BIRD AND MAMMAL COUNT COMPLETED

 Fourteen people in the Togo locality made an effort to observe wildlife on Saturday, January 03rd during the annual Nature Saskatchewan bird and mammal count.

Observers counted 189 Evening Grosbeaks, most of them at feeders, on this cold, windy day. Other abundant bird species counted were 112 House Sparrows, 97 Black-capped Chickadees, 62 Pine Grosbeaks, 45 Blue Jays, and 36 Common Ravens.

Predatory birds observed on January 03rd included one adult Bald Eagle and two Great Grey Owls. All three species of woodpecks, the Downy, the Hairy and the Pileated, were counted. Small flocks of Snow Buntings, a bird that nests in the Arctic and migrates here for our relatively mild winters, were seen at two locations.

Saskatchewan’s bird emblem, the Sharp-tailed Grouse, was observed  during  Nature Saskatchewan’s bird and mammal count period: Dec 14, 2014 – January 05, 2015, but not on count day. A flock of 28 Sharp-tailed Grouse was found south of Togo in a grain field that borders a Community Pasture.

The Flying Squirrel, the Snowshoe Hare, and the Long-tailed Weasel were some of the mammals observed on Count Day. Other mammals seen on January 03rd were the Moose, the White-tailed Deer, the Red Fox and the Coyote. Observers saw several herds of Elk, a Striped Skunk, a Pine Marten, and Timber Wolf tracks during the Count Period.

In summary, wildlife observers in the Togo locality saw 20 species of birds totally 694 individuals, and 11 species of mammals during the 2014-2015 Count Period.

Bird and mammal counts from approximately 70 localities are published in Nature Saskatchewan’s  natural history journal, The Blue Jay.

 
 
Report courtesy of Doug Elsasser