Bird Friendly Regina

10/19/2026

Common Grackles are blackbirds that look like they've been slightly stretched. They're tall and long tailed with glossy purple heads and bronzy-iridescent bodies and a bright golden eye. In flight their long tails trail behind them, sometimes folded down the middle into a shallow V shape. You may notice them strutting around on their long legs, pecking for food rather than scratching.

They make a variety of squeaks, whistles, and croaks. The typical song is a guttural readle-eak accompanied by high-pitched, clear whistles, kind of sounding like a rusty gate.

You might see a Common Grackle hunched over on the ground, wings spread, letting ants crawl over its body and feathers. This is called anting, and grackles are frequent practitioners among the many bird species that do it. The ants secrete formic acid, the chemical in their stings, and this may rid the bird of parasites. In addition to ants, Grackles have been seen using walnut juice, lemons and limes, marigold blossoms, chokecherries, and mothballs in a similar fashion.

Show us your Galaxy Grackles!

10/14/2026

Each week folks show us stunning nature photography from right here in Saskatchewan. Here is a Wildlife Photo Contest for you! The deadline is end of day October 15! 📷🦉

10/12/2026

Bohemian and Cedar Waxwings look similar, but appear at different times of the year. The best time to see Bohemian Waxwings is during migration and winter months, where Cedar Waxwings can be found here throughout the summer.

Visual Similarities:
Both waxwings are a soft grayish brown overall with a black facial mask and crest of feathers atop their head. They both have tails tipped in yellow and red waxy tips on some of their wing feathers. This color comes from the carotenoid pigments found in the fruit they eat. As they get older, the waxy tips get bigger.

Visual Differences:
Bohemian Waxwings have 2 distinctive white rectangular patches on their wings. Their bellies are gray and undertail is rusty colored. Whereas Cedar Waxwings have pale yellow bellies and their undertail is white.

Waxwings do not have a true song. Instead they both give a similar high-pitched, rapid and vibrato trill and whistled call.

They are both social birds, forming large flocks year round. They specialize in eating fruit and have similar courtship rituals, including males passing females a small item like fruit or a flower petal, and continuing to give the item back and forth a few times before mating.

Let’s see your Waxwing photos!

10/07/2026

We have so many talented photographers in Saskatchewan! Here is an opportunity to enter your fabulous photos into a photo contest to be included in a Saskatchewan wildlife calendar!

All the details can be found here: https://sktws.com/news-%26-events

10/05/2026

The American Coot is a good reminder that not everything that floats is a duck. Their dark bodies and white faces are common sights in nearly any open water across the continent, and they often mix with ducks. But they’re closer relatives of Sandhill Cranes than of Mallards.

They are a plump, chickenlike bird with a rounded head and a bright-white bill and forehead  with a red forehead spot that you may notice. Their tiny tail, short wings, and large feet are visible on the rare occasions they take flight.

The Coot is truly an all-terrain bird, it dives, dabbles, swims, and walks on dry land. Although it can swim like a duck, it does not have webbed feet. Instead, each one of the coot’s long toes has broad lobes of skin that help it kick through the water. The broad lobes fold back each time the bird lifts its foot, so it doesn’t impede walking on dry land, though it supports the bird’s weight on mucky ground.

Let’s see your American Coot photos!

09/28/2026

Yellow-headed Blackbirds demand attention.

Males are a striking blackbird with yellow heads and chests, black bodies, and a prominent white patch at the bend of the wing. Females are brown with duller yellow heads.

Their song sounds like a rusty farm gate opening. Or as described in Alan’s Smith’s Saskatchewan Birds book “when the male arches his golden head backwards, he struggles to produce a painful, discordant, grinding noise”. They sing their few musical notes followed by a screeching, grating noise from cattails, bulrushes, fences, or shrubs around wetlands in similar areas as Red-winged Blackbirds.

The oldest Yellow-headed Blackbird on record was banded in Saskatchewan in 1983 and was found in Nebraska in 1995 making it at least 11 years, 8 months old.

Show us your Yellow-headed Blackbird photos. Bonus points if you share a video of them singing!

09/21/2026

American Goldfinches are active, acrobatic finches that balance on the seedheads of thistles, dandelions, and other plants to pluck seeds. They have a bouncy flight during which they frequently make their po-ta-to-chip calls. Listen also for their playful and variable series of rapidly repeated phrases, twitters, and warbles.

In spring and early summer look for bright yellow males with a black forehead and black wings with white markings. Adult females are duller yellow beneath, olive above. Winter birds are drab, unstreaked brown, with blackish wings and two pale wingbars.

Goldfinches are among the strictest vegetarians in the bird world, selecting a seed driven diet and only inadvertently eating an occasional insect.

American Goldfinches breed later than most North American birds. They wait to nest until June or July when milkweed, thistle, and other plants have produced their fibrous seeds, which goldfinches incorporate into their nests and feed their young.

Have you ever seen an American Goldfinch in Regina? Show us your photos!

09/17/2026

Join Bird Friendly Regina and dim your lights for birds at night!

Birds migrate during spring and fall, the majority flying at night, navigating by moon and starlight. Artificial light can cause birds to wander off course and toward the dangerous nighttime landscapes of cities. Millions of birds die colliding with needlessly illuminated buildings and towers. 🌃

Reduce artificial light at night:
💡 Only use exterior lighting if needed
⬇️ Down shield the direction of light
🔅 Use the lowest level of light required
⏲️ Use timers or motion detectors
🟠 Use warmer color lights

More information can be found here: https://rasc.ca/lightsoutprogram

09/15/2026

Whooooo is excited about this event? 🦉

We can't get enough of Saskatchewan's owls! 🦉 On Monday, September 28 at 6:00 p.m. meet us at Rebellion Brewing Co for Owls & Ales with our favourite bird expert, Curator Ryan Fisher.

He'll be sharing his knowledge of owls (and other birds too!), birdwatching tips you can use, and tales from the field. Let's learn about birds in Saskatchewan together through a lively game of trivia. Your ticket includes a taco sampler from Tropezón Mex/Can Food and b**r from our pals at Rebellion Brewing Co. Get your tickets here: https://royalsaskmuseum.ca/visit/events/owls-and-ales

❤️You are supporting a great cause! All proceeds from Owls & Ales go directly to the Friends of the Royal Saskatchewan Museum who support and help fund Royal Saskatchewan Museum scientific research.

09/14/2026

Mourning Doves are another bird often heard before seen. Their soft, drawn-out calls sound like owl’s laments: “co-oooooh coo-coo-coo”. When taking off, their wings make a sharp whistling or whinnying.

Look for a plump buffy-tan body with dark spots on the wings, long tail, and a head that looks particularly small in comparison to its body. Looking closely, you will notice that their skin is blue around their eyes and on their eyelids! Gorgeous 90s make-up - 10/10.

You can find them perched on tips of branches or telephone wires and foraging for seeds on the ground. Their swallowed seeds are stored in an enlargement of the esophagus called the crop. Once they’ve filled it (the record being 17,200 bluegrass seeds in a single crop!), they can fly to a safe perch to digest their meal.

They create a daring, flimsy nest of twigs and grass stems, sometimes preferring to use other species’ nests. They have a clutch of 2 eggs and both parents feed their young a milk substance from their crop, similar to pigeons. Yum!

The Mourning Dove is the most widespread and abundant game bird in North America. The oldest known Mourning Dove was at least 30 years, 4 months old when he was hunted in Florida in 1998.

Do you have any photos that show off their gorgeous blue eye liner? Share with us!