Beneath Saskatchewan’s Migratory Flyway

By Asha Jhamandas

Beneath Saskatchewan’s Migratory Flyway

CWF recently donated $15,000 to help the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation buy 100 acres of wildlife habitat near Saskatoon. Read on to find out about this rich prairie mosaic and what makes it so special.

“Anytime you can secure a staging area for a whooping crane, you’re one step closer to preserving the species.” — Jim Kroshus, SWF

Migrating whooping cranes, one of Canada’s most endangered birds, stop en route to stage and fatten up on the waste grain in stubble fields. Their intermission here fuels the last leg of their migration between Texas and summer breeding grounds in the Northwest Territories.

Avian Attractions

Download our National Wildlife Week teaching unit, “Migration ... An Incredible Journey,” at www.wildeducation.org.

A bevy of boisterous shorebirds and waterfowl frequent the habitats around Unnamed Lake — yes, that’s really what it’s called! — and Radisson Lake during migration:
American avocets
Blue-winged teals
Long-billed dowitchers
Mallard ducks
Pintails
Piping plovers
Scaup
Sanderlings
Sandpipers
Semipalmated plovers
Shovelers
Snow geese
Tundra swans
Willets

Iconic Species at Risk

To learn more about these species, visit hww.ca and look for the fact sheets on whooping cranes, piping plovers and shoreline birds.

An endangered piping plover chases away an invading semipalmated cousin. Piping plovers nest in small numbers at Radisson Lake. Their entire lives take place between just above the high-water mark, where they nest, and the leading edge of the waves, where they forage.

A Birdwatcher’s Paradise

CWF’s free bird posters will help you identify national favourites and offer some thoughtful planting recommendations for attracting birds. Preview Wild About Birds 2 on cwf-fcf.org.

The land parcel lies beneath a central flyway used by thousands of migrants, such as these magnificent snow geese in the middle of take off. The incredible biodiversity that results during migratory stopovers attracts many a day-tripping birder from Saskatoon.

A Fine Balance

Long and thin is the standard blueprint for shorebird legs and bills, like those belonging to this American avocet. Still, small variations in length and structure allow each species to take slightly different prey, or the same prey from different depths in the mud. So even though they’re eating side by side, nature has cleverly found a way for them to avoid competition.

A Scrumptious Feast

At Radisson Lake, the buffet is always open. Staging shorebirds gorge on an all-you-can-eat smorgasbord of insects, larvae and tiny crustaceans. The warm, shallow alkali lakes in the area support a rich invertebrate community that grows unchecked in the absence of fish. The lakes occasionally dry out, but some invertebrates have resting stages and can live for a very long time until the water returns.

An Ancient, Submerged Past

Saline lakes have a long history on the Great Plains. Many years ago the Prairies were covered by an ancient sea that became trapped inland after the Rocky Mountains uplifted. The sea evaporated but its salt was left behind. Rainfall and runoff then carried it to the lowest parts of the land, creating the saline sloughs that we see in Saskatchewan today.

Reclaiming Prairie Grassland

Interested in adding some native grasses to your own garden? A good place to start is by reading “Native Grasses for the Modern Landscape” onwww.wildaboutgardening.org

Wheat fields at the northern border of the protected land parcel transition into a grassland dominated by quack grass, rough fescue (prairie wool) and snowberry, and then to wetland. Next spring, SWF plans to convert the wheat monocrop back to native mixed-prairie grassland, and reclaim one of the most endangered nesting habitats in Canada.