Exploring Close to Home

As our name implies, the South West Naturalists are committed to exploring this part of the province. We don’t need to travel far to find
spectacular scenery. On May 26 (2007) a group headed off in a northeasterly direction to the village of Lucky Lake. From there we went to the
Heritage Marsh at Luck Lake which was developed in the late 80’s by Ducks Unlimited. They added nesting islands and structures to maintain a
more constant water level. A dike or causeway runs through the marsh creating a perfect environment for birding.

Silhouetted against the sky, or seen from a distance, many birds appear to be black, brown or rather drab, but with the aide of binoculars or a
spotting scope a myriad of colours, markings and unique characteristics are plainly visible. The green headed mallard is familiar to most
people, but other species are just as striking. The blue winged teal is recognized on the water by a white crescent shape just behind the bill
and a white patch on its sides behind the wing feathers. The male pintail duck has a prominent white spike running up its long slim neck.
The eared grebe has plumy gold feathers that resemble earmuffs against its black head and body, and its eye is brilliant red. The American
avocet is a large orange, black and white wading bird with a long upturned bill. It isn’t shy and usually continues to probe the shallow
water for food, so opportunities for great photographs are very possible.

Over a few very pleasant hours we identified 21 birds that call the marsh home, or use it as a staging area during migration in the spring
and fall. Included in that number were 2 birds that we weren’t expecting to see, the black bellied plover and the ruddy turnstone. Both are
stunning birds. The turnstone as its name implies, will turn stones over to look for bugs, but on the shoreline of the marsh, they were flipping
mud with their short upturned bills.

Later in the afternoon we drove south and west on a small portion of the thousands of kilometers of Saskatchewan’s grid roads. We made our
way to the Sand Castle in the river hills south of Beechy. We used Robin and Arlene Karpan’s book entitled Saskatchewan Scenic Drives c.2003, as
it has excellent descriptions and clear, concise maps. This destination is awesome to say the least! We took a somewhat challenging hike down
the steep hillside to the sandstone formation where we walked along the top ridge of the castle. The lake was still far, far below us. Looking
up, you are almost guaranteed to see a hawk such as the red -tailed or a Swainson’s. If you are lucky like we were, it will be a bald eagle circling overhead.

In the same area there is a Sunken Hill. A road used to run along the top of a deep ravine, but in 1949 the whole side of the hill collapsed. The steep cliffs 

in the area and eroded landforms show evidence of the 3 glacial periods and the bearpaw bedrock is exposed. Quite fittingly, this section of Lake Diefenbaker,

between Prairie Lake Regional Park to the East and Beaver Flat to the west is called Bearpaw Bend.   We had our flower reference books out too. There were

lots of flowers in bloom such as, nodding prairie onions, yellow umbrella plants, pink three -flowered avens, blue beardtongue, and vetch. Plumes from the
crocus gone to seed were obvious everywhere. The prickly- pear cacti were in bud and will be soon blooming.  A few weeks ago we were out to Yellow Lake, 

which is south west of Swift Current about 20 kms. There we saw many ducks and geese and some wading and shorebirds. Our club plans field trips mainly in 

the spring and fall. We are affiliated with Nature Sask. and they have two annual conferences, one in June and the other in Sept. These are always in
different regions of the province so there is opportunity for exploring even further afield. If you like the out of doors, are interested in
environmental issues and would like to learn more about native animals and plants come out to a meeting. We have a short business meeting and a
program, which usually features a speaker and visual presentation. We meet once a month on the 2nd Tuesday at 7:00 in the new Museum.

Norma J. H.
Program Committee