Bird Watching

Birds of the Boreal

     The Bonnyville/Cold Lake region lies within the transition zone between Alberta’s aspen parkland and northern boreal forest. This unique habitat attracts an incredibly diverse population of bird species. A bird checklist for the region, recently published by the Beaver River Naturalist Society, identified 292 species of birds in the area.
     Most neo-tropical migratory birds, such as the Wood Warblers, migrate to Alberta along the boreal forest edge. For this colourful and diminutive family of birds, Cold Lake becomes one of the key entry points to the province. In late May and early June, Cold Lake Provincial Park and other recreational areas around Cold Lake become the destination for birders who wish to experience a wild weekend of warbler watching with a potential of 23 warbler species to be observed. These include the provincially uncommon Chestnut-Sided, Nashville, Blackburnian, Bay-Breasted, Connecticut and Mourning warblers. The fall migration through late July and August draws a repeat crowd. Couple this rare attraction with a host of waterfowl species, including one of Alberta’s largest Western Grebe colonies, and a spill-over population of Pelicans, Cormorants and Gull species, and you have a birding paradise. Ethel Lake has become home to one of Alberta’s most reliable count areas for the provincially uncommon Yellow Rail and Sedge Wren while the Bonnyville area is home to several of the most northerly breeding pairs of Turkey Vultures.
     Bonnyville is highlighted by Jessie Lake, a shallow wetland home for many species of waterfowl. Here, from viewing platforms and a walking path around the lake, you can see nesting populations of our most beautiful shorebird, the American Avocet, and watch the undulating flight of a hunting Short-Eared Owl. To the west, Moose Lake Provincial Park, Franchere Bay and Pelican Point recreational areas offer excellent boreal forest, lake and wetland habitat and often yield surprises for even the most experienced birder. At Muriel Lake, several of the low islands and parts of the shoreline provide restricted access protection to one of Alberta's largest breeding populations of the endangered Piping Plovers as well as to several large colonies of gulls, terns and cormorants.