birding...

Sharp-tailed Grouse - Tympanuchus phasianellus © Mike Danzenbaker http://www.avesphoto.com/

Often simply described as a prairie province of the Canadian interior, Saskatchewan tends to escape much of the attention that its rich diversity should attract. Birders, however, recognize this province as a key breeding area and migration resting area, offering to its 414 recorded bird species a variety of habitats, including forests, bogs, freshwater and saline lakes, grasslands, and sloughs.

Birders will discover an ever-changing landscape as they travel around the province. Deglaciation, with its erosive and depository processes, sculpted Saskatchewan`s landscape and created distinct differences in soil and vegetation. Elevations range from 213 metres at Lake Athabasca to 1,392 metres at Cypress Hills. As a result, within its trapezoidal borders, Saskatchewan houses four major ecosystems that correspond to the northern sub-arctic region, the Canadian Shield, the southern boreal forest, and the prairie.

These broad ecosystems can be further divided into smaller eco-regions and again into even smaller important landscape areas, each with its own particular mix of plant, mammal and bird species. Sub-arctic woodland, Precambrian rocks, peatland and numerous lakes characterize the Taiga Shield. The Boreal Shield is noted for its bedrock outcrops, sand dunes, eskers, wetlands and lakes. The Boreal Plain boasts steep escarpments, glacial till plains and wetlands. Finally, the Prairie, which covers only 38% of the province, contains aspen groves, glacial till and glacial lake plains, sand hills, potholes and badlands.

Even though more than half of the province has a sub-arctic climate, the rest being continental and steppe climates, with temperatures ranging from -40 degrees Celsius in the winter to +40 degrees in the summer, Saskatchewan is the home or resting place for large numbers of many bird species. Its 651,900 square kilometres is the summer home for one quarter of the world`s population of American White Pelicans and it is an important breeding area for the Bald Eagle, American Avocet, Forster`s Tern, Gadwall, Ruddy Duck, and Northern Pintail, to name a few.

In recent history, humans have been carving the landscape of Saskatchewan, with agricultural development and forestry altering ecosystems and thereby affecting the species that live there. Officially, the populations of 15 species of birds in Saskatchewan are currently at risk. The Passenger Pigeon is extinct and the Greater Prairie Chicken has been extirpated. Endangered species include the Whooping Crane, Sage Thrasher, Piping Plover, Mountain Plover, and Burrowing Owl. The Sage Grouse and Loggerhead Shrike populations are also threatened. Vulnerable species include the Ferruginous Hawk, Peregrine Falcon, Long-billed Curlew, Short-eared Owl, Caspian Tern, and Red-headed Woodpecker.

To fully appreciate a birding experience in Saskatchewan, visiting birders need to understand its various ecosystems and the current status of bird species in this vast province. Among the growing number of birding websites offering such information, the Birding in Canada website is a valuable resource on birding in Saskatchewan, including information on birding hotspots and a list of birders with e-mail.