Birds of Yorkton-Duck Mountain
By C. Stuart Houston and William Anaka with major assistance from Mary Houston and Joyce Anaka
Birds of Yorkton-Duck Mountain was published by Saskatchewan Natural History Society in 2003.
FOREWORD By J. Frank Roy
The 50th anniversary issue of Blue Jay (September 1992) was dedicated to the memory of Isabel Priestly, its first editor. An inspirational woman, she co-authored a weekly nature column in the local newspaper and was recognized as the local expert in both botany and ornithology. It probably never entered her head that when she offered to take Stuart Houston and several friends on weekly hikes around what was called the "muskeg" on the western outskirts of Yorkton, she was forming the nucleus of a group that would become the Yorkton Natural History Society. In July 1942 she and the students, now mostly in high school, produced a modest mimeographed list of 193 species of birds it was possible to see within a 30-mile radius of Yorkton. News of that list soon got around the province and by September, Mrs. Priestly suggested founding a society which promised to issue a quarterly bulletin that could become "a worthwhile clearing house for nature records in Saskatchewan."
I was a 14 year-old farm boy at the time, living hundreds of miles distant in southern Saskatchewan. When I read about the formation of the Yorkton Society and realized that I could communicate with other people interested in nature, particularly the birds, I immediately sent in the 25 cent annual fee. Mrs. Priestly wrote me a kind letter of encouragement and provided me with Stuart's address, suggesting that we share our experiences. For the next 13 years Stuart and I exchanged letters, be we didn't meet fact to face until 1955, when Stuart came to Saskatoon to begin postgraduate study in radiology. We have remained close friends throughout the years, both of us profoundly influenced by Mrs. Priestly who died unexpectedly only five years after founding the Yorkton Society and Blue Jay.
Since the exciting days when Stuart began his study of birds and in summer months banded thousands of ducks for Ducks Unlimited, he has gone on to become one of North America's best known authorities on birds. He and his wife Mary have banded over 125,000 birds of 206 species, among them 7,204 Great Horned Owls, the North American banding record. A member of the American Ornithologists' Union since 1943, Stuart has written more than 240 papers on ornithological subjects.
Quite apart from a distinguished career in medicine, he is a noted historian, having authored five books for McGill-Queen's, three of them on the Franklin expedition to the Arctic, another on the history of medicare in Saskatchewan and most recently, the eighteenth -century naturalists of Hudson Bay. Stuart knows farmers and birders in every part of Saskatchewan. He likes people, remembers their names after an initial meeting. Although he hasn't lived in Yorkton for over 40 years, he keeps in touch with people there, particularly Bill and Joyce Anaka. Much of the data on breeding birds numbers and migration comes from them. So important is their contribution that Bill is listed as co-author and Joyce is recognized for "major assistance". Stuart's skills as author Birds of Yorkton-Duck Mountain, one of the last in an extended series of regional works published by the Saskatchewan Natural History Society (SNHS). The much anticipated Birds of Saskatchewan, which he will co-author with Alan Smith, is already a work in progress.
Birds of Yorkton-Duck Mountain is a 318 page paper back book in which Dr. Stuart Houston provides comprehensive coverage of birds found in Saskatchewan providing breeding data of birds, location and numbers. It also provides interesting biographies of individuals in Saskatchewan who over the years demonstrated their concerns for birds in Saskatchewan, as well as North America. Much of the data provided in this book has been obtained from these noted individuals.
This book is probably the most comprehensive book providing data on birds today. It is an excellent reference book - and everyone who has an interest in birds should have this book as part of their collection of books on birds.
Dr. Stuart Houston, who is a member of the Yellowhead Flyway Birding Trail Association, has generously donated 80 copies of the book to the YFBTA. These books are being sold for $20.00 plus postage if they are being mailed. Funds from the sale of this book are used to promote the activities of the YFBTA.
You may obtain a copy of this book by phoning Rob Wilson, Editor of What's flying around at (306) 744 8140 - or by e-mailing him at rjwilson@sasktel.net .