pair of Red-necked Grebes inhabiting a small pond stocked with rainbow trout for the numerous recreational anglers. Fait acommpli, I cut back to the river and retraced some of my route back to my house. Hotdogs on the grill, and yarning about past fishing exploits would be for another day.
Sitting at home, it was now mid-afternoon and I was at 113 species for the day. That was 12 more than last year, and I still had plans to add a few more. After some much-needed sustenance, I biked southward along the river, covering new ground and hoping to add Western Grebe, Cliff Swallow, and Common Merganser to the day’s avian riches, or perhaps spot an additional migrant heading to the boreal, like a Magnolia, Cape May, or Blackburnian Warbler. No such luck would be had. After spying a few expected Herring Gulls among the hundreds of California and Ring-billed Gulls that loaf near the city dump, I started to fade. However, I picked out an interesting first-year gull. Black bill, white head, dark mantle, little contrast between the primaries and secondaries… a 1st cycle Lesser Black-backed Gull. Not a bad find for a late May big day in the prairies. Turning around, I stopped at a small local park hoping for the Cooper’s Hawk pair to emerge (they didn’t – I should have tried to find the nest), and then wheeled myself back to my doorstep. With 2.5 hours of light left, I likely could have dug up a few more species by doing the rounds of the small local parks in the area, but at that point, I had had my fill. 12 hours, 115 species, and exactly 60 km later, I was content with my big day in Saskatoon!
To make a donation to the Tatlayoko Lake Bird Observatory via “Dom’s Birdathon Biking Big Day” page please visit the below website. All donors receive a tax receipt.