Birding At the Winnipeg Beaches

I'm very sorry for my inactivity recently but finally here is a post. About a month  ago we went birding with Christian Artuso about an hour north of Winnipeg along the beaches of Lake Winnipeg. We started north at Victoria Beach and slowly worked our way south from there.

We walked along the stony shore, armed with two cameras, a spotting scope and binoculars.

There were a fair number of Lapland Longspurs and we got some fantastic views of them.

Lapland Longspur

And of course... gulls. There wasn't anything particularly exciting in the gull department, Ring-billed, Herring, and Bonaparte's mostly, along with some Caspian, Common and Forster's Terns.

Ring-billed Gull

Lapland Longspur

It was a little bit odd to see a Savannah Sparrow out along the shore.

Savannah Sparrow

Herring Gull

Herring Gull

Lapland Longspur

There was also a good number of American Pipits, though they were more skittish than the Longpurs, so photos were harder.

We also found this beautiful Pectoral Sandpiper, foraging among the pebbles.

Pectoral Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper

Lapland Longspur

Lapland Longspur

Lapland Longspur

And our fabulous guide and friend, Christian! 

Christian Artuso

The changing colours of fall made for some very pretty landscapes. Here are quite a few non-bird photos, if you don't mind.

Among the rocky shore here there was a flock of American Pipits.

William (left) and Christian (right)

Far out on a group of rocks in the water we saw a Bald Eagle, and we eventually meandered far enough to be in photo distance.

Immature Bald Eagle

Matthew with the camera

Stony shore

Christian (left) and William (right) using the spotting scope

That's me! (Josiah)

William and Christian

This was quite an interesting tree, it had basically grown into a rock.

Me on the trail

From left to right: Matthew, Josiah, William, Christian

Well, that's all folks! I might still post a few photos from the trip, but there aren't many more bird pictures. All in all it was very fun and successful, and a huge thank you to Christian for taking us!

Upcoming post

Rough-legged hawk hovering, getting ready to dive

We just got a new camera a couple of days ago. A Canon EOS Rebel T3i, 18 megapixel camera. The whole family has been saving up. Also we went out with Christian Artuso yesterday. We got some amazing pictures of Rough-legged Hawks, late migrants. We went all the way out to Grand Beach and Gull Lake with him and saw a couple of Snow Buntings, and lots of Rough-legged Hawks.

Stay tuned for a full post and more amazing pictures. Join this site and follow by email to be automatically informed of any new posts

Rough-legged Hawk diving at prey

Ontario - 2013 - Week Four

This is our last week in Ontario, then we'll head back to Winnipeg. There has been a Red-bellied Woodpecker hanging around the suet here. We don't get these in Winnipeg so it was exiting. 

Chickadee singing

 My brothers went canoeing in Hamilton when I was camping with my friend. They saw swans, the only Bald Eagle family that lives in Hamilton, shorebirds, a Red-tailed Hawk, a Great Egret and a Great-blue Heron.

My brother has been getting some good pictures of birds too.

Chickadee singing

When they were canoeing they found swan feathers almost a foot and half long!

Red-bellied Woodpecker

 I am pretty sure there was some Merlins living at the lake where I was camping.

female Northern Cardinal

Mourning Dove

Red-bellied Woodpecker

I was bored so i doodled on the Red-bellied Woodpecker :)

Osprey

I saw an Osprey fly over my house. Osprey live near lakes and water, I don't know why it was near my house. The Osprey was being chased by a crow even though the crow was a 1/3 of the size. Osprey are huge birds of prey that eat fish. They dive into the water feet first to catch fish. They become completely submerged when catching fish.

Big Whiteshell

We recently went on to Big Whiteshell Lake. There was a lot of fish, but also a lot of birds.
On the trip there we saw a Cooper's Hawk sitting on a telephone wire, a beaver and a Killdeer by the side of the road.  The first night at the lake was the most fascinating. First we saw a gull with a fish in it's mouth, but the fish escaped back into the water. We were fishing and a Bald Eagle came soaring over the lake. It came quite close, about 50 ft away from us. Then it went in for the catch, it swooped down and picked a fish from the water. Nearby there is a bird apartment. A tree with a Northern Flicker and a Wood Duck nesting in it.
The next days we saw a variety of birds, Chestnut-Sided Warblers, Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds, LOTS of Yellow Warblers, a Common Goldeneye, a Turkey Vulture, a Blue Jay, two Common Loons doing a display which was very cool, a Great Blue Heron, Belted Kingfisher and much more.