Saskatchewan Whooping Cranes

Our Saskatchewan Whooping Cranes birding tour starts in Saskatoon with supper and an opportunity to discuss the upcoming adventure.

During the following three days, we travel to pothole country east of Saskatoon, Blackstrap lake, and boreal forests in and near Prince Albert National Park. It is almost guaranteed that one or more groups of Whooping Cranes will appear in the Saskatoon area during the tour period.

Our schedule is flexible such that we can alter our itinerary to visit an area where the cranes have touched down. The habitat here is a mixture of grassland with potholes, saline wetland complexes and fresh water lakes. Lakes and potholes in the area are teeming with ducks and some lingering shorebirds can still be found. These areas also support thousands of Snow Geese each year; the actual fields that the birds occupy shifts from one year to the next, depending upon the type of crop grown the previous summer, but we should have little difficulty in locating the foraging areas for the flocks. Snow Geese will be the most abundant species in these flocks, but there are also groups of Greater White-fronted Geese, Ross’s Geese and several species of ducks. Sandhill Cranes will also be gathering. Raptors of several species will be present, and we will scan for Lapland Longspurs and Snow Buntings as they are migrating south. Finally, both Sharp-tailed Grouse and Gray Partridge may be encountered in our travels.

After some morning birding around Saskatoon, we will make our way north to Prince Albert National Park. Here we will experience the boreal forest, and will have chances for boreal specialties like Spruce Grouse, Pileated, Black-backed & American Tree-toed Woodpecker, Canada Jay, Boreal Chickadee, Bohemain Waxwing, and occasionally Pine or Evening Grosbeak, or White-winged Crossbill. We also have the possibility to see Moose, Elk & sometimes River Otter. Night in Prince Albert National Park.

We will spend the day enjoying Prince Albert National Park. In the late afternoon, we will drive back to Saskatoon, where we will have another day to continue looking for Whooping Cranes and other birds we may have missed.