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By Kenneth Cheung

WILDLIFE

Return of bald eagles to Saskatchewan signals healthy ecosystem

Apr 19, 2025 | 8:00 AM

The skies over Saskatchewan are once again dotted with the sweeping silhouettes of bald eagles, as spring and summer draw the birds back to the province from America — an encouraging sign that local ecosystems are thriving.

“What drives a lot of birds to migrate back in the summer is that food is really, really plentiful here, especially in northern Saskatchewan where bald eagles usually end up at the end of their migration,” said Ryan Fisher, curator of vertebrate zoology at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum and adjunct professor at the University of Regina.

Once listed as endangered, bald eagles in Canada had made a dramatic comeback from 1970 to 2022. According to Birds Canada, their population has surged by more than 800 per cent. In the southern Prairies specifically, sightings have increased more than 4,000 per cent. Today, Canada is home to an estimated 110,000 bald eagles—over half the world’s total population.

And this time around, it’s not just a few bald eagles calling Saskatchewan home. In fact, their numbers can reach into the thousands, according to Stan Shadick, who leads birding tours with Living Sky Wildlife Rehabilitation.

“We maybe get a slightly higher number of bald eagles because of our river geography,” Shadick explained, adding that large numbers are often found near La Ronge and the northern lakes.

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Among the features that make Saskatchewan ideal for the birds, Fisher said, are the boreal lakes and river systems teeming with aquatic prey. More than 60 fish species live in the province’s waters, including walleye, northern pike, lake trout, Arctic grayling and rainbow trout.

“Our lakes are frozen in the winter and so they can’t eat the fish that they usually like to eat. But then when those lakes start to unfreeze and open up, they come back to Saskatchewan and take full advantage of that,” he noted.

Fisher said their presence is a strong indicator of ecological health.

“If you have bald eagles nesting around the lakes, that probably means you have a pretty healthy fish population or duck population for them to eat. That lake is providing everything that that eagle needs, which is a really, really good sign for us.”

The birds also select nesting sites that can support their large stick nests, typically near water and in tall, open trees. Despite being apex predators, bald eagles don’t overwhelm the ecosystems they inhabit.

“They really don’t tend to be in large enough numbers that they might have an impact on fish populations or anything like that. The ecosystem can handle the amount of bald eagles that we currently have quite well,” Fisher said.

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While bald eagles share hunting grounds with other birds of prey, such as ospreys, they typically dominate the landscape.

“There’s another bird called an Osprey, which also typically nests near water and will eat fish. But generally they kind of sort themselves out and there really isn’t a time of competition, ” Fisher said.

“There are some owls in the boreal forest… like the great horned owl, which can sometimes eat the young of bald eagles, so there can be some friction there… but generally they’re sort of top of the [food] chain and nothing too much else will influence where they decide to nest.”

Osprey in action. (ID 117917036 © Harry Collins | Dreamstime.com)

Shadick added that birdwatchers might also spot golden eagles returning to the province, although they are far less common.

“We see far more bald eagles than golden eagles. A lot of people misidentify immature bald eagles and call them golden eagles. If you see a golden eagle, it will have a golden head and you need to check a bird book for telling the difference between golden eagles and immature bald eagles, because immature balds have a dark head and that’s a very common misidentification that people make,” he said.

“We do get both species, but by far the majority are bald eagles in our part of Saskatchewan.”

A pair of golden eagles. (ID 75942309 © Juan Pablo Fuentes Serrano | Dreamstime.com)

While climate change continues to pose a threat to wildlife globally, Saskatchewan’s environment has so far remained a stronghold for the species.

“Those northern landscapes that we have in Saskatchewan seem to be staying very suitable for the bald eagles that we have here,” said Fisher.

“If they’re there, it’s a good sign.”

– With files from Shane Clausing/650 CKOM staff –

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Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com