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Watchable Wildlife Manitoba


Delta Marsh Wildlife Management Area


Site Services
bullet Drinking Water Yes
bullet Restrooms Yes
bullet Marked Trails Yes
bullet Boardwalk Yes
bullet Viewing Tower Yes
bullet Picnic Shelter Yes
bullet Camping Yes
bullet Concession Yes
bullet Visitor Centre No
bullet Interpretive Signs/brochures Yes
bullet Primitive Site No
Description:

Delta Marsh is one of the greatest freshwater marshes of the world. Princes and Hollywood celebrities came to Delta to hunt waterfowl in the early 1900's. The 18,000-hectare marsh stretches around the southern edge of Lake Manitoba. Delta is a great spot for a family day out – there are beaches, interpretive trails and plenty of wildlife.

Spring is a busy time to visit Delta – the marsh and beach ridges are alive with migrating birds in all shapes and sizes. Colourful warblers migrate through in waves of thousands. Delta Marsh Bird Observatory, the busiest bird banding station in Canada, bands thousands of songbirds every year. Spring is also a time for mating dances. The most impressive is the ballet of the courting Western Grebe. Watch for it in May in open water on the marsh from one of the viewing towers. In summer, warblers skim through the trees of the beach ridge. Look for the rare Golden-winged, Black-throated and Blue Warblers. At St. Ambroise you can see Yellow-headed Blackbirds beat their wings against bushes to stir up the bugs for a bite to eat. Sit on the beach and watch the sandpipers running in and out of wavelets or pelican flotillas herding minnows and scooping them into their pouches. Look for the rare Hackberry tree (photo) not often found in Manitoba. Both Delta Beach and St. Ambroise Park have interpretive trails with signs and viewing towers in the marsh – Taking Flight Trail at Delta and Sioux Pass Marsh Trail at St. Ambroise. Keep watch for movement – you might see a deer walking through the reeds or a Great Blue Heron stalking a Leopard frog. Don’t forget to look up – hawks might be quartering the marsh. Fall brings the migrants back to Delta Marsh. It is a major staging area, where waterfowl rest and feed during their long migration from one end of the continent to the other. Watch for swans, geese and ducks in the thousands. 

Don’t Miss:

Taking Flight Trail, Sioux Pass Marsh Trail, Cadham Bay viewpoint on Provincial Road 240 just before Delta Beach

Habitats:

lake, treed beach ridge, marsh complex, upland grasslands and pastures, maple and aspen-oak bluffs

Site Specialties:

Canvasback, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Western and Clark’s Grebes, Yellow Warbler, Snow Geese (blue phase and Ross’s), American White Pelican

Directions:
  1. Delta Beach – take the Trans-Canada Highway 1, to the town of Portage la Prairie, 70 kilometres west of Winnipeg. From Portage la Prairie, travel north 30 kilometres along Provincial Road 240 (watch the signs there are two right angle turns in the road); when you run out of road you are at Delta Beach. Taking Flight Trail is to the east (right) and the municipal park is to the west (left). 
  2. Delta Marsh Field Station is located off the northernmost point of the Field Station Road on the west bank of the Assiniboine River Diversion that crosses Highway 227.
  3. St. Ambroise Provincial Park – take the Trans-Canada Highway 1 to Provincial Road 430, turn north and follow the road to the hamlet of St. Ambroise, continue past the hamlet about five minutes and follow the signs to the park. You have to turn left before the end of the road and then take the next right and you will drive through the marsh to the beach and campground on the edge of the lake.  
Latitude & Longitude:
  1. Delta Beach – 50°11’11N and 98°19’15W
  2. Parking lot for Taking Flight Interpretive Trail – 50°11’10N and 98°18’46W
  3. St. Ambroise Provincial Park gate – 50°16’13N and 98°04’45W
Cautionary Notes:

Hunting is allowed in the WMA, but not in the Game Bird Refuges at Delta Beach and St. Ambroise Provincial Park. Some of the marsh is privately owned and landowner permission is required for access.

Admission:

There is no entry fee to Delta Beach to St. Ambroise Provincial Park (provincial park vehicle permits are waived in 2009 and 2010).

More about Delta Marsh Wildlife Management Area: