Lake · Canada
Lesser Slave Lake
Lesser Slave Lake is a big lake in northern Alberta, Canada, about 250 km north-west of Edmonton. Sandy beaches line its shores, and huge numbers of birds rest here on their long journeys.
Picture credit: SusyQ10k (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Lesser Slave Lake?
Countries on its shores: Canada.
Middle of the lake: 55.44° N, 115.49° W
The story behind it
Lesser Slave Lake is about 100 km long but fairly narrow, and at most about 20 metres deep. Its name has nothing to do with slaves: it comes from the Slavey, an Indigenous people. Several rivers flow into the lake, among them the Swan River and the Driftpile River. Its water leaves through the Lesser Slave River into the Athabasca River, and in the end, by way of the Mackenzie River, it reaches the Arctic Ocean. The lake lies on a major flyway, a route in the sky that migrating birds follow. At a bird observatory on the shore, people count and study them. In Lesser Slave Lake Provincial Park, visitors camp right beside the sandy beaches. The town of Slave Lake stands at the eastern end, and several First Nations communities live along the shores. Fishing on the lake is popular.
Find it on the globe
Lesser Slave Lake is there as a small blue dot with its name, right on the water. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
How big is Lesser Slave Lake?
Lesser Slave Lake covers about 1 168 km² and is about 100 km long. It is quite shallow for its size, only about 20 metres at its deepest point.
Where does the name Lesser Slave Lake come from?
The name comes from the Slavey, an Indigenous people, and has nothing to do with slavery.
Why do bird watchers visit Lesser Slave Lake?
The lake lies on a major flyway, a route that huge numbers of migrating birds follow. A bird observatory on the shore counts and studies the birds that stop here.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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