CANADIAN BADLANDS SELF GUIDED TOURS

Birding in the Canadian Badlands Experience the rich bird life in the Canadian Badlands

The Canadian Badlands is one of the best birdwatching areas in North America, boasting more than 300 species. Prairie skies are the aerial hunting grounds of perhaps Canada’s finest assembly of raptors: red-tailed and Swainson’s hawks, merlin falcons, bald

and golden eagles, and even turkey vultures. Scattered lakes and sloughs are brimming in spring and fall with scores of migrating ducks, geese, shorebirds and swans. Many species also nest here, congregating along lush river valleys and in prairie grasslands. A surprising number of birds – including several types

of owls – are year-round residents. Diligent birders might even spot a rare sage grouse, burrowing owl or piping plover. The birds of this region are accessible for both serious and casual birdwatchers, with many species easily viewed in the region’s provincial parks and protected city river valleys.

TOUR SUMMARY • Look for American white pelicans in Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park • Search for ring-necked pheasants in irrigation ditches near Brooks • Enjoy the grassland’s melodious song of the western meadowlark • Watch bird life among giant cottonwoods in Dinosaur Provincial Park • Hear the evening chatter of spotted towhees in Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park • Cruise slowly down a prairie gravel road and watch sparrows flit among the tall grasses • Admire the vast collection of bluebird houses at Ellis Bird Farm • Bird the rough fescue grasslands of Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park • Experience raptors up close at the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre in Coaldale • Spot colourful mountain bluebirds in the badlands near Dorothy • Flush gray partridges on a coulee walk in Lethbridge’s Oldman River Valley

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Drumheller Valley, Hanna and Special Areas Tour Red Deer Area Tour Lethbridge, Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park and Taber Tour Lake Newell, Dinosaur Provincial Park, Medicine Hat and Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park Tour

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1-800-ALBERTA canadianbadlands.com

CANADIAN BADLANDS SELF GUIDED TOURS Visitor Information Centres Travel Alberta 1-800-ALBERTA, travelalberta.com Drumheller - 60 – 1 Avenue West 1-866-823-8100, traveldrumheller.com Red Deer - North of 32nd Street overpass on Highway 2 1-800-215-8946/403-346-0180, tourismreddeer.net Medicine Hat - 8 Gehring Road SE 1-800-481-2822, tourismmedicinehat.com Lethbridge - 2805 Scenic Drive 1-800-661-1222, chinookcountry.com Milk River - 1 km south of town on Highway 4 1-800-ALBERTA, travelalberta.com Oyen - Junction of Highways 41 and 9 1-800-ALBERTA, travelalberta.com Village of Stirling - Administration Office, 229-4th Avenue 403-756-3379, villageofstirling.com Walsh - 3 km west of Saskatchewan border on Highway 1 1-800-ALBERTA travelalberta.com

Birdwatching Clubs Red Deer River Naturalists (includes Young Naturalists Club) 403-347-8200, rdrn.fanweb.ca Lethbridge Naturalists Society 403-327-1755, lethbridgenaturalistssociety.com Grasslands Naturalists – Medicine Hat 403-529-6225, natureline.info Calgary Field Naturalists Society 403-285-8553, cfns.fanweb.ca Federation of Alberta Naturalists 780-427-8124, fanweb.ca

June-July Ellis Bird Farm, southeast of Lacombe – Bird banding tours, Sundays, and Bluebird Festival (second Saturday of July) December and January Christmas Bird Counts – Various naturalists’ clubs

Alberta Birds of Prey Centre, Coaldale – Raptor flying demonstrations, four times a day, mid-May to mid-September

Attractions  Helen Schuler Coulee Nature Centre – Lethbridge 403- 320-3064, lethbridge.ca

Year-round/Seasonal

 Alberta Birds of Prey Centre – Coaldale 403-345-4262, albertabirds.com

Red Deer River Naturalists – Monday birding, fall to spring Lethbridge Naturalists Society – Wednesday nature walks and weekend field trips, spring to fall Helen Schuler Coulee Centre, Lethbridge – Sunday afternoon nature walks Grasslands Naturalists (Medicine Hat area) – Weekend nature walks, summer; annual warbler walk and monthly field trips the rest of the year Police Point Park Nature Centre, Medicine Hat – Occasional birdwatching programs Calgary Field Naturalists Society – Weekend birding field trips, year round Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park – Evening nature walks and presentations, summer Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park – Wildlife bus tours, guided walks and other interpretive events, year round Red Deer

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 Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park 403-647-2364, tpr.alberta.ca/parks  Kinbrook Island Provincial Park 403-362-2962, kinbrookisland.com  Dinosaur Provincial Park 403-378-4342, tpr.alberta.ca/parks  Police Point Park – Medicine Hat 403-529-6225, natureline.info  Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park 403-893-3777, cypresshills.com Gaetz Lakes Sanctuary/Kerry Wood Nature Centre – Red Deer 403-346-2010, waskasoopark.ca Note: The interpretive centres in many of these parks can provide you with a checklist of bird species recorded in the area.

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For approved accommodation visit the Alberta Hotel & Lodging Association online at travelalberta.com or contact 1-800-ALBERTA. Reservations are highly recommended.

Events May Spring Bird Counts – Various naturalists’ clubs Lethbridge Naturalists Society – Whimbrel Tour in Taber

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Drumheller Valley, Hanna and Special Areas Tour Red Deer Area Tour

Lethbridge,Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park and Taber Tour Lake Newell, Dinosaur Provincial Park, Medicine Hat and Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park Tour This map is not intended for navigation. Pick up an official Alberta Road Map at a Visitor Information Centre or call 1-800-ALBERTA.

The Canadian Badlands Touring Routes aim to follow good secondary highways and, occasionally, gravel road alternatives. Most attractions are accessible on hard-surfaced roads; some have gravel road access. Please drive carefully and respect private property. Every effort has been made to ensure accurate information at the time of publication. Attraction hours and seasons of operation vary. You are advised to contact each attraction in advance. This publication is for information purposes only. We are unable to accept responsibility for any inconvenience, loss or injury sustained as a result of anyone relying upon this information. 2

CANADIAN BADLANDS SELF GUIDED TOURS

Study the area’s birds by roadside.

Areas of choice habitat within the Canadian Badlands act as a magnet for large concentrations of bird species.This is particularly true in the vegetated valleys of the region’s prairie rivers – the Red Deer, Bow, Oldman, South Saskatchewan and Milk – where large cottonwood trees rise above thickets of willows and berry bushes. Fortunately for birdwatchers, these bird oases are found within protected areas with easy public access. The Canadian Badlands is dotted with many lakes, reservoirs and sloughs – some natural, some the product of Canada’s largest network of irrigated farmland, and some the result of Ducks Unlimited wetland enhancements. In spring and fall the skies above these waters are often black with waterfowl and countless other species that pass through on one of North America’s great migratory flyways. Many of these sanctuaries also accommodate nesting birds, ranging from great blue herons and American white pelicans to various ducks, geese and shorebirds. The great grasslands of the Canadian Badlands provide critical habitat for a diversity of nesting songbirds, grouse and raptors. Indeed, some of the highest

densities of breeding birds in Alberta are found in these southern grasslands. Further north, around Red Deer, the aspen parkland mix of grasslands, aspen groves, lakes and sloughs provide a wide range of bird-friendly habitats.

terrain. Most require more than a day to complete, though longer stays and more extensive explorations are certainly encouraged. You might well choose to focus a trip on just one of the birding hot spots described in each tour.

Attentive enthusiasts will also discover birds in some unusual places. Turkey vultures, for instance, have been spotted in downtown Medicine Hat. Canada geese, ravens and great horned owls are known to nest in the steel girders of Lethbridge’s famed High Level Bridge. A reintroduced population of wild turkeys may be seen running through Elkwater townsite in Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park.

While spring and fall migrations offer the heaviest volumes and greatest diversity of birds, many species can be seen throughout the summer months and a surprising number in winter, too.

The tours suggested in this guide have been arranged geographically, each combining several destinations of interesting birding

BIRDWATCHING TIP Birds are generally most active in the early morning and evening hours. During the hotter days of summer, these are also the most pleasant times for a birding stroll and provide the best light for taking photos.

Join a wildlife-watching tour in Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park 3

CANADIAN BADLANDS SELF GUIDED TOURS Lethbridge, Writing-onStone Provincial Park and Taber Tour

This tour through southern Alberta reveals a diversity of landscapes and bird species. It features two distinct riverine ecosystems – the cottonwood forests along the Oldman River in Lethbridge and the badlands of the Milk River – and a scattering of shallow lakes in between. The tour begins in Lethbridge, where four prime birding parks are nestled in the Oldman River Valley; each is distinct and worthy of a visit. Indeed, birders could easily spend two days exploring their many delights, seeking the valley’s more than 250 species. Start in Indian Battle Park, reached from Highway 3 by heading south on Scenic Drive and then west downhill on 3rd Avenue. Here, the  Helen Schuler Coulee Centre offers public nature interpretive programs, as well as information on the city’s many birding opportunities. In the Lethbridge Nature Reserve, just outside the centre, are three 1km interpretive trails: the Coulee Climb, Nature Quest and Oxbow Loop.

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Lethbridge 2 Alexander Wilderness Park Lethbridge Nature Reserve Helen Schuler Coulee Centre Indian Battle Park Elizabeth Hall Wetlands Cottonwood Park Nature Reserve

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The Coulee Climb trail is a good introduction to coulees, a distinctive southern Alberta landform. Shallow prairie gullies offer precious shelter and food for numerous bird species. Take a walk here, under the towering High Level Bridge, and you’re likely to flush out spotted towhees and gray partridges – introduced to Alberta in the early 1900s and formerly called Hungarian partridges – as well as skittish small cottontail rabbits. Back on the broad valley floor, follow the Nature Quest or Oxbow Loop trails through mature cottonwoods and river flats, where an hour’s walk can yield up to

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30 species of birds, including American kestrels, spotted sandpipers and, in late August, various migrating warblers. Across the Oldman River is Elizabeth Hall Wetlands, reached by turning onto Bridge Drive West from Highway 3. A viewing blind here allows close-up viewing of nesting waterfowl and blackbirds. From Indian Battle Park, go back up 3rd Avenue and then head north on Stafford Drive to reach Alexander Wilderness Park. Walk down a broad coulee past scattered cottonwoods to the Oldman River, where American white pelicans feed in spring and summer. Cottonwood Park Nature Reserve, on the southwestern outskirts of Lethbridge, is reached by returning south on Stafford Drive, then heading west on 6th Avenue S (which becomes Whoop-Up Drive) and then south on University Drive. The presence of mountain bluebirds is proof this urban fringe is still untamed. From the parking area, a trail drops steeply into the river valley, where a magnificent cottonwood forest is home to great horned owls, red-tailed hawks and woodpeckers. Keep a wary eye out for prairierattlesnakes, which have been reintroduced to the park in efforts to reverse their population decline.

Look for bluebirds in Lethbridge’s Cottonwood Park Nature Reserve 4

CANADIAN BADLANDS SELF GUIDED TOURS

Watch hawks soaring over the prairies in the Canadian Badlands.

SIDE TRIP  The Alberta Birds of Prey Centre, just east of Lethbridge in Coaldale, is Canada’s largest facility for the rehabilitation and release of injured hawks, eagles, owls and falcons. It provides a unique opportunity for families to see these hunters up close. Here, you can watch golden and bald eagles exercise their wings, or study a captive breeding population of endangered burrowing owls. You can also watch flying demonstrations of the recovering raptors, or don a leather glove and pose for a photo with a live falcon or owl perched on your arm. From Lethbridge, drive southeast on Highway 4 for about 30 km to the Village of Stirling, named a National Historic Site for its preservation as a planned Mormon agricultural community. Just before the village is Michelsons’ Marsh, a spring stopover for thousands of migrating ducks and geese. A viewing platform and trail along the west shore overlook the reedy waters, where a Ducks Unlimited project provides nesting sites for various waterfowl and shorebirds. In fall, tundra swans and snow geese pause here on their long journey south. For more information on what to see and do in the Village of Stirling, including the Mormon Tales and Historic Rails Tour, visit canadianbadlands. com/tours/PDF/Stirling.pdf. Alternatively, visit the local visitor information centre in town for more options of what to see and do in this historic village. Continue southeast on Highway 4 past Tyrrell Lake, where in April and

November scores of migrating snow geese descend onto the water. Beyond, at Milk River, go east on Secondary 501 for 32 km and then south for 10 km on Secondary 500 to reach  Writing-onStone Provincial Park. Famed for its hoodoos and Aboriginal rock art, the park is rich with bird life. Grassland, badlands and riverine habitats merge here to provide for some 160 bird species. You’ll find yellow-breasted chats alongside rock wrens, prairie falcons, turkey vultures, common nighthawks, northern harriers, great horned owls and Sprague’s pipits. The cooler evening hours are a great time to stroll along the lovely, self-guided Hoodoo Interpretive Trail, which hovers above the meandering Milk River. As you descend from the stark hoodoos into thick, riverside bushes, listen for the noisy thrashings of spotted towhees. If you’re spending the night in the park campground, expect a wakeup call from a melodious western meadowlark or a cooing mourning dove. Returning to Secondary 501, head east through open prairie. The road turns to gravel before passing the southern tip of Pakowki Lake, the largest water body in southeast Alberta and a vital site for migratory and nesting birds. In spring, some 50,000 northern pintails have been counted on this slough-like lake, and in fall, 10,000 long-billed dowitchers have been recorded. It is also one of the few places in Alberta where white-faced ibis have been found nesting. Though the lake is surrounded by private land, a couple of roadside viewing opportunities are available from its west side, along Secondary 885. 5

Continue north on Secondary 885 to Etzikom, then drive west on Highway 61. Turn north just past Wrentham, onto Highway 36 to reach Taber, a vibrant prairie birdwatching centre. Just east of town around Fincastle Lake, you may, in mid-May, see hundreds of migrating whimbrels, a curlew more commonly seen along seacoasts. In summer, the lake is also a good place to see nesting Caspian terns, great blue herons and perhaps passing cattle egrets and great egrets. A little further east, Purple Springs Dunes is a fine destination for viewing prairie birds such as Brewer’s, Baird’s and grasshopper sparrows, as well as upland sandpipers and if you’re lucky, burrowing owls.

Look for nesting swallows in manmade structures like this old windmill in Etzikom.

Just north of town, along the Oldman River, Taber Muncipal Park is a good place in early fall to look for some 18 species of migrating warblers. A detour north along Highway 36 to just near Vauxhall, then east for 20 km on Township Road 130 leads to Scope Lake. Here you may spot American white pelicans, double-crested cormorants, ring-billed or California gulls. Double-crested cormorants and ring-billed and California gulls can also often be spotted on this reservoir.

BIRDWATCHING TIP You need very little gear to enjoy birdwatching. A good pair of binoculars – with a magnification of about 7 or 8 – is essential, as is a thorough field guide for identifying and learning about birds. Birds of Alberta is an excellent, local choice.

CANADIAN BADLANDS SELF GUIDED TOURS Lake Newell, Dinosaur Provincial Park, Medicine Hat and Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park Tour

This is a birdwatching tour of stark habitat contrasts – from the desertlike badlands of Dinosaur Provincial Park to the forests and rough fescue grasslands of Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park. In between, the city of Medicine Hat features fine birding along the South Saskatchewan River.

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The tour starts on the Trans-Canada Highway just west of Brooks, where a Ducks Unlimited wetland often attracts American white pelicans. Although still listed as an endangered species in Alberta, pelicans have greatly increased in number and range through the Canadian Badlands in recent decades.

UNESCO World Heritage Site

With a weight of up to 8 kilograms and a wingspan of more than 2 metres, these large birds are easily spotted as they soar to and from a protected nesting island on nearby Lake Newell, Alberta’s largest man-made body of water. The lake is home to the province’s largest colony of double-crested cormorants. Lake Newell, and the adjoining  Kinbrook Island Provincial Park, can be reached by driving 13 km south of Brooks on Secondary 873 and then 2 km west. Take the walking trail that circles a marsh along the lake’s eastern edge and you might see Canada geese, American bitterns, great blue herons and great horned owls. From Brooks, it’s a 48 km drive northeast on Secondaries 873 and 544 to reach  Dinosaur Provincial Park. A UNESCO World Heritage Site renowned for its badlands and dinosaur fossils, the park is also an excellent place to watch birds. With some 165 recorded species visiting or nesting within its boundaries, the park boasts the second highest density of breeding birds in Canada.

Check out the bird life along Cottonwood Flats Trail in Dinosaur Provincial Park.

A primary reason for this productivity is the fusion of badlands, upland prairie and dense cottonwoods along the Red Deer River. Follow the short Cottonwood Flats Trail to the river’s 6

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leafy edge, park yourself in a folding chair and see how many species you can count. In a short span of time, you might spot pileated woodpeckers in the trees above, vesper sparrows nesting in the sagebrush, eastern kingbirds hovering over grasses and, high in the sky, cruising American kestrels and prairie falcons. Later, enjoy an interpretive program in the park’s nearby amphitheatre, and chance sighting common nighthawks, redshafted flickers and yellow warblers. Sign up for a tour into the park’s Natural Preserve and you’ll gain guided access to nesting areas for threatened species like the ferruginous hawk, golden eagle and loggerhead shrike. Return to Brooks and drive southeast on the Trans-Canada Highway for an hour to Medicine Hat, which has more than 90 km of walking trails linking coulees, river valleys and open spaces – much of them offering fine birding. The Southeast Hill Trail, for example, goes through mixed shrubs, trees and grassy slopes, providing good year-round habitat for birds, including the first Lazuli buntings spotted in the region. On the trail to Echo Dale Park, near the city’s eastern boundary, watch for prairie falcons and turkey vultures along the cliffs overlooking the South Saskatchewan River.

CANADIAN BADLANDS SELF GUIDED TOURS

Admire red-tailed hawks along Elkwater Lake in Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park

A prime city birding destination is  Police Point Park, a 120 hectare oasis nestled in a giant bend in the river. Because of its sunny, southeastern location and unusual mix of habitats, it’s a great place to see a wide variety of visiting and resident birds – such as red-headed woodpeckers and nesting wood ducks – uncommon elsewhere in Alberta. To reach the park, exit east from the Trans-Canada Highway onto 3rd Street NW, take a short jog south on 2nd Avenue NE and follow the signs east along Parkview Drive. At the park’s Nature Centre, choose from 8 km of trails that wind through prairie grasslands and scattered plains cottonwoods, with occasional glimpses of the river. Meadowlarks and grassland sparrows provide the chorus in the grass and cactus areas, while brown thrashers, catbirds, warblers, towhees and chats frequent thickets of berry bushes. Directly across the South Saskatchewan River on banks beneath scenic cliffs, Strathcona Island Park is another good birding destination. Here you might spy yellow-breasted chats, Lazuli buntings and perhaps even a pair of nesting black-billed cuckoos. The river, as it flows through the city, is often a

good place to see wintering waterfowl and bald eagles taking advantage of stretches of open water. To reach the park, return to Parkview Drive, go south on Altawans Drive, and cross the river. Watch for signs directing you to the park. Hillside Cemetery – reached by exiting east off the Trans-Canada Highway onto Gershaw Drive – is an unusual birdwatching destination, thanks to its diversity of trees. Brown creepers and nuthatches can be found here year-round, and in summer the branches are alive with warblers and waxwings. The areas surrounding Medicine Hat can also provide good birdwatching opportunities. In the extensive grasslands south of the city, look for uncommon species such as Sprague’s pipits, ferruginous hawks and longbilled curlews. The saline Chappice Lake, 20 km northeast of the city, is an important spring staging area for such shorebirds as sanderlings and Baird’s sandpipers. The adjacent prairie lands also provide critical nesting habitat for a number of grassland species, including several listed as vulnerable or endangered, including the tiny burrowing owl. 7

From Medicine Hat, go east on the Trans-Canada Highway and then south on Highway 41 to reach  Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park. The hills are a unique landform, rising 700 metres above the surrounding prairies. The park’s montane and rough fescue landscapes typical of the Rocky Mountain foothills provide a rich mix of habitats for some 220 identified bird species – the largest number documented in the Canadian Badlands. Here, you’ll find mountain bluebirds amongst double-crested cormorants, various owls, common ravens and tundra swans. Begin a day’s birding with an earlymorning drive on gravel roads along a fescue benchland populated with various sparrows, Sprague’s pipits and grazing pronghorn antelope. Mid-day might find you high above Reesor Lake, scanning the water for pelicans and herons and searching the skies for circling Swainson’s hawks and turkey vultures. Evening is a perfect time to look for red crossbills, yellow-rumped warblers and dusky flycatchers on the wooded Beaver Creek trail, or to admire red-winged blackbirds from a marsh boardwalk along Elkwater Lake. In the nearby Elkwater townsite, you might stumble across a flock of wild turkeys, introduced to the park in the 1960s.

CANADIAN BADLANDS SELF GUIDED TOURS Drumheller Valley, Hanna and Special Areas Tour

This tour contains pockets of good birdwatching terrain along the small lakes and sloughs on either side of Drumheller and along cottonwood-lined stretches of the Drumheller Valley. Further northeast, the grain fields and wetlands surrounding Hanna are a fall Mecca for migrating Canada and snow geese. Beyond, in the Special Areas districts, scattered lakes are often teeming with migrating shorebirds and waterfowl. The tour starts east of Calgary on the Trans-Canada Highway. Just before Highway 9, it’s worth stopping at Langdon Slough, on the south side of the Trans-Canada, to look for ducks and, in spring, migrating shorebirds. Go north on Highway 9, keeping an eye out for Swainson’s hawks and savannah and clay-coloured sparrows. Sloughs east of the highway often harbour a diversity of birds including grebes, herons and ducks. The highway bends east and, just before Drumheller, passes Horseshoe Canyon, a good place to view an isolated pocket of badlands. The surrounding deep coulees contain stands of spruce, which produce good birdwatching even in winter, when downy and pileated woodpeckers can be seen along with great horned owls, pine grosbeaks and bohemian waxwings.

BIRDWATCHING TIP Birding in the Canadian Badlands can be rewarding well into the winter. A sunny winter drive can be ideal to spot snowy owls or gray partridges. Similarly, a winter’s walk in a forested city river valley can yield blue jays, chickadees, grosbeaks, merlins and huge flocks of bohemian waxwings descending on berryladen mountain ash trees.

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Once in the Drumheller Valley, take your interest in birds back in time at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, one of the world’s great dinosaur exhibits. Several displays depict the fossilized skeletons of huge flying dinosaurs, precursors of today’s beloved winged creatures. Outside the museum, head a short distance back east along the Dinosaur Trail to McMullen Island, an

Scout out different shorebirds like this Willet 8

oasis of greenery in Midland Provincial Park along the Red Deer River. Walk the short trails past tall cottonwoods and thick clumps of sandbar willows and search for nesting American kestrels, western kingbirds, brown thrashers and Swainson’s thrushes. Sandstone ledges and cavities provide nesting sites for prairie falcons and cliff swallows.

CANADIAN BADLANDS SELF GUIDED TOURS Southeast of Drumheller at Rosedale, take a short detour south off Highway 10 and follow a winding road that crosses a series of single-lane bridges over the Rosebud River en route to the ghost town of Wayne. The valley bottom and connecting coulees nurture a dense understorey of shrubs, providing nesting sites for spotted sandpipers, mourning doves, gray catbirds and yellow warblers. Back on Highway 10, continue southeast to another semighost town, Dorothy, where it’s worth crossing the river and driving up the badlands hillside on Secondary 848 to see mountain bluebirds perched beside roadside nest boxes.

BIRDWATCHING TIP Please be a responsible birder. Get permission to venture onto private property and keep a respectful distance from birds, especially those that are nesting or rearing chicks. Some species are particularly sensitive to human encroachment and may abandon important habitat. This is particularly troublesome if they are an endangered or threatened species in Alberta.

Provincial Park, a nice respite on the open prairie. The lake, a saline oasis, is visited by large numbers of migrating shorebirds, including red-necked phalaropes and sanderlings. A short distance east, Sounding Lake is an outstanding migratory stopover for shorebirds. Up to 8 percent of the world’s population of stilt sandpipers and Baird’s sandpipers have been recorded here, along with large numbers of lesser yellowlegs, peeps, sanderlings and American avocets.

Return to Dorothy and drive east on Secondary 570, then north on Highway 36. From here, it’s another 50 km northwest to Hanna, which proclaims its birding affinity with giant Canada geese mascots at its east and west entrances. While goose and duck hunters flock here in the fall, birdwatchers, too, can enjoy the spectacle of Canada and snow geese pouring into area grain fields and sloughs. Closer to town, walking trails in Fox Lake Park and along Helmer Dam are good places to look for cormorants, pelicans, herons and a variety of songbirds. Hanna sits on the doorstep of Alberta’s three Special Areas, which maintain some 2.1 million hectares of land in the eastern Canadian Badlands. Much of the land is dry prairie, scattered lakes and wetlands, offering good birding. Highway 36, north of Hanna, skirts the eastern edge of Sullivan Lake, one of central Alberta’s biggest bodies of water and a stopover for large numbers of waterfowl and semipalmated sandpipers. Continue north on Highway 36, then go east on Secondary 599 and south on Highway 41 to Gooseberry Lake

Listen for the pleasing call of the Western Meadowlark, a sure sign of spring

Red Deer Area Tour

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just east of Red Deer in the early 1990s. Now, these once endangered birds can often be seen among the city’s downtown buildings. Red Deer’s wooded river valley is a birdwatching paradise, with more than 80 9

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The mix of bird species is as rich as those found further south, though here you’ll find more ospreys, blue jays, kingfishers, warblers, and nuthatches. Regional rarities include Cape May warblers, black-throated blue warblers and indigo and Lazuli buntings. Alberta’s first peregrine falcons to be reintroduced to the wild were released

Waskasoo Park

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The Red Deer region’s ecosystems are quite different than the open grasslands to the south.The soils are richer and moister, with rolling croplands interspersed with stands of poplars and, in sheltered river valleys, spruce and fir. Shallow lakes and sloughs are plentiful, providing good nesting sites for waterfowl and shorebirds.

km of trails winding along the Red Deer River through Waskasoo Park, which encompasses the city’s core birding area – the Gaetz Lakes Sanctuary. In 1924, it became Alberta’s first federal Migratory Bird Sanctuary. To date, 188 species have been documented within its mix of forest,

CANADIAN BADLANDS SELF GUIDED TOURS The Canadian Badlands, with its haunting hoodoos, sunbathed grasslands, and refreshing wooded hideaways, is truly a birder’s paradise. Experience for yourself the rich birdlife among Alberta’s unique landforms – birders won’t be disappointed in the Canadian Badlands!

Enjoy the diversity of bird life in Red Deer’s Gaetz Lakes Sanctuary

meadows, marshes and two oxbow lakes. To reach the sanctuary from Highway 2, head east on 32nd Street and then north on Gaetz Avenue. Turn east on 55th Street and then go north on 45th Avenue. After viewing the interpretive displays in the Kerry Wood Nature Centre, take a walk on Dr. George Trail, a paved, 1 km loop. It leads to a bird blind overlooking a marsh populated with Canada geese, mallards, common goldeneye, common mergansers and other waterfowl. The 4 km Wishart Trail traverses the river valley’s escarpment, with several viewing platforms overlooking two lakes.

Southeast of Red Deer are two reservoirs well worth visiting. Head south on Highway 2 to Innisfail, go east on Secondary 590 and north on Range Road 244, where Ghostpine Reservoir contains many nesting waterfowl, shorebirds and swallows. From Highway 590, go south on Secondary 805 and then east on Secondary 587 to Range Road 255 to reach Bigelow Reservoir. It’s an excellent place to see grebes, pelicans, cormorants, loons, bitterns and, during spring and fall migration, sandhill cranes, greater white-fronted geese and godwits.

In spring and fall, stop at Slack Slough, on the city’s southern outskirts (take the Mackenzie Road exit on Highway 2), when scores of migrating ducks and geese fly to and from nearby grain fields. Tundra swans also stop here in April en route to nesting sites in the Northwest Territories.

Birders can be rewarded, during spring and fall migration, by journeying to larger lakes to the east. Back on Highway 590, drive east and then go north on Secondary 835, where Ewing is an important wetland staging site for ducks and shorebirds.

SIDE TRIP Southeast of Lacombe (go 8 km east on Highway 12 and 8 km south on Prentiss Road), Ellis Bird Farm is a lovely, tranquil oasis for nature lovers. Nest boxes and birdhouses – including the world’s largest outdoor collection of bluebird boxes – support healthy populations of mountain bluebirds, tree swallows, purple martins, flickers and black-capped chickadees. Visitors can stroll around the 260 hectare farm on a boardwalk trail, and watch nesting purple martins via live camera feeds to the visitor centre. Have lunch in a charming tea room and enjoy gardens dedicated to butterflies, hummingbirds, wildflowers and water plants. Offsite tours to band mountain bluebirds are also available.

View the stunning American White Pelican at various locations throughout the Canadian Badlands.

The Canadian Badlands is like no other place on earth. Home to the world’s most extensive dinosaur bonebeds, badlands and hoodoos and a world-class dinosaur museum, our natural heritage is more than 75 million years old. Our culture is literally layered in the land. National historic sites and provincial parks reveal First Nations rock art, farming and ranching history and a rich industrial heritage. Communities large and small boast festivals, rodeos, live theatre, local art and tea houses.Whether you prospect for fossils, canoe a meandering river or horseback ride in glacier-carved coulees, the Canadian Badlands experience is as vast and remarkable as the landscape. 1-800-ALBERTA Call 1-800-ALBERTA or visit canadianbadlands.com for more Canadian BadlandsTouring Routes. canadianbadlands.com 10