Manitoba Rare Birds



Manitoba 

Pileated Woodpecker - Assiniboine Forest, MB North America's largest living woodpecker is the Pileated Woodpecker. They are roughly the size of a crow with a beak that can do some damage. Woodpeckers have a very specific set of tools that they use to extract breakfast from the trees they cling to. The toes of most woodpeckers are arranged in a two up and two back set up which allows for a much better hold on the trees they cling to. They also have a tongue that is extremely long in order to reach into holes hiding their food. So long that they need a special way to keep all that tongue in their heads seen here. Michael W Klotz 2021 - www.TheBirdBlogger.com
Pileated Woodpecker - Assiniboine Forest, MB
White-breasted Nuthatch - Assinaboine Forest, MB One of the five nuthatch species in North America and one of 30 species around the world. Its closest cousin is the Giant Nuthatch of China. In the southern oak and poplar forests of Winnipeg, you can find these very distinct white and gray birds inching their way down the trunks of trees looking for food in the crevice's of the bark. Assiniboine forest was a favorite place of mine that our Grandpa took us to learn about the natural world. I really have to thank that man for inspiring my love of birding as he was truly the instigator. Michael W Klotz 2021 - www.TheBirdBlogger.com
White-breasted Nuthatch - Assinaboine Forest, MB
Eastern Kingbird - Oak Bluffs, MB Along the roadside outside of Winnipeg, a family of Eastern Kingbirds were hawking from a rural roadside bush. This young bird seem to be doing well catching his own meals only occasionally taking a spoon-feeding from mom and dad. Eastern Kingbirds can be found around most of North America, save the Southwestern States. This is the location for Western Kingbirds. The two are very dissimilar in their looks with the Westerns having a gray mantle and a yellow belly. Michael W Klotz 2021 - www.TheBirdBlogger.com
Eastern Kingbird - Oak Bluffs, MB
Franklin's Gull - Oak Bluffs, MB I used to associate gulls with the coast but that is typically only winter. In the fall these Franklin Gulls lose their black heads and start wearing this dusky hood as their non-breeding plumage. The majority of birds nest in the northern Prairies of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba and then head south to the coast of Chile to winter. They will move in very large flocks picking through fields looking for insects and worms after the soil has been tilled or the grain is cut like this scene. Michael W Klotz 2021 - www.TheBirdBlogger.com
Franklin's Gull - Oak Bluffs, MB