Saturday 30 June 2018

Rainy River Specialties!

Ken and I made a quick detour to Rainy River prior to heading over to Thunder Bay.  Rainy River is located in northwestern Ontario, close to the Manitoba border.  This was my first trip to Rainy River and I was not disappointed! This area is really unique in Ontario in that it feels more like a western prairie province.  The area is very flat and dominated by agricultural lands, predominantly hay fields and pasture land.  Highlights included hundreds of Franklin's Gulls and American White Pelicans as well as nearly 100 Le Conte's Sparrows and Sedge Wrens! Black-billed Magpies also made an appearance as well as several Western Meadowlarks.  Our best bird in Rainy River was a Dickcissel.  We even swung by the Spruce Islands and bagged a few Connecticut Warblers!

Here are a few photos I snapped during our time out here.


I never get sick of seeing pelicans!



Franklin's Gull is a species that I have only seen in Ontario a few times, so seeing them in such abundance and in breeding plumage was great!

This Yellow-headed Blackbird flew right over our heads!

A young Brewer's Blackbird begs for food.

Western Meadowlark


Black-billed Magpie

This meadowlark was calling a pretty textbook Eastern Meadowlark song, and that is what we put it down as.


Sharp-tailed Grouse.

Ken heard this Dickcissel singing as we were driving along the road! A real treat to see and quite rare up here.

Sandhill Crane

Shoreline at Lake of the Woods.

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