Page updated June 10, 2004
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Update #4
Posted at Thursday, June 10, 2004 4:27 PM CDT
(There was no Internet access in Riding Mountain National Park (Canada))

Monday 6/7

Merlin watching

After leaving Melita this morning we stopped by the Broomhill WMA again. The Baird's Sparrows were their usual elusive selves. We got glimpses and a brief scope view of a single individual. Our next stop was the Oak Lake Resort on Oak Lake. There were an incredible number of Yellow Warblers and Least Flycatchers in the local park. A group of Western Grebes were on the lake but we were unable to pick out a Clark's Grebe. After a lunch at Tim Horton's we drove up to Riding Mountain National Park arriving about 2:45 pm. We checked into our bungalows and then went to the Visitors Centre. A two hour walk along the shoreline of Clear Lake added some warbler species to our trip list. We went directly to dinner and then back to the bungalows to do our checklists. As we gathered a Merlin came over the parking lot and snatched a bird out of a spruce tree. It took it to a nearby branch and calmly ate it as we all watched. Even though there have been no sightings of a Great Gray Owl yet this year we spent 9:15 to 10:30 riding Route 19 looking for it.

Tuesday 6/8

Celebrating Life Woodpeckers

We started out this morning with two target birds - Mourning Warbler and Connecticut Warbler. We concentrated on the locations along Route 19 east of the park entrance. We had no luck with either species but all in all it was quite a day. We saw/heard Ruffed Grouse, Purple Finch, White-winged Crossbills, Three-toed Woodpecker, Black-backed Woodpecker, Northern Goshawk, Cape May Warbler, Common Loon, Red-necked Grebe, Bald Eagle, Blackburnian Warbler, Philadelphia Vireo and Bay-breasted Warbler. Adding in two encounters with bears it was a great day to be birding.

Every day generates stories to be told for years. Tonight Frank left his hat, binoculars, and travel papers in our dinner restaurant. The manager actually drove around town looking for our white rental van so that she could return those items to us. She found us and we knew about it before Frank even realized that he left the items.

Right outside our bungalows is a pair of Merlins. We have not spotted the nest yet but we are sure it is in the area.

The total trip list now stand at about 185 species.

Wednesday 6/9

Picture by Erica Brendel

Eight of the ten participants were out and birding at 6:00. The weather was super and the birds were singing. We had great views of Boreal Chickadee and Three-toed Woodpecker. After a breakfast in town, all of us headed out foe a day of birding. We again sought Connecticut Warbler and Mourning Warbler. This time we headed to Lake Audy. By lunch time we had seen Mourning Warbler but the Connecticut continued to elude us. As we pulled in to the picnic area at Audy Lake we were stunned to see an Scissor-tailed Flycatcher sitting on a pole. We found out later that this is one of less than 25 records of this species for Manitoba. It was bizarre to eat lunch while watching a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, several Evening Grosbeaks and a couple of Common Loons.
The afternoon was spent unsuccessfully checking out habitats for Connecticut Warbler. When we stopped at the Visitor Centre to report the flycatcher we stumbled across Pine Siskin, White-winged Crossbills and Boreal Chickadees in town.
Karl lost his wallet again today. Before he even realized he lost it, we found it. This made for an interesting time before dinner when he was desperately looking for it while we were very unsympathetic.

Thursday 6/10

We were all in the van and moving at 6:45 am. We made a couple of desperation stops for Conneticut Warbler. We had no luck but did manage to get a male Mourning Warbler up and singing. It was an hour to Brandon where we had a quick breakfast at Tim Horton's. Two more hours of driving and we were at the Winnipeg Airport. We droped off the van and had lunch before our flight to Thompson.
We left Winnigeg with 200 species.