聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 On Monday, October 24, Michael and Kathleen Pitt of Preeceville witnessed an impressive sight, a red-bellied woodpecker, which is considered to be a rare bird in Saskatchewan.
聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 鈥淚t is officially listed as a straggler in聽Saskatchewan, which is defined as 30 or fewer sightings ever recorded,鈥� said Kathleen Pitt. 鈥淲e learned from a CBC article from last December that during the聽Christmas bird聽count in Regina, Dan Sawatzky, a contract biologist, stated that the red-bellied woodpecker has been seen less than 20 times in the province in the last 100聽years.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Kelsey Ecological Society鈥檚 guest speaker, Kelsey Marchand, also saw the bird, as did Norman Johnson and Dallas Fairburn, who came over on their dinner聽break, Pitt said.
聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 鈥淭he single bird, likely a female, entertained us all day, collecting sunflower seeds from our feeder, and then flying to dead stumps to break them open,鈥� she said. 鈥淎ccording to what we have read, the red-bellied woodpecker, common in the woodlands and forests of the eastern U.S., has been extending its range聽northward. Maybe it will overwinter in our backyard.鈥�
