Local Birding Yesterday

I went for a long drive-around yesterday to see what was going on in the local fields & sloughs. 

Sandhill Cranes were flying overhead in small flocks (10-20 birds) from time to time - also today.  Ten cranes, 7 adults & 3 juveniles, were at a large slough near Torquay.   12-13 Greater White-fronted Geese were also at this location, along with 75 Am. White Pelicans, 60+ American Avocets and 2 Greater Yellowlegs.

Most of the adult Eared and Pied-billed Grebes have gone elsewhere.  There are a lot of young to very young grebes left to fend for themselves, such as this baby Pied-billed Grebe below.  No adult was around.

This badger was slinking along a road.  It wasn't very big, so perhaps a young one.

When a flock of Sandhill Cranes spiralled over my yard this afternoon, I noticed a raptor of some sort very high above them, heading south.  Amazingly, I did not have any binoculars at hand, however I am pretty sure it was a Red-tailed.

A Huntin' American Badger

I just returned home from the shake-down RV trip of 2011.  Of course the weather didn't co-operate.  It rained - a lot.  Well, it could have been worse, I got snowed on last year's trip....

Anyway, I went to the Cypress Hills and area, which is way over on the west side of the province.  This is possibly my favourite place in Saskatchewan, and maybe pretty well anywhere.  More about this in another post.

I found this beautiful badger hunting ground squirrels early last Sunday morning as I was dawdling along birding the roadside and sloughs.  I was travelling from my overnighting place at Shaunavon*** to Maple Creek where I was meeting my friend Dorothy for lunch.  By the way, this lovely morning was the only sunny one I had during the 3-4 day trip.

My photos aren't as good as they should be considering the animal was reasonably close; however, I was trying not to make any quick movements or sudden noises.  So I was awkwardly draped across the passenger seat, shooting out that window - then my cell phone rang (no one ever calls me; I never have the damn thing on, but I thought maybe Dorothy might need to get hold of me re where to meet, etc.  It was herself on the phone).  Nicely, Badge was intent on grabbing some breakfast, so it didn't run off while I was talking.

American Badger  Taxidea taxus

***Shaunavon is home of Hayley Wickenheiser - best female hockey player in the world - yes, really and the first female to play professional hockey in a position other than as goalie.  I knew that, Wikipedia confirms it. 

Ho-Hum.  I love travelling around my province.  Almost every town of any size has a sign saying home of a hockey player (male or female), a football player, a rodeo cowboy, some other type of athlete or a country singer.  I think it is neat when communities proudly display the achievements of their daughters and sons.

Actually, here's a list of 'Famous People' from Shaunavon, courtesy of Wikipedia

• Dwain Lingenfelter - former deputy premier of Saskatchewan, current leader of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party
• Wade Regehr - neurobiology professor
• Arnold Tremere - Executive Director Government Official (Canadian International Grains Institute)
• Rhett Warrener - NHL Player, Calgary Flames
• Hayley Wickenheiser - member of Canada's women's hockey team
• Braydon Coburn - NHL Player, Philadelphia Flyers
• Ann Eriksson - author and biologist

Click on the pix for bigger and clearer, if you want to.  I also did a post in the winter about an American Badger I found alongside a snowy road
http://stilllifewithbirder.blogspot.com/2010/12/american-badger.html

American Badger

This is a badger I saw waddling along a road a couple days ago.  The American Badger (Taxidea taxus) is wide, flat and low to the ground. 

Badgers are shy and wary creatures, as they should be, so it started running across the field when it realized I was interested.  I, thereafter, only got shots of its tail end. 

Badgers are large members of the Weasel Family 

  

They dig to get to their food supply of ground squirrels, pocket gophers, mice, voles and snakes.  And boyhowdy, can they dig!  I've watched a badger dig itself a burrow in a summerfallow field;  within a minute it was out of sight. 

The Burrowing Owl is also on the badger's grocery list, but the Burrowing Owl population mostly benefits by using abandoned holes for nesting. 

Some recently excavated holes at the side of the road:

Apparently, badgers and coyotes sometimes hunt together, as it were.  The coyotes nab some prey as it tries to escape the badger digging.  The badger gains when prey dives into tunnels to escape from the coyote. 

Once common across the prairies, they are increasingly uncommon nowadays. Humans with guns and/or farm equipment, like to kill badgers so they can then complain about all the gophers around. 

Information from  nature.ca, at North American Badger Facts and  the Kaufman Field Guide to Mammals of North America