Visit an international birding hotspot in Alberta

Bird watching is an easy way to see wildlife in its natural habitat, and a prairie wetland south of Calgary has become a well-known birding destination due to its easy access to species that gather there in large numbers. 

Frank Lake, a birding hot spot east of High River in Foothills County, boasts international recognition and offers a terrific opportunity to get up close to wild birds. 

If anybody knows the area and its birds, it’s biologist and birdwatcher Greg Wagner. 

Wagner has worked as the lake’s volunteer caretaker for over 10 years and says it is the most important wetland for birds in southwestern Alberta. 

“We’ve recorded 157 species over the years,” Wagner says. 

The lake is classified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) and is one of 48 Alberta locations to have that designation. IBAs have international significance and must host a large number of birds or support rare species. 

Several things come together at Frank Lake to make it an ideal spot for birds, whether they are passing through during migration or staying over summer to breed and raise their young. 

Seasonal sloughs dot the nearby landscape, and nearby cultivated fields provide a food source for geese and thousands of trumpeter swans that stop during fall migration. 

Cattails, bullrush beds and grasslands around the large and shallow wetland provide habitat for nesting birds, and fish provide food for several species. 

Those components make the lake an attractive home for ducks, wading birds and prairie birds. 

“If we were to go out there today, we’d probably get a list of 50 (or) 60 species,” Wagner says. 

Rare species spotted

While there are good numbers of more common species, the lake offers the chance to see some rarities, like Clark’s Grebes. 

Wagner says those birds are very hard to find, “but with a little effort, you can get them at Frank Lake.” 

Grassland species like Baird’s sparrows and Sprague’s pipits can also be found in the area. 

“That's one of the few places where you can get those species in the Calgary area, say within a 50-mile radius,” he says. 

Other species regularly seen in the summer include white-faced Ibis, avocets, black-neck stilts and herons. 

The lake is divided into three basins, and most people visit Basin 1, where there is a boardwalk, a viewing blind and portable washrooms. 

The access road is about five kilometres east of Highway 2 on Highway 23, near the town of High River. 

From Highway 23, a turn onto 530 Avenue comes up quickly. Drivers follow a gravel road for about three kilometres to a roundabout that marks the end of the road. 

On the way, two nearby islands commonly hold hundreds of pelicans, along with jet-black cormorants and plenty of seagulls, and a pullout offers a place to park and look around. 

“It’s pretty difficult to find another spot where I can get a full-frame shot of a pelican with my iPhone, and that’s what you can do at Frank Lake,” Wagner says. 

Although there are six or seven other access points around the lake, the area near the viewing blind is the most popular spot for birders and photographers. 

Frank Lake was not always a large, stable wetland. Historically, lake levels varied tremendously, and it could be dry some years or flooded in others. 

The water level has been stabilized through cooperation between industry, government and conservation groups. 

Ducks Unlimited revitalization

Ducks Unlimited played a huge role in revitalizing the wetland and created three separate basins to help hold water. If the first one filled, water would flow into the second, and if it filled, into the third, Wagner says. 

The first two basins now hold water most years, while the third is full about 70 per cent of the time, Wagner says. 

Around the time Ducks Unlimited got to work, a 10-kilometre pipeline was built to carry water into the lake from the High River water treatment plant and a meat packing plant. 

The tertiary-treated water enters Frank Lake near the two islands, and Wagner says the meat packing plant might not have been built without the pipeline, because regulators didn’t want wastewater going into the nearby Highwood River. 

“To a certain degree, Frank Lake treats the water even more,” he says. 

On any day from spring through fall, there is a chance to bump into people visiting Basin 1 from various parts of Alberta, other provinces or even internationally. 

Gary Kramer, an award-winning wildlife photographer and writer from California, recently visited the area during work he’s doing for a new book. Kramer says he’s trying to photograph all the major breeding areas in North America. 

Frank Lake is known as a place where photographers can get fairly close to some of the birds that live there, he says. 

“They’re relatively used to people being around, which always helps,” he says. 

Kramer was a wildlife biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service before becoming a full-time writer and photographer. 

He says that without the tall grass and vegetation around the lake, birds would stop there during migration but wouldn’t stay over summer to raise their young. 

“It's real important to have this nesting cover, because if you have a lake with no nesting cover, the birds will use it in the fall, but they won’t breed," he says.

Threats from natural and human sources

Although it’s a highly regarded conservation area, Frank Lake faces threats from natural and human sources. 

Invasive Prussian carp appeared about five years ago. The fish provide food for birds like pelicans, cormorants or grebes, but the long-term impacts remain to be seen, Wagner says. 

Before the carp appeared, about 15 years ago, transmission lines were put up around the lake’s western half, Wagner says. 

“Transmission lines kill birds, and we know that,” he says. 

And more recently, a 600-hectare solar energy project was proposed near the lake. Much of the footprint of the Foothills Solar Project would have fallen within one kilometre of the Frank Lake IBA boundary. 

Regulators cited the possibility of high bird mortality and habitat destruction in their decision to nix the project in 2023. 

Wagner says it was the first solar project in Alberta to be completely rejected by the Alberta Utilities Commission. 

“It’s internationally recognized as an important area for birds, so why would we do anything to threaten the bird population there?” he asks. 

Birding appeals to people because every day is different and there’s always a chance to see something special, Wagner says. 

There’s solitude and discovery, and it can be what you make it, whether that means going once a year or every day, by yourself, with a few friends, or on tours with 20 other people, he says. 

A pair of binoculars, a small camera with a zoom lens, or a spotting scope are helpful pieces of equipment to get started bird watching, but there is plenty to see at Frank Lake with the naked eye. 

“The spotting scopes are nice because they let you look around the lake and also get a really good look at the birds that are far away,” he says. “But to start with, a pair of binoculars will get you a long way.” 

Birders tend to be friendly folks, and most are happy to answer questions, he says. 

Wagner says as much as Frank Lake draws people to the area, Foothills County, with its mix of prairies, forests, foothills and mountains, offers excellent bird watching. The Town of High River could declare itself the birding capital of Alberta, he says. 

“The number of birding opportunities that exist is huge,” he says. “I can lead birding tours, and not go to the same place, every day of the week.”