Birding

Birding

As we drive, wander and tend to the lands around us, we keep watch for feathered regulars and visiting friends. We’re not professionals in any way, so our identifications may not be thorough and may occasionally be less than precise. We’ve placed a Birding Log in the Guesthouse so this information will be updated occasionally.

We recommend the following site if you want to research images and information about any of the birds below:

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/

1. Birds we and/or guests have seen here (160 acres of bush / wetland beside Turtle Mountain Park and a few miles south of Whitewater Lake). We’ve used ‘Manitoba Birds’ Field Guide by Brezener and De Smet as our naming and organizational guide. 

American White Pelican (rare) Double Crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron Turkey Vulture
Canada Goose (nesting) Ducks: Wood, Mallard,
Teals, Pintail
Bald Eagle (early spring or late fall) Red Tailed Hawk
Northern Harrier Ruffed Grouse
Sora Rail Killdeer
Franklins Gull Common Tern
Rock Dove Mourning Dove
Great Horned Owl Snowy Owl
Common Nighthawk Ruby Throated Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher Downy Woodpecker (feeders)
Pileated Woodpecker (rare) Eastern Phoebe
Red Eyed Vireo Blue Jay (feeders)
American Crow Common Raven
Barn Swallow Black Capped Chickadee (feeders)
White Breasted Nuthatch (feeders) House Wren
Ruby-Crowned Kinglet Eastern Bluebird
American Robin Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher Chipping Sparrow
Evening Grosbeak (feeders) American Goldfinch (feeders)
Pine Siskin (feeders) Common Redpoll (feeders)
Purple Finch (feeders) Brewer’s Blackbird
Baltimore Oriole Rose Breasted Grosbeak
Red-Winged Blackbird Cedar Waxwing
Yellow Warbler American Redstart
Sparrows – various (feeders) Dark Eyed Junco

Birds common to Farmland between us and Whitewater (not yet mentioned).

Snow Goose Green Heron
Hawks – various Sharp-Tailed Grouse (near-by)
Black-Billed Magpie Purple Martin (town)
Western Meadowlark Yellow-Headed Blackbird

Birds common to Turtle Mountain Provincial Park (not yet mentioned) – helped by pg 14 of “Manitoba Birds”.

Bobolink (Peace Garden) Ovenbird
Common Loon (Lakes/Ponds) Red-Necked Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe Black-crowned Night Heron
American Wigeon Spotted Sandpiper
Sharp-skinned Hawk Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Mourning Warbler

Birds common to Whitewater Lake/Marsh
info from “Community Conservation Plan for the Whitewater Lake
Important Bird Area” by Cory Lindgren.

Western Grebe Eared Grebe
American White Pelican Double-Crested Cormorant
Marsh Hawk Great Blue Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron American Bittern
Sandhill Crane Sora Rail,
Yellow Rail American Coot
American Avocet Black-Bellied Plover,
Killdeer Marbled Godwit
Hudsonian Godwit Upland Plove
Spotted Sandpiper Willet,
Greater Yellowleg Lesser Yellowlegs
Long-Billed Dowitcher Pectoral Sandpiper
Baird’s Sandpiper Least Sandpiper
Semi-Palmated Sandpiper Wilson’s Phalarope
Herring Gull Ring-billed Gull
Bonoparte’s Gull Franklin’s Gull
Common Tern Forester’s Tern
Caspian Tern Black Tern
Long-billed Marsh Wren, Bobolink
Redwing Blackbird Yellow Headed Blackbird
Savanah Sparrow LeConte’s Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow Swamps Sparrow
Song Sparrow

Birds common to Melita, Poverty Plains area 1 hour west of us (not yet mentioned).

Gray Partridge Ring-necked Pheasant
Ferruginous Hawk Say’s Phoebes
Willow Flycatcher Upland Sandpiper
Loggerhead Shrike Chestnut-collared Longspur
Grasshopper Sparrow Burrowing Owl
Lark Bunting Orchard Oriole
Baird’s Sparrow