Romantic Long-billed Curlew

Today our tour took us to extreme southwestern Saskatchewan, in rolling prairie and grassland country--among the most unspoiled that still exists in North America. Part is preserved in Grasslands National Park. Most of the birds we saw were either small or distant, or both, and we were often birding from our van. It was from a back seat, through the window, that I blipped this bird: a Long-billed Curlew (Numenius america), a relatively large shorebird that is often found inland and breeds in this region. It is very similar to the Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata) found widely in the old world. Not a brilliant shot, but it conveys a bit of the romantic prairie environment that we were experiencing.

An update on the rare Bar-tailed Godwit that Tom Hince, our Canadian guide, identified yesterday in an area to the north. He put the word out immediately, and numerous other birders who made the journey to the isolated location did manage to see the bird. Apparently there is one other report of the bird being seen in Saskatchewan, but it was unconfirmed. Our sighting has been captured in numerous photographs by us and others--it's highly exciting!