Drop into our Recreation & Experience Centre for recommendation and current trail information including where to spot birds and other wildlife.
Take a Walk on The Wild Side
Wildlife & Bird Watching
Fairmont Hot Springs Resort offers many viewing opportunities on property and within the surrounding area.
Our resort’s naturalist team is on-site and ready to inspire! Ask us about our favourite wildlife and bird watching areas. We do our best to stay up-to-date on where and when animals and birds are visiting an area.
Resort Property
You don’t need to go far to see local wildlife and birds – just steps from your hotel room door offers an opportunity to see deer, elk, big horned sheep, and an array of different bird species. Hear Ruby Crowned Kinglets on your way to the hot pools, relax to the soothing song of the red-eyed-vireo, and take in the other sounds and sights of nature while relaxing in the sun.
Columbia Lake Provincial Park (5 min)
While traveling down this well-maintained dirt road, look up on the mountainside for Big Horned Sheep and along the wetlands for Marsh Wrens, ducks, and spotted frogs. Scan the shores of Columbia Lake for many species of Grebe, Loons, Great Blue Herons, and more. Enjoy the open grassland where Bluebirds, Western Meadowlarks, Crossbills, elk, and ground squirrels are often found.
Lewis’s Woodpecker on Riverside Golf Course
Our very own golf course is home to one of the more uncommon bird species of the area – the Lewis’s Woodpecker. Within the golf course grounds, five nesting pairs have been spotted. This is an easy way to tick this bird of your bird species list. In 2010, Fairmont Hot Springs Resort and the Columbia Basin Trust planted 1,000 trees with the intention of sustaining this sought-after Lewis’s nesting habitat. You may also spot Wood Ducks, Mergansers, American Dippers, Sandpipers, and American Widgeons along this section of the Columbia Rivers, which flows through Riverside Golf Course.
The Columbia Wetlands
The Columbia Wetlands is a large wetland and river system located in the bottom of our local valley. These wetlands are one of the largest in Canada and on the planet. This 180 km wetland system is recognized as a wetland of international importance by the United Nations under the RAMSAR Treaty. Viewpoints of this wetland system offer great birding opportunities.
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