Quill Lakes

The Quill Lakes is a wetland complex in East Central Saskatchewan that is home to over one million waterfowl, shorebirds and songbirds. The surrounding area is agricultural in nature and home to a number of small towns.

Understand
The Quill Lakes is a wetland complex that encompasses the endorheic basin of three distinct lake wetlands: Big Quill Lake, Middle Quill Lake and Little Quill Lake. In 1987, it was designated a wetland of international importance via the Ramsar Convention. It was the first Canadian site in the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, is a site in the International Biological Programme and Saskatchewan Heritage Marsh Program, and was designated a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network site of International significance in 1994. The site is an important staging and breeding area for spring and fall migration of shorebirds. The site qualifies as an Important Bird Area for its globally and nationally significant migratory and breeding populations of more than a dozen species of birds. The area around the lakes is provincial Crown land administered by the Fish and Wildlife Branch of Saskatchewan Environment, while the surrounding area mostly agricultural.

The lakes were named for bird quills collected near shorelines and shipped to England for use as quill pens. Quill Lakes is Canada's largest saline lake, covering an area of about 635 km2. Salinity varies within the lakes and with their water levels, but effectively limits the floral diversity of the region. Big Quill Lake is pear-shaped and approximately long, measuring  at its widest point. Middle Quill Lake, also known as Mud Lake, is the smallest of the three, about long and  wide. Little Quill Lake is long and. Islands located on Middle Quill Lake have been designated provincial wildlife refuges to protect breeding colonies of American white pelican and double-crested cormorant.



Towns and communities

 * – small hamlet located at the intersection of Highways 6 & 16
 * – home to the Foam Lake Heritage ​Marsh, a large staging area in the fall for thousands of geese, ducks, cranes and swans on their southward migration
 * – known as the "Goose Capital of Saskatchewan"
 * – located at the intersection of Highways 5 & 35
 * – located at the intersection of Highways 5 & 6; known as the "Industrial Crossroads of Saskatchewan" for being equidistant from Regina and Saskatoon
 * – located along Highway 16; the largest town in the area

Get in
The Quill Lakes area is about 2 hours east of Saskatoon via and 2 hours north of Regina by taking Highway 16 (Yellowhead Highway).

Get around
Car is essential because the large, sparsely populated area. The area is boxed by four major highways, with Highways 5 and 16 running east-west, to the north and south of the lakes respectively; while Highways 6 and 35 run north-south, to the west and east of the lakes respectively.

Do

 * Birdwatching – Various studies have surveyed bird populations in the Quill Lakes area. The most comprehensive study conducted resulted in a count of 197,155 birds. The site is an important staging and breeding area for the endangered piping plover. Other species identified throughout the complex included 85,000 geese, 100,000 ducks, 12,000 cranes, as well as black-bellied plover, sanderlings, Hudsonian godwits, red knots, stilt sandpipers, white-rumped sandpipers, semipalmated sandpipers, long-billed dowitchers, red-necked phalaropes, and lesser yellowlegs. Additionally, several whooping cranes were observed using the area for staging during fall migration.
 * Hunting – the Quill Lakes area is one of the best waterfowl hunting areas in North America.

Eat& drink
The towns have a limited selection of local restaurants.