By Pat Bumstead
As a birder living on the edge of the prairies, I have spent hundreds of hours and many thousands of miles driving prairie roads, looking for birds. Sometimes you get lucky and find things like four juvenile ferruginous hawks stretching in the sunlight right next to the road. Sometimes you see nothing but the ubiquitous black-billed magpies.
One day last month I received a copy of Best Places to Bird in the Prairies. I was overjoyed. I was in awe. At last, a clear concise guide on where to find birds in the vastness of the prairie landscape. I may have hugged the book.
Written by three birding experts on their own provinces, John Acorn (AB), Alan Smith (SK) and Nicola Koper (MB) have provided an easy-to-follow guide on how to find birds in a variety of prairie locations. Experience clearly shows, as they share personal stories of some of the sites mentioned.
They highlight thirty-six highly recommended sites, each of which has been selected for the unique prairie species that reside there. With exclusive lists of hard-to-find birds, outstanding colour photographs, detailed maps and plenty of insider tips, this book is an indispensable resource for any birdwatcher.
I’ve been to 10 of the 36 sites listed in the book, so naturally I read those descriptions first. Some I’ve visited more than once and I still found myself going “wait, what?” as I was reading. No one told me there are Mountain Plover in Grasslands National Park, for instance. I’ve been there twice and never saw them – trip number three now coming up this summer.
This book makes the reader want to get out there and go birding. They cover both rural and urban areas with detailed maps and directions. They also include a northern location in each province, as the prairies seamlessly meet the boreal forest in the parkland, and the birds follow. With the prairies tucked up against the Rocky Mountains, Banff National Park also gets a section in Alberta. And what birder would not want to know about the wonders of the Alberta Grain Terminal?
Having a copy of The Best Places to Bird in the Prairies is like having your own private birding guide. They know the birds, they know the birding spots (both well-known and otherwise), and they know how to get there. Even the text seems written by a friend.
This book is an absolute must-have for beginning or experienced birders. There are so many species found only on the prairies, and now you have a book that can show you where they are. Ready, set, go!
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Two Black-necked Stilt and one American Avocet.
