FOAM LAKE BIRDING
No. 173
On Easter Sunday, the last day of March, my wife and I
decided to go for a Sunday drive. The
weather was nice and I wanted to see some crows before April rolled
around. We were not disappointed. We saw three of them feeding alongside
Highway 35 just north of the TransCanada (Yellowhead).
We then drove east on the Yellowhead to the Margo Grid
where we turned north. As we drove
alongside the community pasture we came across a small flock of approximately eight Mountain
Bluebirds. Bright sky blue bluebirds
against a backdrop of white snow is a pretty sight to say the least. Although I had my camera with me I was not
able to get a picture of them.
In past articles I have been a little remiss in not
mentioning bluebirds as one of our earliest spring arrivals that get here about
the same time as the crows. Because
bluebirds are more rural and less conspicuous than crows they are not seen as
often and, therefore, not associated with the approaching spring the same way
crows are.
There are three species of bluebirds in Canada: the
Eastern, Western and Mountain. The
Eastern and Western Bluebirds are very similar but, fortunately in Canada, their
ranges do not overlap so identification is not a big problem. The males of both species are a bright blue
with rusty breasts and whitish bellies. The
one distinctive field mark is that the rust on the Eastern Bluebird extends
upward to the throat and the chin; the rust on the Western Bluebird stops
abruptly at the top of the breast. In
short the Western looks as if it had its entire head dipped in bright blue
paint. In Canada
the Western is a bird of the western slope of the Rocky Mountains while the
Eastern ranges from the Atlantic roughly to
the Manitoba/Saskatchewan border and south along the American border to the
Cypress Hills.
The male Mountain Bluebird is a bright sky blue with no
other colours at all. The breast and
belly are a lighter shade of blue but still very blue. Of the three species of bluebirds the
Mountain Bluebird is the one truly "blue" bird. The females of all three species are a pale
greyish brown with just a hint of blue.
In Canada
the Western and Eastern Bluebirds are separated geographically and the Mountain
is quite different from the other two so that identification is never a
problem. In the winter the situation is
different as all three can be found in western Texas
and eastern New Mexico
so identification can be difficult - especially among the females. The three have different songs and call notes
that can be used for identification.
Bluebirds are cavity nesters and this preference just
about brought about their demise. Before
Europeans arrived in the Americas woodpeckers created enough cavities for the
bluebirds and their competitors such as wrens, Tree Swallows and Purple
Martins. With the introduction of the
very aggressive House Sparrows and Starlings the availability of cavities for
the bluebirds was reduced dramatically and the bluebird populations
plummeted. At this point some concerned
bird lovers decided to intervene by building and setting out thousands of
birdhouses along thousands of kilometres of roadways. It was discovered that birdhouses that were
placed out in the open away from trees were avoided by both the House Sparrows
and Starlings but readily accepted by Tree Swallows and bluebirds. The result was that the bluebird population
has rebounded but a constant supply of birdhouses is needed to replace the
older decaying ones. Anybody travelling
to Saskatoon on the Yellowhead can see
some of these birdhouses along the road by the Wolverine Siding and west toward
Plunkett.
This week's photos are of a male Western Bluebird and a
male Mountain Bluebird. The picture of
the Western was taken near San Diego, CA while the Mountain was taken along the Dunlop Road
east of Foam Lake. Although I have seen Eastern Bluebirds I have
never gotten a picture of one. Hopefully
soon.
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