~Our Birding Lifelist~

...so far!

One of the best things about birdwatching
is it can be done almost anywhere,
starting in your own backyard!!!

Our lifelist includes the birds either Larry or I have seen
(though, not necessarily both of us,
but we soon hope to rectify that!!!)
Our combined total is 289
 (saw & identified) & counting...

A Alder Flycatcher American Avocet American Bittern American Coot American Crow American Dipper American Golden Plover American Goldfinch American Kestrel American Pipit American Redstart American Robin American Three-toed Woodpecker American Tree Sparrow  American White Pelican American Wigeon Arctic Tern	B Baird's Sandpiper  Baird's Sparrow Bald Eagle Baltimore Oriole Bank Swallow Barn Swallow Barrow's Goldeneye Bay-breasted Warbler Belted Kingfisher Black Swift Black Tern Black & White Warbler Black-billed Cuckoo Black-backed Woodpecker Black-billed Cuckoo Black-billed Magpie Black-capped Chickadee Black-chinned Hummingbird Black-crowned Night-Heron Black-headed Grosbeak  Black-necked Stilt  Blackpoll Warbler  Black-throated Green Warbler Blue Grouse (Dusky Grouse) Blue Jay Blue-winged Teal Bobolink Bohemian Waxwing Bonaparte's Gull  Boreal Chickadee  Brewer's Blackbird Brewer's Sparrow Broad-winged Hawk Brown Creeper  Brown Thrasher Brown-headed Cowbird Bufflehead Bullock's Oriole Burrowing Owl	C Cackling Goose California Gull Calliope Hummingbird  Canada Goose (Greater & Lesser) Canada Warbler Canvasback Duck Cape May Warbler Caspian Tern Cassin's Finch Cassin's Vireo Cedar Waxwing Chestnut-collared Longspur Chestnut-sided Warbler  Chimney Swift  Chipping Sparrow Cinnamon Teal Clark's Grebe Clark's Nutcracker Clay-colored Sparrow Cliff Swallow Common Goldeneye Common Grackle Common Loon Common Merganser Common Nighthawk Common Poorwill Common Raven Common Redpoll Common Tern Common Yellowthroat Connecticut Warbler Cooper's Hawk
D - E - F Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon, Slate & Pink-sided) Double-crested Cormorant Downy Woodpecker Dunlin Dusky Flycatcher  Eared Grebe  Eastern Bluebird Eastern Kingbird Eastern Phoebe Eurasian Collared-Dove European Starling Evening Grosbeak Ferruginous Hawk Forster's Tern Fox Sparrow Franklin's Gull	G Gadwall Glaucous-winged Gull Golden-crowned Kinglet Golden Eagle Grasshopper Sparrow Gray Catbird Gray Jay  Gray (Hungarian) Partridge Great Blue Heron Great Egret Great Horned Owl Greater Sage Grouse Greater White-fronted Goose Greater Yellowlegs Green-winged Teal Gyrfalcon	H - I - J Hairy Woodpecker Harlequin Duck Harris's Sprarrow Hermit Thrush Herring Gull Hoary Redpoll Horned Grebe Horned Lark House Finch House Sparrow (Weaver Finch) House Wren Hudsonian Godwit
K - L - M Killdeer Lapland Longspur Lark Bunting Lark Sparrow Lazuli Bunting Least Flycatcher Least Sandpiper LeConte's Sparrow Lesser Scaup Lesser Yellowlegs Lewis's Woodpecker Lincoln's Sparrow Loggerhead Shrike Long-billed Curlew Long-billed Dowitcher  MacGillivray's Warbler Magnolia Warbler Mallard Duck Marbled Godwit Marsh Wren McCowan's Longspur  Merlin Mountain Bluebird Mountain Chickadee  Mourning Dove Mourning Warbler Mute Swan	N - O - P - Q Nashville Warbler Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow Northern Cardinal Northern "Yellow-shafted" Flicker Northern "Red-shafted" Flicker Northern Goshawk Northern Harrier Northern Hawk Owl Northern Mockingbird  Northern Pintail Duck Northern-Rough Winged Swallow Northern Shoveler Duck Northern Shrike  Northern Waterthrush Northwestern Crow Olive-sided Flycatcher Orange-crowned Warbler  Osprey Ovenbird Pacific Loon Pacific-sloped Flycatcher (we heard it, but only Ryan saw it) Palm Warbler Pectoral Sandpiper  Peregrine Falcon Philadelphia Vireo Pied-billed Grebe  Pileated Woodpecker Pine Grosbeak Pine Siskin Piping Plover  Prairie Falcon Purple Finch  Purple Martin	R Red Crossbill Red Knot Red-breasted Merganser Red-breasted Nuthatch Red-eyed Vireo Red-headed Woodpecker Red-naped Sapsucker Red-necked Grebe Red-necked Phalarope  Red-tailed Hawk Red-winged Blackbird Redhead Duck Ring-billed Gull Ring-necked Duck Ring-necked Pheasant Rock Pigeon Rock Wren Rose-breasted Grosbeak Ross's Goose Rough-legged Hawk  Ruby-crowned Kinglet Ruby-throated Hummingbird Ruddy Duck Ruddy Turnstone  Ruffed Grouse Rufous Hummingbird Rusty Blackbird
S Sanderling  Sandhill Crane Savannah Sparrow Say's Phoebe  Semipalmated Plover Semipalmated Sandpiper Sharp-shinned Hawk Sharp-tailed Grouse Short-billed Dowitcher  Short-eared Owl Snow Bunting Snow Goose (White-phase & Blue phase) Snowy Egret Snowy Owl Solitary Sandpiper Song Sparrow Sora Spotted Sandpiper Spotted Towhee Sprague's Pipit Stellar's Eider Stellar's Jay Stilt Sandpiper Swainson's Hawk Swainson's Thrush Swamp Sparrow	T - U - V Tennessee Warbler Townsend's Solitaire Townsend's Warbler Tree Swallow Trumpeter Swan  Tundra Swan Turkey Vulture Upland Sandpiper  Varied Thrush Vaux's Swift Veery  Vesper Sparrow Violet-Green Swallow	W - X - Y- Z Warbling Vireo  Western Bluebird Western Grebe Western Kingbird Western Meadowlark Western Tanager Western Wood-Pewee Whimbrel  White-breasted Nuthatch  White-crowned Sparrow White-faced Ibis White-tailed Ptarmigan White-throated Sparrow White-winged Crossbill White-winged Scoter Whooping Crane Wild Turkey Willet Willow Flycatcher Wilson's Phalarope Wilson's Snipe Wilson's Warbler Winter Wren Wood Duck Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Yellow-breasted Chat Yellow-headed Blackbird Yellow-rumped  (Myrtle) Warbler Yellow-rumped (Audubon) Warbler  Yellow Warbler

Larry bought me a beautiful gift:

"The Birder's Life List & Master Reference" (Jeffrey Whiting) and "The Birder's Field Notebook", both beautifully bound in hard cover.  Now I have to start entering all our sightings!

On my way to Regina the end of May, 2004, I saw my first RUDDY TURNSTONES, plus some STILT SANDPIPERS -- both along the northern edge of Reed Lake, just west of the small Prairie town of Morse, Saskatchewan.  The Ruddy Turnstone was very near the top of my "want to see" list, so I was ecstatic.  The following weekend, we went out again so Larry & Ryan could see them... the Ruddy Turnstone co-operated and was there, but the Stilt Sandpipers had moved on.  They did get their chance to see the Stilt Sandpipers though, during their southward migration the beginning of August, 2004... at Reed Lake.

Our Summer 2004 trip to Waterton Lakes National Park (far SW corner of Alberta) brought us another lifer very near the top of our list of "want to see" birds --- we saw not one but several LAZULI BUNTINGS!!  What a beautiful bird!

We were at the Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park in April, 2003 and we finally saw a BROWN CREEPER!!  A LIFER!!!  The added bonus was we were only a few feet away from it and were able to watch it go about its business for as long as we wanted...  it wasn't going anywhere other than to the next tree!!

Seeing a Common Loon on the Swift Current Filtration Plant Reservoir in the Spring of 2002 was very exciting for us!!  Not only did we see 6 Common Loons there, but an Osprey as well, at the same time!  Spring Migration and Fall Migration is always exciting -- one never knows just what you'll see, from one year to the next:-)  We have seen the Common Loons at the Filtration Plant Reservoir every year since! 

During the 2002 Fall Migration, we saw 2 Pacific Loons on Lake Diefenbaker, at the Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park.  THAT WAS VERY EXCITING, and the Spring of 2003 we saw at least one Whimbrel there!!  In late June, 2003 we saw two Whimbrels at the Saskatchewan Landing - very exciting as they should have been up north by then!!!  Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park has provided us with several lifers over the last few short years and we saw another couple lifers there on July 1, 2003:  A few BOBOLINKS (they were near the top of our "want to see" list!) and and Eastern Phoebe!!!

A 2002 Highlight for me was seeing my very first BLUE JAY in September -- while at Good Spirit Lake attending a meeting (it pays to get up early and go for a nice walk before breakfast, binoculars in hand!!!  The early birder does get the lifer!!!)  Fall 2007 we had our very own 2 Blue Jays in our own backyard right here in Swift Current!  We were thrilled to say the least!  They stayed all winter and into mid-Spring.  When they left us in early May (2008) we hoped they would return in the Fall but to our dismay, they did not.  We did, however, see one at Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park during the 2008-09 winter (only 30 miles north of Swift Current.)

While in Waterton (Summer of 2001), we took a day trip to Lethbridge, and also paid a visit to the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre, in Coaldale (10 minutes east of Lethbridge) -- where we seen many species of raptors.  It was a "tweet" to see these magnificent birds up close and personal, many for the very first time (and probably the only time we will see them!)  Some of these birds are being rehabilitated, to be released back into the wild, but some, through injury or whatever, are permanent residents of the Centre...  The goal of the Centre is to release as many as possible!  Hubby says, however, we cannot include these in our lifelist because we didn't see them in their natural habitats... Darn!!  Some of the birds we did see at the Centre were:  Burrowing Owl, Great Horned Owl, Great Gray Owl, Long-Eared Owl, Saw-Whet Owl, Short-Eared Owl, Barn Owl, Barred Owl, Tawny Owl (from England), Ferruginous Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Harris Hawk, Swainson's Hawk, Prairie Falcon, Saker Falcon (from SE Europe & into Asia - a great favourite with falconers), Bald Eagle, Golden Eagle, and Turkey Vulture.

???????Did you know...

...that next to the hummingbirds, the Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Golden-crowned Kinglets are two of the smallest birds in North  America (smaller than the smallest warbler...) The first times we saw these lovely little birds were:  the Ruby-crowned Kinglet in Cypress Hills (2000 June...) and the Golden-crowned Kinglet in Cypress Hills (2002 January) -- they are very small!!  And, the Golden-crowned Kinglet is actually just a bit smaller than the Ruby-crowned Kinglet!!   Very Beautiful little birds!!!  (And we have had both the Ruby-crowned AND the Golden-crowned Kinglets in our immediate neighbourhood on a couple occasions!)

List  2009 May 30©Mary Ann