Sharp-tailed Grouse – Living Sky Wildlife Rehabilitation

DANCING GROUSE TOUR

Posted on March 17, 2020 by

Early Morning or Evening Tours during April and May

Join our experienced local birding guide for a 4-hour early morning or evening drive to view the spectacle of dancing Sharp-tailed Grouse at a roadside lek outside Saskatoon.Many of the traditional indigenous dances were inspired by this display.

Sharp-tailed Grouse Dancing
by Nick Saunders

COVID SAFE. We will practice special safe self-isolation steps during all 2020 spring tours. Clients will drive their own personal or rented vehicle while the leader will travel in a separate vehicle. We will communicate via cell phone while remaining in separate parked vehicles near the dancing grounds.

Sharp-tailed Grouse jumping
by Nick Saunders

Your parked car serves as a bird blind from which you may view the birds dancing in adjacent fields. Birds usually dance about 100 – 300 meters away from car.

Morning Tour: 4:30 AM – 9:30 AM – April
3:45 AM – 8:45 AM – May
Evening Tour: 7:00 PM – 10:30 PM
Morning tours are recommended because birds are usually more active near sunrise than sunset.
Trip will be postponed if the weather forecast suggests rain or strong winds. Grouse do not display well during adverse weather.

Sharp-tailed Grouse Portrait
by Nick Saunders

PRAIRIE GRASSLANDS BIRDING TOUR

Posted on March 15, 2020 by

Full Day Tour in late April – July, 2020.

Join our experienced local birding guide for a 8 hour Drive visiting best prairie grassland birding habitats in Saskatoon region.

We will practice special COVID SAFE self-isolation steps during all 2020 spring tours. Clients will drive their own personal or rented vehicle while the leader will travel in a separate vehicle.
We will communicate via cell phone while remaining in separate vehicles.

Visit best hangout for seeing or hearing hard-to-find grassland birds in Saskatoon region!

Some grassland birds that might be seen or heard include: Sharp-tailed Grouse, Swainson’s Hawk, Long-billed Curlew, Upland Sandpiper, Marbled Godwit, Sprague’s Pipit, Loggerhead Shrike, Western Kingbird, Baird’s Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, Clay-colored Sparrow, Western Meadowlark.

Early morning departure recommended.

Suggested items to Bring:

Clothes suitable for the weather (rain jacket, sun hat, etc.)
Water bottle
Binoculars, Spotting Scope and camera (optional)

Tour Fee: CA$640 (about US$450, £365) for groups of 1 – 4 persons Taxes included.
Fee includes guiding services during 8 hour trip.
Meals, transportation and accommodation are NOT included.

Tour may be combined with Dancing Grouse tour, Saskatoon Summer Birding Tour, Chickadee Feeding Tour and Prairie Lakes Birding Tour. Ask about multiple tour discounts.

All proceeds support the work of Living Sky Wildlife Rehabilitation charity. https://livingskywildliferehabilitation.org/

RESERVATIONS: Send us your full name(s), mailing address, email address and requested tour dates.

E-mail: birdtours@sasktel.net

Phone: 306-652-5975

Text: 306-281-2215

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, Nature Saskatchewan and the University of Saskatchewan Extension Division. He 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”. He is currently 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.

SNOWY OWL TOUR

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Full Day Tours in November, December, February and March.

Join our experienced local birding guide for a full Day drive through a rural farming district reputed by owl experts to have the highest concentration of wintering Snowy Owls in the world!
Snowy Owl
by Nick Saunders
Tour departs 8 am and returns about 4 pm.
Bald Eagle
by Nick Saunders
Visit best hangout for wintering ducks and geese and Bald Eagles in the province.
Golden Eagle
by Nick Saunders
Other possible birds to be seen during trip include Golden Eagle, Gyrfalcon, Prairie Falcon, Sharp-tailed Grouse, Gray Partridge, Snow Buntings, Common Redpolls, Common Raven, Bohemian Waxwing, Black-billed Magpie.

Full Day Tour Fee: CA$690 (about US$520, £400) for groups of 1 – 3 persons. Taxes included.
Fee includes guiding services and transportation, entrance fees to any of the optional museums and parking fees. Meals and accommodation are NOT included.
Trip begins at your hotel about 8 am and ends about 4 pm.

Tour may be combined with our Saskatoon Winter Birdwatching Tour, Chickadee Feeding Tour and Forest Birding Tour.

All proceeds support the work of Living Sky Wildlife Rehabilitation charity.

RESERVATIONS: Send us your full name(s), mailing address, email address and requested tour dates.

E-mail: birdtours@sasktel.net

Phone: 306-652-5975
Text: 306-281-2215

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, Nature Saskatchewan and the University of Saskatchewan Extension Division.. He 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”. He is currently 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.

Upcoming Bird Tours

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Saskatoon is located where two major North American flyways meet. During the breeding season in June and July about 150 bird species occur within grassland, wetland and woodland habitats. This list is augmented during the migration months of May, August and September when boreal and arctic nesting warblers, flycatchers, vireos and shorebirds are plentiful.

Spectacular Sharp-tailed Grouse courtship displays are best seen in April and May. Their displays are the basis for indigenous Plains Cree dances. Elegant and endangered Whooping Cranes, North America’s tallest bird, are regularly seen from late September through mid-October.

The world’s highest concentration of Snowy Owls occurs here in winter.

We offer many Half-day, Full-day and Multi-day Guided Birding Tours throughout the year starting in Saskatoon.

SNOWY OWL TOUR (November – March)
CHICKADEE FEEDING TOUR (September – May)
SASKATOON WINTER BIRDING TOUR (November – March)
FOREST WINTER BIRDING TOUR (November – April)
DANCING GROUSE TOUR (April – May)
PRAIRIE GRASSLANDS BIRDING TOUR (May – July)
CHAPLIN SHOREBIRDS TOUR (May – August)
PRAIRIE RESERVOIRS BIRDING TOUR (May – October)
BEAVER CREEK BIRDING TOUR (January – December)
WHOOPING CRANE BIRDING TOUR (September – October)
SANDHILL CRANE & GEESE BIRDING TOUR (September – October)

EMAIL birdtours@sasktel.net for full details of any tour.

Please include your name, location and email address and
your approximate travel dates (if known).

All proceeds support work of our local wildlife charity – Living Sky Wildlife Rehabilitation.

Our expert birding tour leader, Stan Shadick, has over 30 years experience as a bird guide for nature tours around Saskatchewan. He is an author and editor of a variety of birding publications and serves on the board of several birding and nature conservation organisations. He currently holds the e-bird record for the most bird species seen in Saskatchewan.