Canada Saskatchewan July Birding Tour
July 8 – 15, 2024

Guiding Fee
USD $3640 per person
CAD $4975 per person
UK £2870 per person

Join a small group birding tour to Saskatchewan, Canada during the peak of the nesting season when bird song abounds. Saskatchewan is located near the centre of North America where several bird migration flyways meet. Consequently, this bird-rich province of Canada is home to nesting birds from both eastern and western North America.

Saskatchewan is well known as the duck factory of North America because most species of waterfowl nest in our abundant wetlands. Many shorebirds, pelicans, rails and grebes also nest in our lakes and sloughs.

Stretching across half of the province, the boreal forest is home to many eastern warblers, woodpeckers, flycatchers and forest hawks. We will search for forest birds along the Saskatchewan River Valley, the Pasquia Hills and at Duck Mountain Provincial Park.

The great expanses of arid prairie grasslands attract many special ground-nesting birds. We will visit Grasslands National Park and Nature Conservancy of Canada’s Old Man on His Back Plateau site and Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park.

Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park Trails

We will visit search the best birding hotspots in the East, Centre and West Blocks of the scenic Cypress Hills that are home to many sub-alpine birds.

We will also look for riparian birds along the South Saskatchewan River valley and the Souris River valley.

ITINERARY

Special Birds of Interest

During this Canada – Saskatchewan Summer Birding Tour, we expect to observe over 180 species. A few special birds include

Ruddy Duck
Sharp-tailed Grouse
Gray Partridge
Western Grebe
Clark’s Grebe
American White Pelican
White-faced Ibis
Golden Eagle
Broad-winged Hawk
Swainson’s Hawk
Ferruginous Hawk
Prairie Falcon
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Willet
Marbled Godwit
Hudsonian Godwit
Long-billed Curlew
Upland Sandpiper
Baird’s Sandpiper
Wilson’s Phalarope
Franklin’s Gull
California Gull
Forster’s Tern
Black-billed Cuckoo
Burrowing Owl
Red-naped Sapsucker
Western Wood-Pewee
Alder Flycatcher
Western Flycatcher
Dusky Flycatcher
Say’s Phoebe
Western Kingbird
Loggerhead Shrike
Black-billed Magpie
Violet-Green Swallow
Mountain Bluebird
Sprague’s Pipit
MacGillivray’s Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Western Tanager
Spotted Towhee
Lark Sparrow
Baird’s Sparrow
Brewer’s Sparrow
Nelson’s Sparrow
Chestnut-collared Longspur
Thick-billed Longspur
Western Meadowlark
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Bobolink

CLICK HERE for a complete Saskatchewan checklist.

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Plan to arrive in Moose Jaw or Regina, Saskatchewan on the evening of Sunday, July 7, 2024.

The tour begins in the parking lot just past the entrance gate to Buffalo Pound Provincial Park north of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan at 10:30 AM.

We will make our first stop at the park’s Buffalo Paddock. From here we will walk the boardwalk looking and listening for herons, bitterns, rails, wrens, sparrows and yellowthroats. We will then take a leisurely hike along the south side of Nicolle Flats Marsh to the point where we reach the wooded Moose Jaw River flows into the Qu’Appelle River. We will have our lunch here near an old stone homestead in which a pair of Rock Wrens is sometimes found.

After returning to our vehicles, we will explore other lake viewpoints and wooded picnic and campgrounds. and coulees within Buffalo Pound Provincial Park. The is a great area for Brown Thrashers, Gray Catbirds and several vireos. Many kinds of warblers may be seen during migration in May and late August.

During the final portion of the tour, we will make stops in grassland areas to look for prairie songbirds. We will then drive to stop on the causeway over Buffalo Pound Lake where other lake birds may be seen. Finally, we will make stops along a road that traverses the grassy slope of the north riverbank to look for Mountain Bluebirds and other songbirds.

Overnight for second of 2 nights at a Moose Jaw motel.

After breakfast, we will drive west to Chaplin and spend most of the day exploring Chaplin Lake, Reed Lake, Lonepine Lake and Herbert marsh in search of numerouse shorebirds.

Endangered Piping Plover are often found here.

Other shorebirds and waders often include White-faced Ibis, Red Knot (spring), Sanderling, Wilson’s Phalarope, Red-necked Phalarope, American Avocet, Black-necked Stilt, Marbled Godwit, Hudsonian Godwit, Stilt Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Baird’s Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, Lesser Yellowlegs, Willet, Solitary Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper, Black-bellied Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Killdeer.
Possible Grassland birds include Upland Sandpiper, Long-billed Curlew, Lark Bunting, Baird’s Sparrow, Chestnut-collared Longspur, Western Meadowlark.

After supper in Swift Current, we drive west to stay at a motel in Maple Creek for the first of 2 nights.

7:00 AM Breakfast on your own at a Maple Creek motel

8:30 AM Tour departs Maple Creek about 8:30 am.

Today we will hike several easy trails within the centre block of Cypress Hills provincial park.

We plan the following activities.

Hike Highlands Nature Trail in morning
Eat lunch at park restaurant
Hike Valley of the Windfalls Nature Trail
Visit to Park Nature Interpretive Centre
Hike Whispering Pines Nature Trail
Supper in park resort’s dining room
Evening drive to scenic Look-out Point and Bald Butte
Optional late night drive from 10:30 pm – 11:30 pm to look and listen for Common Poorwill.

Overnight at Maple Creek Motel for second of 2 nights.

Overnight at motel for second of 2 nights

We plan to spend the day birding in the best hotspots in the scenic west block of Cypress Hills.
Some sites (*) may be inaccessible if roads are very muddy.

Breakfast in Maple Creek on your own
Depart Maple Creek at 9 am
Birding at Cypress Hills Switchbacks – Dusky Flycatcher, Western Wood Pewee and chance for Black-headed Grosbeak
Fort Walsh Historic Park hiking trails – Violet-Green Swallow and possible Say’s Phoebe and Western Tanager
Bring your packed lunch to eat in the park.
Visit Cordilleran Flycatcher subspecies nesting site *
Visit Conglomerate Cliffs in Cypress Hills *
Watch birds at Cypress Lake Recreation Site *
Supper at Consul restaurant
Overnight at a motel in Consul SK.
Campers may stay at Cypress Lake recreation site.
Optional evening drive near Consul.

We plan to drive around the pastures south of Cypress Hills making stops to watch and listen for grassland birds. Some planned stops include:

Govenlock area – Thick-billed and Chestnut-collared Longspurs and chance for a Golden Eagle
Old Man on His Back Nature Conservancy of Canada grasslands – Bison and chance for a Burrowing Owl or Prairie Falcon
Supper at Eastend Restaurant
Overnight accommodation at Eastend motel.
Campers may stay at a town campground.
Jones’ Peak Lookout visit in evening – Rock Wren, Mountain Bluebirds and Violet-Green Swallows
Optional late evening drive to listen for poorwills and possible Eastern Screech Owl.

TOUR GUIDE: Your guide has many years of experience finding and observing birds throughout Saskatchewan. For over 30 years, Stan Shadick has been a birding guide for nature tours around Saskatchewan and other parts of the country that have been organized by Living Sky Wildlife Rehabilitation, Saskatoon Custom Bird Tours, Nature Saskatchewan and the University of Saskatchewan Extension Division.

Stan is past president of Nature Saskatchewan as well as past president and current field trip chairman for the Saskatoon Nature Society. He is a co-editor of the reference publication “Birds of the Saskatoon Area” and contributed significantly to the recently published “Birds of Saskatchewan”.

Stan has volunteered as a regional coordinator for the Saskatchewan Breeding Bird Atlas project and helps with their bird identification workshops. He regularly contributes sightings to e-bird and currently holds the e-bird record for the most bird species seen in Saskatchewan.

Stan volunteers his time leading Saskatoon Custom Bird Tours so that all proceeds benefit the work of Living Sky Wildlife Rehabilitation.

Canada – Saskatchewan July Birding Tour: July 8 – 15, 2024

See both eastern and western North American birds during the peak of the breeding season.

Canada Saskatchewan 8-day Birding Tour