This first-year female Vermilion Flycatcher was found by a Nature Manitoba birding group (led by Rudolf Koes and Garry Budyk) on 28 October 2023, and was still present the next day, to the delight of many (this beautiful photo by Marlene Waldron). This is the latest addition to Manitoba’s official bird checklist from this review period (2003 – 2023).
Many have asked about the official provincial checklist and the confirmation of rare birds reported. Records prior to 2003 are discussed in The Birds of Manitoba and some others are published in Blue Jay (Nature Saskatchewan’s peer-reviewed publication for the Prairie Provinces) and covered in the revised checklist of 2009. The Manitoba Ornithological Records Committee (MORC) undertook the task of updating these records in a series of meetings and discussions, as well as consultation with recognized experts on particular taxa (and based on the superb record keeping of Rudolf Koes in particular). We have now published an updated list covering the period of 2003 – 2023 at https://naturemanitoba.ca/rare-bird-sightings (and you can click on MORC Accepted Records as of 2023 to view all the records in a pdf table).
This update shows 18 additions to the official Manitoba bird species list since the publication of The Birds of Manitoba: Swainson’s Warbler (2006), Black Vulture (2006), Broad-tailed Hummingbird (2006), Black-tailed Gull (2006), Black-throated Gray Warbler (2008), Painted Bunting (2008), Great-tailed Grackle (2013), Calliope Hummingbird (2013), Swallow-tailed Kite (2014), MacGillivray’s Warbler (2014), Black-throated Sparrow (2014), Mississippi Kite (2014), Common Crane (2015), Painted Redstart (2016), Ash-throated Flycatcher (2019), Common Poorwill (2021), Bullock’s Oriole (2022), and Vermilion Flycatcher (2023). The last 13 of these are new since the revised checklist of 2009. This would bring the official checklist to 404 species; however the recent lumping on Common Redpoll and Hoary Redpoll into a single species (July 2024) means that the list now stands at 403 species. Since the publication of this update, a well-documented record of Mexican Violetear will likely be accepted as a provincial first.
Written by Christian Artuso