The First Frost

The First Frost

Three days ago, the first frost hinted that our summer was coming to an end. It was the summer that never came in Newfoundland, sent heat waves through Ontario and Quebec, and for the locals of Manitoba, was one of the best for mosquitos in living memory. For us, it was short, but sweet.

A Mink Frog found in a stream

After beautiful weather in Southern Ontario, we feared the prolonged 1400 km of up-and-down cycling through Northern Ontario would launch us onto the prairies cold and crippled. It wasn’t to be.

Richardson's Ground Squirrel
at a burrow

Our first day in the new province (which also marks the start of the prairies) was a pleasant thirty-two degrees, thankfully flat and anything but lifeless. Snakes and salamanders were on the move (Manitoba has the largest snake hibernacula, or den, in the world), snow geese were flocking south, packs of coyotes cried to the clear night skies, and for the first time this year, we heard the unmistakable howling of wolves.

We found Barred Tiger Salamanders
spotlighting one night

The long and ever so tough birding around Lake Superior made the ease of finding new birds in Manitoba most welcome. Clay-colored Sparrows, Forster’s Terns, Stilt Sandpipers, American White Pelicans…birds we had dreaded leaving behind in Ontario, were putting on a show in Manitoba!


However, something was missing.

Oak Hammock Marsh. A must-visit
Manitoba birding hotspot!

Like Ontario, birds had stopped singing. Not because they no longer needed to defend their territories, but they no longer needed to be in Canada. Mountain Bluebirds, Say’s Phoebes, Western Kingbirds, Wilson’s Phalaropes and Marbled Godwits, birds you would expect to see during any given prairie summer, may have left for better times in Mexico. I don’t blame them. Had we not deliberately left our passports on the west coast, we’d be migrating with them.

Although this Plains Gartnersnake
looks aggressive, he was fun to handle!

Saskatchewan is the Promised Land for Canada’s grassland birds. Let’s see what’s lingering out there.

New Birds:

231. Northern Shoveler

232. White-winged Crossbill

233. Lesser Scaup

234. Bufflehead

235. Gadwall

236. Franklin’s Gull

237. Northern Hawk Owl

238. American Three-toed Woodpecker

239. Black-billed Magpie

240. Sharp-tailed Grouse

241. Western Meadowlark

242. Brewer’s Blackbird

243. American White Pelican

244. Canvasback

245. Clay-colored Sparrow

246. Horned Grebe

247. Prairie Falcon

248. Stilt Sandpiper

249. Cackling Goose

250. Short-eared Owl

251. Gray Partridge

252. Swainson’s Hawk

253. California Gull

254. Forster’s Tern

255. Western Grebe

256. Clark’s Grebe

257. Yellow-headed Blackbird

258. Cattle Egret

259. Eared Grebe

260. Long-billed Dowitcher

261. American Golden-Plover

262. American Avocet

263. Le Conte’s Sparrow

New Mammals:

21. Meadow Jumping Mouse

22. Richardson’s Ground Squirrel

23. Coyote

New Reptiles:

3. Northern Ribbonsnake

4. Eastern Snapping Turtle

5. Plains Gartersnake

New Amphibians:

4. Mink Frog

5. Barred Tiger Salamander