Back From Churchill

I am back! I was out guiding for 10 days leading a Manitoba/Churchill trip for OBServ Tours. The people were great and even though I never birded Manitoba before I basically kicked ass and saw a lot of good birds and shown a few lifers to the participants who were along with me.

It took about 2 weeks of creating maps, searching locations, asking questions, emailing birders and memorizing places in guide books to pull this trip off.




Started the trip in SW Manitoba and saw a lot of grassland birds. We drove from Brandon and headed to the southwestern corner of the providence to search for Baird's Sparrows, Chestnut-collared Longspurs and Spraque's Pipit. We found all three species and as a bonus we found lots of Sharp-tailed Grouse and two Black-headed Grosbeaks!

This photo of a Marbled Godwit was my first attempt to photo through my binoculars. I was amazed how much clearer the photo is compared to using my Kowa scope.

Marbled Godwits and Willets were all over the place in the SW corner as were Upland Sanpipers. What is so beautiful about Manitoba's prairies are how each slough or pot hole were filled with birds! Lots of ducks and shorebirds were to be found as were raptors.



We found lots of Wilson's Phalaropes and again this photo is shooting out of binoculars. It seem that almost any road in this part of the country had pot holes filled with birds. Lots of Black Tern & Forester's Terns, nesting waterfowl of all kinds, Yellow-headed Blackbirds and shorebirds.

The people were very nice in the small prairie towns and were very friendly as they drove by. Most the people waved at you or even stopped to see what you were looking at. Also when you od stopped at these potholes shooting photos of the birds was a lot of fun. There were so many that you were bound to get a good photo.

Highlights of the birds we found in SW Manitoba prairie country:

-Sharp-tailed Grouse
-Yellow Rails, Sora and Virginis Rails at Douglas Marsh
-Marbled Godwit, Willets, Wilson Phalaropes and Upalnd Sandpipers
-Ferrugenous Hawks
-Swainson's Hawks
-LeConte's Sparrows
-Baird's Sparrows
-Grasshopper Sparrows
-Chestnut-collared Longspurs
-Spraques's Pipits
-Sedge Wrens & Marsh Wrens
-Black-headed Grosbeaks
* a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher at Pierson's cemetary

We then headed up to Riding Mt. National Park and spent three days there searching for birds.

Highlights:
-Great Gray Owl
-Long-eared Owl
-Conn. Warbler
-Philadelphia Vireo
-17 species of warblers
-Northern-three toed Woodpecker
-Boreal Chickadees
-Gray Jays
-(2) Black-billed Cuckoos!!


This Great Gray Owl was the tamest owl I ever encountered. I spotted the owl and one of the participant yelled "Great Gray Owl" the same time I did. Anyway the owl just perched on the wooden fence and allowed the birders to approach the bird as close as 30 feet and click photos of it.

As you can see the owl is very sleepy and lethargic and was not interested in us birders as we approached the owl. I brought along my Sony video camera and video the owl as it sat there in the morning sun.

The birders were very excited to see this owl and many commented that this was best looks of this owl they ever had. I was very pleased in seeing this owl and sharing it with participants.

The funny thing as we did not find this owl in the park but instead south of the park along a gravel road SE of the park.

Man if I was in my mid twenties I would of moved to Churchill and got my visa and spend a few years there! This is my kind of place! I made friends with so many residents. I was offered a job at a restaurant, I was offered a job to come up in the fall ( the last day before I left a guy name Don Lunde stopped me to offer me this opportunity) and help with the polar bear tours.

I met some really good people and really love the Inuits and their customs. I listen to them give live performances and heard thier songs one evening as I sat on the ice and looked over the Hudson Bay and beyond. In a way I found my second home!


I missed out on seeing a Polar Bear by a few hours on our first day. It was seen on the eastside of town and the police shot cannon like pops near the bear to scare it away from the limits of town.

The first two days were cloudy and windy with lots of fog in the early am hours. The last day and a half was sunny and nice. The temps during the day varied some where around 35 degree to 45 degrees. Our last day the temps climb to 55 degrees! I took so many photos and I haven't edited them all yet. I will be posting photos of my trip in the next blog postings.

Here are the highlights of our Churchill trip:
-Pacific and Red-throated Loons
-Common Eiders (LIFER)
-Three Scoter species in breeding plumages!
-Long-tailed Ducks in breeding plumage!
-Red Phalaropes
-Red-necked Phalaropes
-Hudsonian Godwits
-Red Knot
-Willow Ptarmigan (photo above) (LIFER)
-Mew Gull (LIFER)
-Iceland Gull
-Glaucous Gull
-Little Gulls
-Parasitic Jaegers
-Hawk Owls (2)
**I found a BOREAL OWL nest with 4 owlets!! I took photos and a video of one of the young. I kept the sighting to ourselves as there were to many groups up there. I shared the location to one of the Manitoba birders through a email for their records. a HUGE find!
-Smith Longspurs
-Lapland Longspurs
-Snow Buntings
-Northern Shrike
-Bohemian Waxwings
-Hoary Redpolls

I took a lof of video on the trip and a lot of photos. I even have a video of the Beluga whales heading back to the bay during the early approaches of the low tide in the Churchill River. I will have to find a way to get them on my website.

Mammals found on the trip:
-Mule Deer
-White-tail Deer
-Moose (photos and video)
-Richardson Ground Squirrels (Oak Hammock Marsh they approach you for food!)
-Thirteen line Ground Squirrels
-Eastern Cottontail Rabbits
-Snowshoe Rabbits
-Artic Hares
-Coyote
-Black Bear
-Short-tailed Weasel
-Harp Seal
-Harbor Seal
-Ringed Seal
-Skunk
-Red Fox

Anyway the trip was very VERY succesful and I am proud that I was able to pull this trip off for not ever birded in these locations before and no scouting. I got help by Kim Eckert prior to going and other than that a lot of studying and creating maps or in other words doing the homework really paid off!

I will share more very soon.

Later