Searching for Whoopers

[oldfulica]

Hi
Dian and I are in Saskatoon waiting for Whooping Cranes to migrate through. Today we visited last Mountain Reserve and came across a banding station. The bander didn't expect such a fallout of warblers and was overwhelmed. We helped him remove birds from the over burdened nets but not before a Weasel had created havoc on a net.
I kept patrolling the net trying to dissuade it but he was fast.






Most of the netted birds were Yellow-rumps but Red-eyed Vireo, Yellow Warbler, Orange-crowned, Palm Warblers and a Cape May were also caught.

Sandhill Cranes are going through in the thousands as are Snow, Blue and Ross's Geese. Here is pix of all three.


Swainsons Hawks are everywhere here;



I don't think I have ever seen a Mule Deer with a rack like this;



This Western Grebe was still begging for food. Must have been a late hatch;



It's starting to get cold here. Hopefully the frost will stay away until we get a chance to see a Whooper.

[Dave]

Wow, Len. I hope you see your Whooping Cranes soon. Nice picture of the 3 geese. Clear ID shots of bill comparison for the Ross and the Snow Geese in the bottom right corner.

As for the weasel, yikes! Perhaps a few adjustments are needed in the banding situation there. Fall outs happen!

Thanks for sharing,

Dave

[Chris]

Len awesome pictures as usual. I love the weasel picture. It is nice to see the comparison between the Ross' and the Snow Geese.

I am surprised to see them leave the nets like that. Looks like he/she needs more volunteers. The banding nets put enough stress on the birds and they certainly do not need to be made easy meals for predators.

Good luck on the search for the Whooping Cranes

[Gord]

Len, a whole bunch of great images there! That weasel is superb considering how quickly they move. At least in my experience each time the shutter clicks they move. Too bad about that banding station; looks like there is a little to be desired there in terms of operation there. That is a pretty amazing rack on the mulie there too. WOW. They do have some big deer there.

[oldfulica]

Thanks Chris, Dave and Gord
I got an email from the bander today and he said he extracted 350 birds from the nets. That's a lot of birds.

[oldfulica]

Dian and I were going to leave Saskatoon yesterday until we found we had overpaid the trailer park for 2 more nights. We decided to try one more time for the Cranes before we left tomorrow. WOW!! We found about 10% of Canadas population of Whooping Cranes. 27 birds total including 6-10 young. It will be a very satisfying trip home.
These picture were taken at about 1/2 kilometer.

[murraybrown]

Thanks for the great pics Len. For several years I have considered heading for Saskatchewan to observe those majestic birds and add them to my Canadian list. I always thought it would have to be later though. Sometime in October.
Good to see some youngsters in the group as well. Gradually their numbers are increasing.

Murray

[Dave]

Nice pics, Len, and congrats!!! Hmmm....might be quite a few years before an opportunity is there for me to be intercepting their migration in September.

Great pics for being 1/2 km away! Enjoy your ride home!

Dave Beeke
Popkum, B.C.

[oldfulica]

Thanks Dave and Murray. I really enjoyed this trip. The amount of birds passing through here is amazing in the fall. I haven't seen such numbers since I was a teenager in the fifties as I grew up in Northern Alberta.

[Gord]

Len, very nice to see and hear about. Very encouraging to see the young ones as well. I see one pair has two young ones with them! (they arent eating any endangered plants there, are they? ;D )

Maybe Dave and I can take our families out for a little holiday one day; I almost imagine both our opportunities may come at a similar time.

[oldfulica]

Many of the adult pairs had 2 young ones with them as in my last photo lower left hand corner. Some of the young seemed small to me so I hope they survive migration.

If you and Dave should come, be sure to bring your longjohns.

Hitching up the trailer this morning. Should make it to Edmonton tonight.

[butterfly]

Good work as usual Len. We are looking forward to more reports and photos when you and Dianne get home.