Bowman Family Saskatchewan Trip - June 19-30, 2026

June 26: Fort Walsh & Cypress Hills West Block

On our trip to Fort Walsh, we made a couple of stops at Cypress Lake. We were hoping for a Clark’s Grebe, but it was not to be. We did at least get our closest shots of a Ferruginous Hawk.

We enjoyed the visitor centre at Fort Walsh and the reconstructed fort itself. It was good to learn about the Nakoda massacre and the founding of the North-West Mounted Police.

The fort had nesting Mountain Bluebirds and Barn Swallows in the eaves of the buildings. There was a lovely hiking trail, but birds were in short supply. Pamela could hear lot of song, but was frustrated by the birds staying largely hidden. We did get a glimpse of a Yellow-rumped Warbler. A fisher was having some luck with Brown Trout.

We hiked back to the visitor centre for lunch. Bill & Barbara were lucky to hitch a ride part way with the shuttle driver.

After lunch we drove to the Conglomerate Cliffs – a neat place.

We carried on into the Alberta potion of the park dodging herds of cattle and cowboys & girls on the road.

We finally made our way to Maple Creek and an ice cream stop.

We made one more stop at the east end of Cypress Lake, and we had to unlock the gate to get in to the reservoir. Besides the usual suspects, we saw our only Buffleheads of the trip, two females.

Craig cooked pasta for supper. Later, we checked out the Screech Owl again. We concluded that it is not there anymore. Then, we swung by the Eastend reservoir, but there was nothing on the water, only a Yellow Warbler on the fence.