The Nature Conservancy of Canada (the NCC) is looking for volunteer bird lovers to come help with their two day event 'Peeping It Real' at Reed Lake this Friday and Saturday.  The lake is adjacent to Highway 1 at the town of Morse, located between Moose Jaw and Swift Current.

This will be the 10th annual "inventories and monitoring" event and each day will begin by meeting at the Morse Esso in town at 9 am, and volunteers will then head out as a group. Experts will be there to provide the information necessary for people to know what they are looking for and how to catalogue it.

Ashley Rankin, Engagement Coordinator for the Nature Conservancy of Canada, said that no experience is necessary and anyone who wants to, can come out to help.  It is also a great opportunity for kids, as long as parents or guardians are along to supervise.
 
"If you have some knowledge on water fowl or maybe you just want to learn more then we welcome you out -  anybody, no experience required. We're going to have experts out with us that are going to teach you what to look for and how to monitor and hopefully then, we can get some 'citizen scientists' out on their own," she said. "You can sit if you like or you can hike around if you like.  We will be moving throughout the day but certainly, we have people who choose to just plant themselves in one spot and just go from there and that's fine, take photos.  We will lead some of the birding (through the day)."
 
There is significant data to be collected each year, as the NCC collects observations and numbers from Reed Lake to monitor bird populations. "The area that Reed Lake is in is a priority area in terms of migratory bird stop-overs.  Reed Lake is recognized as one of the five wetlands in Saskatchewan of major importance for the endangered migratory birds and threatened birds, and as well as shorebirds and water fowl," Rankin said.
 
"That area in specific, is well known for having about 30-40 breeding pairs of shorebirds, or water fowl, or even grassland obligates for every square mile.  So it is a very, very well populated, densely populated area," she detailed.
 
For more information, or to sign up to volunteer, you can checkout the NCC webpage.
 
Below are photos from past inventory events.