Enjoy bird watching just 10 km northwest of Val Marie at the Val Marie Reservoir Migratory Bird Sanctuary.
The Newton Lake reservoir supports several hundred ducks and geese during the breeding and moulting seasons, Colonial nesting birds also use the islands in the sanctuary; these include:
- double-crested cormorant
- great blue heron
- black-crowned night-heron
- ring-billed gull
- California gull
- common tern
During the summer, American white pelicans, Franklin’s gulls and black terns also use the area, but they are not known to breed there.