Bird Watching: Chaplin Lake, SK, a Western Hemispheric Shorebird Reserve, 1 by Lilypon

Lilypon wrote:

For many North American shorebirds, the Chaplin area fulfills their needs. The area is a bounty of delight for the birds as they bouquet on shore flies, brine shrimp, midge larval, and seeds from the salty shores and shallow waters, intermingling their eating with rest and few predators. Those birds that briefly stop in Chaplin determine to nest in the high arctic, dine and fatten here by the thousands in May and return, followed by their young in August and September.

An interpretive center near the village of Chaplin offers a wealth of information about the birds, the brine shrimp industry and this areas significance as it connects to the hemispheric web of migration. Bus tours are available daily during their summer season, which lasts from the long weekend in May to the long weekend in September. The Chaplin Nature Centre's 2007 hours of operation are 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Shorebirds, wildlife, conservation,local industries and agriculture will all be included in the tours. Also a short reach FM radio station that covers a 30 mile radius around Chaplin with recorded messages that explain the value of shorebird habitat in the area and encourage tourists to stop and tour the area.

In a pattern repeated for thousands of years, shorebirds link their winter stations in South America with the spring and summer nesting in Canada's prairies and high Arctic. During their passage with some birds flying more than 70 hours and over 5000 kms(3100 miles ) between stops, it is critical their needs be met.

[Wikipedia]{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaplin,_Saskatchewan}