Alberta Grasslands Tour 2025
8/30/2025
Every time I roam the grasslands of southern Alberta, they grow on me a little more.
Once simply the landscape upon which I sought to track some of the nation's worst weather, I find myself visiting them more and more for their own sake. Appearing a lot more "plain" than somewhere like the Rockies, they can be easily overlooked. But Alberta's grassland region harbours tremendous biodiversity, with many forms of rare and unique wildlife that can only be found in this region of Canada.
The grasslands tend to be the least protected of the natural regions, becoming increasingly fragmented by human activities like resource extraction and conversion to agricultural land. This is causing increased disturbance and shrinking habitat for numerous species of wildlife, driving many to a threatened or locally endangered status.
Fortunately, Alberta continues to maintain some of the largest intact stretches of native grassland in North America, primarily in the southeastern corner of the province. Between August 26-28, I spent three days touring some of these protected natural areas, looking for some of our more elusive wildlife. Read on to see what I found.
Day 1
I started my trip in beautiful Vulcan County, looking for Burrowing Owls - a very rare (and endangered) species in Alberta, and likely at the very end of their season before heading to warmer climes for the winter. Needless to say, I was unsuccessful, as I usually am. In fact, I have only come across Burrowing Owl nests twice in four years of looking in southern Alberta.
My travels took me past the 465-megawatt Travers Solar Project - Canada's largest solar farm. And just to its north sits the Buffalo Plains wind farm, which is also the nation's largest wind farm, at 495 megawatts. Alberta is Canada's largest producer of oil and gas, but, unknown to some, it also has a burgeoning renewable sector.
Southern Alberta sports some large of bodies water, but given the semi-arid climate of the region, they are essentially all made by humans. The region contains the largest area of irrigated cropland in Canada, coming from reservoirs like the Travers seen above. This year, demand for water has probably been less given the wet summer in many areas. At present, there's an abundance of bales on hay fields and thick-looking crops ripe for harvest!
After leaving Vulcan County, I headed toward Brooks to observe the damage from the massive storm that swept through on August 20. On the way, I came across a fledgling Swainson's Hawk in the middle of a grid road. Even though I encouraged it to safety in a nearby field, mom and dad weren't appreciative as they cried out while flying circles overhead. It can be puzzling because these fledglings look mature, but can't fly, leading some to believe they're injured.
The storm damage near Brooks was incredible, where intense winds paired with large hail to cause destruction of crops, homes, and cars - along with irrigation and power infrastructure. Just north of town, it looked like the dead of winter in the middle of the swath, with no greenery remaining - despite lush fields and trees in the immediate surroundings. The storm levelled corn stalks and defoliated trees, as seen above.
The corridor along Highway 36 west of Brooks has 3 sets of major high-voltage transmission lines, as seen in the above image. Impressively, the high winds, estimated by the Northern Tornadoes Project to be as high as 165km/h in this area, took out 12 transmission towers. Five of these completely collapsed, likely as a result of a cascading failure.
Now, let's finally get back to wildlife. I went on to check into a hotel for the night, before heading to a nearby river canyon to look for the world's northernmost species of scorpion.
It didn't take me long. As soon as I turned on my black light flashlight, I began to spot Northern Scorpions on the terrain by the dozen. I was so excited that I had to tell some nearby campers in the dark to follow me into the dunes, so I could have someone to share the experience with. A crew from the Czech Republic, one of the ladies remarked that the excursion reminded her of the beginning of a horror movie, and wondered where I might be leading them.
The crickets were singing, the stars were blazing - it was a wonderful evening. I even caught a pair of scorpions doing a mating dance.
Day 2
After wolfing down a French Toast Slam from Denny's, I headed out to a similar area as the night previous to look for rattlesnakes.
Along the way, I enjoyed two of our three species of cacti in southern Alberta - the Plains pricklypear, and the more rounded Spinystar (also known as pincushion cactus). These are especially beautiful when flowering earlier in the season.
At last, I came across two Prairie Rattlesnakes. These snakes are often misunderstood, but are an essential part of a healthy prairie ecosystem. I always think of them as "polite snakes" because they (usually) rattle at you before you even see them - and indeed, they are very timid and not aggressive unless cornered.
I found the snakes amid dry grass scattered with Silver Sagebrush (see below) - a plant that looks as wonderful as it smells. Seriously, crush some leaves between your fingers and give them a whiff.
From there, I headed southeast into open grasslands to try to find the family of Burrowing Owls I found earlier in August. Alas, they were gone.
I did see the same Ferruginous Hawk that I saw in the area where the Burrowing Owls were, though - probably even on the same fence post. It was a brave and handsome bird, and it knew it.
Ever seen a field of hemp? Well now you have. The diversity of some of the crops in the irrigation districts of southern Alberta can be impressive.
Heading for the Badlands of far southeastern Alberta, I stop in Bow Island for food, gas, and to make a futile effort at squeegeeing all the bugs off my windshield. South of the Crowsnest Highway in southeastern Alberta, there are little to no services - so having enough gas and food is critical before entering the region.
It was also brutally hot, with temperatures in the mid-thirties. I hiked around some badlands in search of Alberta's only lizard species, but was unsuccessful. In the end, I was just sweaty and dirty with nothing to show for, and it made me feel a little dejected as I continued further south to explore a new area for me.
Upon arrival along the south rim of the Milk River canyon in the Pinhorn Grazing Reserve, my jaw just about hit the ground. I had seen the Milk River canyon at Writing-on-Stone, which is fantastic - but here, it is even more deeply incised into the landscape. The vertical relief is about 150 metres in the easternmost portions of the canyon in southern Alberta, in a very remote area that's not easy to get to.
It's by far my favourite badlands area of Alberta now, and I look forward to exploring more of it in the future.
It's also super cool that the Milk River watershed is the only one in Canada whose waters end up in the Gulf of Mexico. In the coming weeks and months, the waters of the Milk will flow through northern Montana into the Missouri River near Fort Peck Lake, eventually merging into the Mississippi near St. Louis, and southward into the muddy Gulf.
Feeling much better after discovering this gem, I got back on the road to Medicine Hat to call it a night.
What followed was a very harrowing drive. Despite not travelling very quickly, I had to slam on the brakes for a coyote, a Pronghorn, and a heifer. Then, once off the open rangeland, I had my closest call ever with hitting a deer. An owl, porcupine, and skunk also came near.
I love the wildlife of southeastern Alberta with all my heart, but not when it's running in front of my car in pitch darkness. I always imagine how bad it could be if the animal were particularly large, like this pair of bull elk proudly roaming the Pinhorn.
Day 3
I woke at the crack of dawn with the intention of beating the heat for the big hike I had planned for the day, and jumped in the car. But as I went to back out of the hotel parking lot, I quickly realized I had a flat tire. Bummer, dude.
I suppose I was fortunate that it happened a 5 minute drive from Canadian Tire, and not in the middle of a field, in the middle of nowhere.
The lads in the shop had me out of there in less than an hour, for a pleasantly affordable $31.48. I was back on the road.
One of the sights that's ubiquitous to driving southern Alberta's grasslands is the Pronghorn. Sometimes called "antelope", these ungulates are actually more closely related to giraffes. Unlike deer, they don't jump over fences, but they can run. With top speeds near 90km/h, they are the fastest land mammal in the Americas.
When I made it to a block of heritage rangeland in far southeastern Alberta, it was mercifully cloudy, with a light breeze. I hoofed it 9 kilometres south over open grasslands toward a canyon along the US border.
Grassland hiking is weird. I used to think climbing in the big mountains made me feel small, but being the tallest thing around in big, BIG country is truly bizarre. It's certainly not for anyone with a sense of agoraphobia.
There's just miles of grass in every direction. No other human souls. Total exposure to the elements, with no possibility of shelter. No sound except that of the occasional buzz of crickets or trill of Horned Larks. Between the Sweetgrass Hills of Montana and the Canadian Cypress Hills, it's vast, lonely country down there in the bottom corner of Alberta.
It puts everything into perspective - how quiet the majority of the world actually is, how much is going on that we're not aware of, how small our problems are, how short our existence on Earth. Deep thoughts, if not a little freaky when all alone. You just hike from one small knoll, tuft of grass, or barbed wire fence to the next to pass the time and make sense of the scale of the land. Turn just one degree to the right or left and after a while, the error has magnified to the point that you're well off route.
Along the way, I peer down gopher holes with the hopes of seeing her. Finally, there she is - a magnificent Western Black Widow spider. Look at that red hourglass!
Eventually, I made it to the canyon rim. And as soon as I set foot on the slope, I saw a Greater Short-horned Lizard. Day made.
I found two more while exploring the badlands in the canyon. I just can't get over how much these amazing creatures look like little dinosaurs.
Another thing that's cool about this area of far southeastern Alberta is that it's the only place in Canada where the Great Plains Yucca (otherwise known as "Soapweed" - the spiky-looking green plant below) grows natively. And it is paired with a single pollinator - the Yucca Moth.
The area truly has that western US feel to it.
Before leaving, I discovered this big, beautiful Banded Garden Spider having lunch. Word of the day: the pretty, silky zigzag structure in the web is called a stabilimentum - found in the webs of some orb-weaving spiders.
On the way back, I still had some juice in my phone that I'd been saving in case of emergencies - so I listened to my Gabor Maté audiobook to make the walk less monotonous. Radar showed some heavier precipitation echoes to the south in Montana slowly creeping toward me, and I cringed at the thought that they may approach and produce lightning before I reached the safety of my car.
Despite being cloudy, it was still warm, I was bagged, and my socks were full of grass. It was good to change into the crocs.
