Bowman Family Saskatchewan Trip - June 19-30, 2026

June 24: Grasslands National Park

After a simple breakfast, we were off on the southern route to Val Marie and Grasslands National Park. We saw yet another Ferruginous Hawk and a distant Coyote.

We stopped at the visitor centre, then went looking for a Dickcissel that had been reported. This time we were fortunate to see it on a wire. We also saw our first two Common Nighthawks of many to come. A Richardson Ground Squirrel was uncharacteristically perched on a fence post.

We started along the Ecotour Scenic Trail and saw Marbled Godwits right on the road! There was a Pronghorn right beside the road, too.

At the Top Dogtown area, we saw many Black-tailed Prairie Dogs and a distant Burrowing Owl – not really satisfying looks.

We drove into the campground where Craig & Pamela had camped in 2024 and saw many more Common Nighthawks on the fence rails along with Brown Thrashers and Say’s Phoebes.
We went into the day use pavilion to have our lunch – sandwiches that Craig had made at breakfast.

We continued on the Ecotour, passing two more Prairie Dog colonies seeing only another distant Burrowing Owl. We turned around and started back; this time we hit the jackpot!

At the turn, Craig spotted a Long-billed Curlew with a chick – another lifer! Next up was a close Coyote and a Burrowing Owl, much closer to the road. Yeah! There was a viewing telescope at a parking lot, where Grant spotted a whole family of Burrowing Owls. They were just too far for a satisfactory photograph.

We returned by a northern route through Shaunavon, seeing more Pronghorns, some Black Terns and waterfowl along the way.

During supper, Pamela looked at eBird checklists for the Screech Owl and looked at reported photos. We realized that we had been looking at the wrong place so made the short drive to the campground to look again. Craig thought he spotted it, but it was only a suspicious-looking knothole. Pamela sent a request on Discord for a more precise location.