CHANGING PATTERNS OF CORVIDAE ON THE PRAIRIES

C. S. HOUSTON, 863 University Drive, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 018 Few groups of birds on the prairies generally distributed . . . most have shown such pronounced numerous on the buffalo plains of the changes over the last two centuries as west" and studied a roost of over 50 have the Corvidae. Considered to be birds near Carlton in winter. On an among the most intelligent bird overland trip from Carlton to near the species, it is interesting to note how present site of Dinsmore,16 Blakiston they have adapted to changing con¬ round several nests of the raven and ditions. no nests of the crow. Indeed, the In the days of the buffalo, the raven crow was so rare that Blakiston was was common and the magpie was "never fortunate enough to obtain a specimen." widely distributed. With settlement, he magpie disappeared for 10 to 40 The Earl of Southesk32 on July 6, years, while the raven vanished and 1858 recorded an empty raven nest he crow increased. The main near the present site of Craven in the resurgence of the magpie was within Qu'Appelle Valley. Macoun,35 in his my memory, for five summers of field trips of 1872,1879 and 1880, found the work near Yorkton in the 1940's failed raven to be "frequent on the western [o located a single nest, and as late as plains," while the crow was "common [950 one could be out all day on a on the western plains," possibly in¬ Christmas Bird Count at Yorkton with dicating more equal numbers of the pnly a single magpie sighting. Even two species than may have existed 50 Inore recently, all three species have years earlier. Idapted to city life. After the buffalo declined, and as Prior to 1875, ravens were present the first settlers appeared, the raven Ihroughout the breeding season was no longer a breeding bird, ■cross the present prairie provinces, though for some years it came south Intending down into the Dakotas. regularly in winter. Perhaps the last Itewart33 has summarized the North summer sighting was by Raine29 on bakota breeding season records, of June 16, 1893 at Rush Lake. lay, Maximilian, Audubon and Harris, When John Gunn settled at Good looper, and Grinnell, from 1823 Spirit Lake in 1888, the raven was hrough 1874, chiefly along the quite common each winter for about Missouri River. Stewart ascribed the 10 years.15 By the time Laurence B. jisappearance of the raven at the end Potter26 settled at Eastend in 1901, the If the century to the widespread use raven was virtually gone; he saw three If poisons and baited traps, but did in the next 15 years and then no lot mention the disappearance of the more. Buffalo, whose carcasses provided the lavenging ravens with carrion. Coues,8 in his travels with the U.S. Northern Boundary Commission in I Records by Richardson, Hood and 1873 and 1874, found crows were "not Irummond in the 1820's30 and by very common . . . though I saw a good lakiston in the late 1850's,3 4 in- many along the Souris river .... A Icate that the raven was then corn- nest containing five eggs, with the loner than the crow at Carlton and female parent, was secured on the iumberland. "All the year, common, Quaking Ash (Poplar) River, June 26, bounds" was the notation for the 1874." In 1882-84, Ernest Thompson Iven by the Franklin expedition (Seton)35 similarly considered the two len, while "Summer, in flocks" was crow nests he found worthy of Je corresponding entry for the crow, description in detail, and said it was lakiston found the raven "very only "common," hence much less

ptember, 1977. 35(3) 149

frequent than those species he listed increased in southeastern as "abundant" or "very abundant." Saskatchewan, which after the turn of The omnivorous crow adapted very the century, "since the choking of the rapidly to the increasing numbers of prairie fires, is rapidly becoming wnite men — traders, ranchers and covered with little groups of trees, or then farmers. As early as 1885, George bluffs, and in those the crows nest Guernsey35 considered the crow to be plentifully." L. B. Potter26 recorded common, his highest ranking of fre¬ that crows increased continuously in quency, at Fort Qu'Appelle; and the Cypress Hills from his arrival in Spreadborough in 1892 considered 1901 until about 1930. them numerous at Indian Head, with Simultaneously, further north the a nest in a willow on May 6. By 1895, settlers began to make clearings in Spreadborough said they were the poplar and mixed forest, and to "found in pairs nearly all over plant crops. The resulting diversity Saskatchewan . . . wherever there allowed such areas to support an in was wood . . . common at Crane Lake, creased crow population. Medicine Hat, Cypress Hills, Moose It is less obvious why crows more Jaw, and around Old Wives Lake and recently have settled in residential creek, also at Wood Mountain . . . areas of our cities, though it may May 8th, 1894, examined a number of relate in part to a rather recent nests at Medicine Hat, but found only reticence to use firearms, even BE one egg; a few were breeding at guns, within the city. During our firs Crane Lake, June 12th; found a nest six years in Saskatoon, it was an an with four young ones; at the east end nual ritual to drive into the country ir of Cypress Hills a few pairs were late March to seek the first crow o breeding the last week in June." Also the year. Occasionally a flock woulc in 1885, Loring17 found the crow fly overhead or a few would perch ir abundant at Wingard, and Edward Ar¬ trees by the river bank, but in the pasi nold1 near Fort Qu'Appelle saw crows five years, there has been no need fo "flying around in all directions with a trip into the country, for crows stake eggs in their bills." out their territory on our residentia Although they now qualified as street and caw loudly at our window "common", crows had not yet in March. The invasion of residentia achieved a fraction of their present streets by breeding crows has oc numbers. A. C. Bent,2 in his 1905 and curred over the last ten years. The firs 1906 visits to the Maple Creek area, nest record for University Drive wa saw only a few pairs of crows, mostly in 1968 and by 1970 the Saskatoor near Crane Lake, finding two nests bird record cards, as reported ir the first year and three the second. As Saskatoon Bird Review and then ir late as 1922, C. G. Harrold12 saw only Saskatoon Field Notes, began t( half a dozen pairs of crows at Old report crows in residential area Wives Lake. throughout May and June for the firs The explanation is simple. Because time. of annual prairie fires, there were Somewhat earlier, in the 1950's, anc very few trees. Indeed, when the somewhat further north, at Princ< settlers arrived, there were only a few Albert17 and Nipawin, ravens becam< shrubs around the wet margins of "citified," losing their fear of man an< sloughs and occasional trees in appearing throughout the winter oi protected river valleys. When the city streets. Maurice Street34 reporte< Houstons settled at Tyvan in 1903, that about 1953, ravens "began t< crows occurred, but were not com¬ enter Nipawin in search of garbag mon because they lacked nesting sites scraps or any other tidbit ... as man anywhere nearby for many years; as 40 ravens have been observed nea their numbers increased later.24 H. H. the depot awaiting their breakfast. A Pittman,25 who first visited Wauchope many as a dozen or more have bee in 1905 and 1907, and then settled seen at one time perched o there in 1913, reported how the crows telephone or power poles along Fir:

152 Blue Ja ommon Crow F. W. Lahrman

venue, Nipawin's main thorough- Saskatchewan, but only "occasionally are. From the poles, they fly down to observed" at Carlton; while H. Y. he street in search of food, walking Hind14 that year found it very bout and only reluctantly moving numerous in the thin woods fringing ut of the way of traffic — pedestrians the lakes near Fort Qu'Appelle. In r cars." 1873, A. R. C. Selwyn31 found "a good many" along the North Saskatchewan The magpie has perhaps the most nteresting story of all. Andrew from Fort Pitt to the present site of raham's extensive natural history Langham. bservations from Hudson's Bay, Peter and Pascal Dumont and 767-1791,38 stated that magpies "are Matthew Cook told Frank L. Farley10 lenty in the interior part of the how the magpies were numerous untry . . . our people meet with near Camrose, Alberta, during the hem inland at all seasons." In 1822, at buffalo days "when flocks would he Red River Colony, now Winnipeg, follow the hunting parties and live on ev. John West37 listed the magpie as the refuse of the nunt," but they dis¬ ne of only three winter birds "and appeared from that area in the early hat but seldom." In the same decade, 1880's. C. W. Nash told Ernest E. ichardson30 recorded it as "plentiful Thompson (Seton)35 that until about the interior prairie lands of 1870, magpies occurred in the Spruce merica . . . only stray individuals Woods 20 to 30 miles west of Portage assing to the eastward of . . . Lake la Prairie. By 1875-1883, the magpie innipeg." was very common only to the west of the Touchwood Hills and not seen As the buffalo retreated further east of Fort Ellice.20 est, the magpie retreated as well. lakiston3 4 in 1858 found it a resident When John Gunn settled at Good uring the entire year on the Spirit Lake in 1887, magpies were

ptember, 1977. 35(3) 153 Black-billed Magpie Gary W. Sei common for the first ten years, then northwest of Edmonton, by 1919.13 practically disappeared.15 In 1891, The annual reports of th< Walter Raine28 was told that magpies Saskatchewan Game Commissioner occurred at Moose Jaw, but he saw told how magpies became noticeabk none during his first two visits to more common in the winter of 1922 Saskatchewan, and found no nests. 23, when Robert Perrin of Mapli, By the turn of the century, magpies Creek shot 26. In the following year were restricted to the footnills of the they increased at Maple Creek, Laura Rockies and the Cypress Hills. Lestock, Whitewood and Oxbow. Laurence B. Potter26 found them com¬ S. Humphry19 reported that the firs mon enough at Eastend from 1901 to pair appeared at Unity in 1926, tha 1904, but tnen they disappeared for they bred in 1931 and were commoi six years. This is confirmed by A. C. by 1932. They appeared at Sheho ii Bent's studies2 of 1905 and 1906 near 1926,23 with step-like increases in 193 Maple Creek, where none were seen and again in 1949. They appeared a during two successive summers, Percival in 1939 and were commoi i though an unused nest from a after 1934 (E. M. Callin, pers. comm.! previous year was found. They were first seen at Nipawin ii Potter noted a gradual increase 1930, with the first nest found b after the magpie returned to the Maurice G. Street in 1935.17 W. E. C southeastern slopes of the Cypress Todd's Carnegie Museum ex Hills in 1910. Meanwhile the pedition36 of 1932 to centra: forerunners of the Alberta Saskatchewan found them local aj resurgence reached Lacombe in Elbow. The two years of major magpi 191111 and spread to Belvedere, increase at Wauchope were 1939 am

154 Blue Ja 1949, and at Yorkton, 1951 and 1958. 6 BRADSHAW, F. 1924. Report of the They reached La Ronge in 1958 (John Game Commissioner for the year end¬ Finch, fide M. Ross Lein), and that ing April 30, 1924. King's Printer, year all 32 Christmas Bird Counts Regina, 32 pp. recorded magpies. Since then 7 COUBEAUX, E. 1900. Contributions to magpies have remained as a very the natural history of the northwest common or abundant bird territories. Ottawa Naturalist 14: 24-31. throughout Saskatchewan, reaching 8 COUES, E. 1878. Field-notes on birds even the most remote settlements of observed in Dakota and Montana the far north.22 along the 49th parallel during the seasons of 1873 and 1874. Bull. U.S. The movement into the streets of Geol. and Geog. Survey Terr. 4: Saskatoon has occurred only in the 545-661. past 10 years. Whereas previously a 9 DEACON, E. 1894. Breeding notes of magpie might wander into our yard birds at Prince Albert, N.W.T. Biolo¬ several times a year, since the fall of gical Review of Ontario 1: 68-71. 1972 they have been almost daily 10 FARLEY, F. L. 1925. Changes in the status visitors, and for four years the crow of certain animals and birds during the and the magpie have become the past fifty years in central Alberta. Can. most conspicuous species to be seen Field-Naturalist 39: 200-202. and heard in the half-mile walk from 11 FARLEY, F. L. 1932. Birds of the Battle my home to the University campus. River Region. Institute of Applied Robert Lister tells me that magpies Arts, Edmonton, 85 pp. have similarly become year-round species in residential areas of Edmon¬ 12 HARROLD, C. G. 1933. Notes on the birds found at Lake Johnston and Last ton within the past 10 years. Mountain Lake, Saskatchewan, during The appearance of Merlins as a April and May, 1822. Wilson Bulletin nesting species within residential 45: 16-26. areas of Saskatoon in the past five or 13 HENDERSON, A. D. 1923. The return of six years has been possible because of the magpie. Oologist 40: 142. the availability of crow and magpie 14 HIND, H. Y. 1860. Narrative of the . . . nests for them to nest in. When one Assiniboine and Saskatchewan explor¬ considers the destruction of eggs and ing expedition of 1858. Longman, young of smaller birds carried out by Green, Longman and Roberts, Lon¬ crows and magpies, it will be ap¬ don. Vol. I, 494 pp. preciated that the changing numbers 15 HOUSTON, C. S. 1949. The birds of the af these species have far-ranging Yorkton district, Saskatchewan. Can. effects. Field-Naturalist 63: 215-241, 1949. This material could not have been 16 HOUSTON, C. S. 1976. A bird-watcher's gathered without the help of my wife, outing in 1858. Sask. History 29: 14-25. Vlary. 17 HOUSTON, C. S. and M. G. STREET. 1959. The birds of the Saskatchewan River, Carlton to Cumberland. Sask. Nat. Hist. Soc., spec. pub. 3, 1 ARNOLD, E. 1896. An outing in Assini- Regina. 205 pp. boia, 1895. Oologist 12: 150-151. 18 HOUSTON, M. 1959.17th annual Saskat¬ 2 BENT, A. C. 1907 and 1908. Summer chewan Christmas bird count, 1958. birds of southwestern Saskatchewan. Blue Jay 17: 4-8. Auk 24: 407-430 and 25: 25-35. 19 HUMPHRY, S. 1933. Bird notes from 3 BLAKISTON, T. 1859. Scraps from the far Unity, Saskatchewan. Can. Field- west. Zoologist 17: 6318-6325. Naturalist 47: 158. 4 BLAKISTON, T. 1863. On birds collected 20 MACOUN, J. 1883. Manitoba and the and observed in the interior of British great north-west. Thomas C. Jack, North America. Ibis 5: 39-87. London. 687 pp. 5 BRADSHAW, F. 1923. Report of the 21 MACOUN, J. and J. M. MACOUN. Chief Game Guardian for the year 1909. Catalogue of Canadian birds. ended April 30, 1923. King's Printer, Government printing bureau, Ottawa, Regina, 51 pp. 761 pp.

eptember, 1977. 35(3) 155 22 NERO, R. W. 1967. The birds of north¬ tain House. Can. Naturalist, n.s., eastern Saskatchewan. Sask. Nat. Hist. 7: 193-215. Soc., spec. pub. 6, Regina, 96 pp. 32 SOUTHESK, J. Carnegie, Earl of. 1875. 23 NIVEN, W. 1973. The land, the birds Saskatchewan and tne Rocky Moun¬ through 50 years in aspen parkland. tains. Edmonston and Douglas, Edin¬ Blue jay 31: 223-229. burgh, 448 pp. 24 NIXON, M. 1973. Then and now. Blue 33 STEWART, R. E. 1975. Breeding birds Jay 31: 4-6. of North Dakota. Tri-College Center for Environmental Studies, Fargo, 295 25 PITTMAN, H. H. 1928. Mallards on the pp. prairie. Bird-Lore 30: 5-7, 1928. 34 STREET, M. G. 1958. A brief account 26 POTTER, L. B. 1930. Bird-life changes in of the status of the common raven in 25 years in southwestern Saskat¬ the Carrot River valley, 1919-1958. chewan. Can. Field-Naturalist 44: Blue Jay 16: 150. 147-149. 35 THOMPSON (SETON), E. E. 1891. 27 POTTER, L. B. 1943. Bird notes from The birds of Manitoba. Proc. U.S. south-western Saskatchewan. Can. Natl. Museum 13: 457-643, 1891. Field-Naturalist 57: 69-74, 1943. 36 TODD, W. E. C. 1947. Notes on the 28 RAINE, W. 1892. Bird nesting in north¬ birds of southern Saskatchewan. west Canada. Hunter Rose, Toronto, Annals Carnegie Museum 30: 197 pp. 383-421. 29 RAINE, W. 1894. Bird-nesting in north¬ 37 WEST, J. (no date). The British North west Canada. Nidiologist: 2: 9-10. West American Indians with Free 30 RICHARDSON, J. and W. SWAINSON. Thoughts on the Red River Settle¬ 1832. Fauna Boreali-Americana. Vol. 2, ment. St. John's Cathedral, Winnipeg, the Birds. John Murray, London, 501 (mimeo, 35 pp.) pp. 38 WILLIAMS, G. (Ed.). 1969. Andrew 31 SELWYN, A. R. C. 1874. Notes on a Graham's observations on Hudson's journey through the north-west ter¬ Bay, 1767-91. Hudson's Bay Record ritory from Manitoba to Rocky Moun¬ Society, London, 423 pp.

Common Raven F. W. Lahrman

156 Blue Jay