Watch Whooping Cranes and Sandhill Cranes near Saskatoon, Canada on the first two days of the tour. We will also explore the birdlife at Last Mountain Lake Bird Sanctuary (first federal bird sanctuary in North America) and at Prince Albert National Park.

Our experienced guide will ride in your personal or rented vehicle and direct you to the best locations to view the cranes.

We will focus on observing Whooping Cranes where they feed in grain fields during the first day.. We should also see lakes covered with thousands of Snow Geese. Other birds we may see include Rough-legged Hawk, Bald Eagle, Lapland Longspur, Long-billed Dowitcher, Canada Geese, Cackling Geese,, Ross's Geese, Great White-fronted Geese.

2-day Add-On Tour to Cypress Hills Park

During the optional add-on tour to Cypress Hills Region, we hope to find Golden Eagle, Prairie Falcon, Ferruginous Hawk and Pink-sided Juncos. Townsend's Solitaires and other rare strays from the Rocky Mountains are possible.

Transportation

Participants must drive their own personal or rented vehicle on this guided tour. If requested, tour leader may be willing to drive your vehicle during tour.

Accommodation

Following your registration, you will receive an email with the information needed to book your accommodation during this tour.

Meals: you need to pay for your own meals.

QUESTIONS

Please email any questions to

birdtours@sasktel.net

Today's tour begins at 7:30 AM in Saskatoon, Canada.

While you drive to the Whooping Crane Viewing Area, your guide will discuss the history of the international recovery efforts to increase the population of this endangered bird species.

Your guide will direct you to the best locations on public roads to view the Whooping Cranes while they feed in grain fields in the morning.

We normally break for lunch near a lake where tremendous flocks of Snow Geese, ducks and other birds occur. You can bring your own lunch or stop at a gas station to pick up food for lunch.

After lunch we will explore additional locations where Whooping Cranes may be roosting. If time permits, we may choose to stop at another birding hotspot or view a local landmark, which might include Saskatchewan's largest tree. We will then return to Saskatoon by about 3:30 pm.

Today, we will spend the day viewing flocks of Sandhill Cranes in fields near Saskatoon. We may also visit Pike Lake Park and/or Outlook region.

Today we will drive to visit Last Mountain Lake Bird Sanctuary and surrounding region. It was the first federal bird sanctuary to be created in North America. We hope to see many sandhill cranes, geese, ducks and other water and grassland birds.

On Day 4, we will depart Saskatoon for the boreal forest at Prince Albert National Park. This park was home to Grey Owl, the famous author who took on the life of an Indian and wrote about the need to protect beavers.

On Day 4, we we will take an easy walk along a forest trail looking for Spruce Grouse, Canada Jays and woodpeckers plus explore other scenic areas in the park by vehicle.

Overnight at a hotel in or near the park.

On Day 5, we will hike another trail in the park in the morning and then return to Saskatoon by suppertime. where the tour ends.

If you book this add-on tour, we will depart Saskatoon on Day 6 and visit a deep reservoir looking for geese and loons. We will then continue to Cypress Hills Provincial Park where we will stay overnight.

As we drive on roads in and near the park, we will will watch for Golden Eagles, Prairie Falcons, Ferruginous and Rough-legged Hawks. We should find the pink-sided subspecies of Dark-eyed Junco. Possible rare birds might include Townsend's Solitaire, .

We will depart the park near noon and return to Saskatoon by 5 pm where the tour ends.