Chaplin Lake, SK, a Western Hemispheric Shorebird Reserve

When driving on the Trans Canada Highway between Moose Jaw and Swift Current, and entering the large, white salt deposits, you are entering the Chaplin Lake area. The area is noted from the Western Hemispheric Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) for its Shorebirds. Chaplin Lake was designated a Western Hemispheric Shorebird Reserve Network site in May of 1997. This is the highest designation that a reserve can receive and there are only 35 sites recognized in the Western Hemisphere (only 5 of them being in Canada.....and 3 of the 5 are in Saskatchewan).

Chaplin Lake encompasses nearly 20 square miles (45,000 acres) and is the second largest saline water body in Canada. Shorebird surveys conducted by the Saskatchewan Wetlands Conservation Corporation and Environment Canada's Canadian Wildlife Service revealed that over 30 species, with a peak count of 67,000 birds in a day, use the lake. More than 50,000 Sanderlings, or about 25-50% of their hemispheric population, were counted in a single day in and around Chaplin Lake. This area is also one of the top four breeding areas in Saskatchewan for the Piping Plover, an endangered species whose principal breeding area is in Saskatchewan.


This message was edited Jul 1, 2007 3:14 PM

As well as being the home for shorebirds, the main business of Chaplin also uses the sodium sulphate deposits of Chaplin Lake. Saskatchewan Minerals, a private company, harvests the sodium sulphate through an evaporation method. Additionally, Artemia Canada, a seasonal company, catches, and packages the brine shrimp that thrive in the salt water of Chaplin Lake. Both of these industries support the needs of shorebirds by ensuring an adequate supply of water in the spring and summer.

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}

The above pics are mine (I see I missed putting on my copyright). Unfortunately I don't have a camera with the type of lens needed to capture the shorebirds close up but I thought the Chaplin area might be of interest to the people that frequent this forum.

This message was edited Jul 1, 2007 10:03 AM

Finally here's a view of the Chaplin Lake area courtesy of Google Earth.

Very cool! Thanks for posting this Lily!

I'm glad you enjoyed it Pelletory. :) Even living close to it I still find it a breathtaking sight (seeing that particular shade of blue and the blinding white). I must admit it makes me think a little of the Bear Paw Sea is still with us.

This is interesting information! Thanks for sharing with us.

You're very welcome Tigerlily. :) Come spring the skies over Saskatchewan turn black .... we always grin when we see the V's of the Canada Geese (winter is finally over ;):

" As home, migratory stop and breeding ground, Saskatchewan hosts over 25 percent of the continent's ducks and geese. In the summer season, swans and sandhill cranes flock to the province by the millions. Saskatchewan also is one of the best places on earth to view rare whooping cranes, magnificent white birds bordering on extinction. The Canadian Wildlife Service hosts a Whooping Crane Hotline (306-975-5595) for reports on the latest sightings.

Beginning in May, waves of migrating birds stop down in Saskatchewan to rest and feed before continuing on to breeding grounds farther north."


However I often forget how many other species of birds fill our skies come spring and are also returning to rest &/or breed. This is a partial list of the birds that have been recorded in counts at Chaplin Lake:

American Avocet
Baird’s Sandpiper
Black-bellied Plover
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Dunlin
Hudsonian Godwit
Killdeer
Least Sandpiper
Lesser Golden Plover
Lesser Yellowlegs
Long-billed Curlew
Long-billed Dowitcher
Marbled Godwit
Pectoral Sandpiper
Piping Plover
Red Knot
Red-necked Phalarope
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Semipalmated Plover
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Spotted Sandpiper
Stilt Sandpiper
Upland Sandpiper
White-rumped Sandpiper
Willet

Shorebird surveys conducted by the Saskatchewan Wetlands Conservation Corporation and Environment Canada's Canadian Wildlife Service revealed that over 30 species, with a peak count of 67,000 birds in a day using the lake.

Here's a picture I posted a couple of years ago (be sure to click on the thumbnail). It shows only a small part of the mega V of returning Geese. There were hundreds of mega V's like this one filling the sky that day.

And here's one group taking a rest at a slough (mix of Canada Geese, Snow Geese and Swans.......it only shows a small percentage of the total group). Sandhill Cranes and Ducks also arrive at the same time.

This message was edited Jul 2, 2007 2:05 AM