Final Thoughts Saskatchewan Part 3

June 4-5 2013  Regina Beach, Saskatchewan
My whirlwind visit of Saskatchewan via Point Pelee and Churchill came to an end with two more days of birding.
I had 31 'Lifers' in Ontario, 9 in Churchill and a Brown Thrasher in Saskatchewan. That's 41 plus a few flycatchers yet to be identified.
This is my second annual birding road trip and so far it has been two for two. Last year I drove through southern B.C, the Okanagan, Milk River in Alberta and Regina and had a great time.

I decided to photograph at Craven at the very southern tip of Last Mountain Lake. Reed beds and slow moving river, sloughs, open lake and quiet backwaters attract a multitude of species. 

Cliff Swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonata))
Hundreds of Cliff Swallows (above) nest under a bridge at the entrance to the Exhibition Grounds in Craven.

Kildeer (Charadruis vociferus)

Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni)
The Swainson's hawk winters as far south as Argentina, only the Peregrine Falcon travels further.
This bird was hunting along route 99 between Craven and Regina.

Yellow-headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalis) is a very common bird on the prairies.

List of Saskatchewan Birds:

Yellow Warbler, Song, Vesper and Savannah Sparrow, Baltimore Oriole, Forster's Tern, Black Tern, Swainson's Hawk, Ring-billed Gull, Eastern and Western Kingbird, Gray Catbird, American Pelican, American Robin, Willet, Northern Shoveler, American Widgeon, Mallard, Greater Scaup, Bufflehead, Black-billed Magpie, Western Meadowlark, Warbling Vireo, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Red-winged Blackbird, Brewer's Blackbird, Canada Goose, Common Grackle, Wilson's Phalarope, Kildeer, Brown Thrasher, American Goldfinch, Horned Lark, Brewer's Blackbird, Western Grebe, Starling, European House Sparrow, Cliff, Bank, Barn, Tree and Cliff Swallow, Purple Martin, Gadwal, Green-winged Teal, Northern Pintail, Blue-winged Teal, Canvasback, Redhead, Cedar Waxwing, Bobolink, Turkey Vulture, Horned and Eared Grebe, Wilson's Snipe and Flycatchers???

Are these Western Grebe on the left and Clark's Grebe (right) or both Westerns, any takers out there?

Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis)