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. |