ALBERTA
Plants and Animals
Plants and Animals

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Plants and Animals
Plants
In Central and Northern Alberta, the arrival of spring is heralded by the early flowering of a variety of the common man's herb, Pulsatilla patens. This member of the buttercup family can bloom as early as March, but April is the normal flowering time. Other early bloomers on the prairie are Thermopsis rhombifolia, also called 'golden bean' or 'buffalo bean', and Rosa acicularis, a variety of the wild rose. The Rosa acicularis, which grows from Quebec to British Columbia, was chosen by schoolchildren in 1930 as the official flower of Alberta.
Rosa acicularis of wild rose, official flower of Alberta Photo: Qwert1234 CC 3.0 Unported no changes made
Members of the sunflower family bloom on the prairie in the summer months between July and September. The southern and central-eastern parts of Alberta are covered by short prairie grass, which withers during the summer and is then 'replaced' by hardy perennials such as Ratibida columnifera or 'Mexican hat', a fine jet species and sage. Both the lemon yellow honey clover and the white honey clover are found in Southern and Central Alberta. The trees in the parkland of Central Alberta, deciduous trees such as aspen, poplar and willow, grow in bushes on the hills. North of the North Saskatchewan River, forests dominate the landscape over thousands of square kilometers. American aspen, balsam poplar, and paper birch are the primary large deciduous species. Evergreen conifers include shrub, Rocky Mountain scots pine, twirled, white spruce, black spruce and the deciduous conifer Larix laricina or tamarack.
Larix laricina or tamarack in fall outfitPhoto: Linda Baird-White in het publiek domein
Other trees and conifers typical of Alberta: Larix lyallii or 'alpine larch', Pinus flexilis or 'limber pine', ash gray pine, balsam fir, Douglas fir, Engelmann fir, Rocky Mountin maple, feather maple or California maple, American red maple, Rocky Mountain juniper, American larch, American or American black poplar, Western American balsam poplar, American white pine. Watch out for the common 'poison ivy', touching this plant can be enough for successively unbearable itching, inflammation and ulcers.
Poison ivyPhoto: Public domain
Animals
Alberta's four landscape types (mountains, arctic forests, parklands and prairies) are home to many different types of animals. There are not many places in the world with such a wide variety of wildlife as Alberta. Alberta has about 587 species, including 10 amphibians, 93 mammals, 411 birds, 8 reptiles and 65 fish. In addition, some 20,000 insect species still walk, crawl and fly around Alberta. British Columbia is the only province in Canada with a higher number of mammal species. Alberta's 'national' animal is the bighorn sheep.
Bighorn Sheep, the 'national' animal of Alberta Photo: Jon Sullivan in the public domain
The southern and central prairie regions were once fully owned by millions of wood bison, a subspecies of American bison. The bison population was rapidly being decimated and threatened with extinction from the beginning of colonization. At the moment the bison is doing reasonably well again.
Forest BisonPhoto: CanadianEman CC 3.0 Unported no changes made
Alberta is home to a number of large carnivores, including the grizzly and blackbear in the mountains and wooded areas. The smaller carnivores of the dog and cat family include coyotes, wolves, foxes (including the rare kit fox), bobcat, Canadian lynx, and cougars. Other small predators include wolverine, river otter or North American otter, weasel, fishing marten, silver badger or American badger, black-footed bunzing, mink or American mink, and striped skunk or skunk. Large herbivorous mammals are found throughout the province, moose, mule deer, elk, white-tailed deer, woodland caribou in forested areas, gaffbuck on the prairies of southern Alberta, bighorn sheep and snow goats live in the Rocky Mountains.
Rabbits, porcupines (including the primeval sun or North American porcupine), raccoons, beavers (including the Canadian beaver), squirrels (including the American red squirrel, red-tailed chipmunk) and many types of rodents, including the American hare, mountain cottontail, North American flute bunny, jackrabbit, the musk or bisamrat, the gray marmot, woodchuck, yellow-bellied marmot and the rare Ordinary Kangaroo sacrifice from the cheek-bag mouse family scattered throughout the province. Alberta has only one venomous snake in its territory, the prairie rattlesnake.
In Central and Northern Alberta, migratory birds find nesting sites in the spring. In addition to the Canadian crane or prairie crane, large numbers of ducks, geese, swans and pelicans nest on or near the many lakes. Eagles, hawks, owls and crows also benefit from this and there is also a great variety of seed and insect-eating birds. Rivers and lakes are full of pike, broad-mouthed, American yellow bass, rainbow trout, brook trout, among others. red-throated trout, fathead minnow, brook or river trout, spotted omberfish and sturgeon. The Salvelinus confluentus or 'bull trout' is Alberta's provincial fish.
Salvelinus confluentus of 'bull trout ', provincial symbol of AlbertaPhoto: Bart Gammet in the public domain
A selection of the many butterfly species: thistle butterfly, mourning cloak, atalanta (also known as admiral or number butterfly), small fire butterfly, monarch butterfly, variegated tadpole, black-headed tadpole and small cabbage white.
A selection of the bat species: big brown bat, red bat, gray bat, small brown bat and a number of species from the smooth-nosed family.
A selection of amphibians and reptiles: long-toed salamander, tiger salamander, forest frog, western ornamental turtle, red-sided garter snake and western hook-nosed snake.
What is special is that Alberta has been completely free of the brown rat, being the only province in Canada and one of the few places in the world anyway. Successive governments have worked on this since the early 1950s, and with great success until a few years ago. However, a colony of brown rats was found in a landfill in Medine Hat in 2012, and again in 2014.
Southeast of Drumheller, UNESCO established Dinosaur Provincial Park in 1955. This World Heritage area contains the richest fossil beds in the world. More than 300 important discoveries have been made here.
T-Rex in Drumheller, AlbertaPhoto: Kevstan CC 3.0 Unported no changes made
Elk Island National Park is home to large mammals such as the wapiti, the steppe bison and the endangered forest bison. Wood Buffalo National Park is Canada's largest national park and declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1983 because rare animals like the wood bison live there. Peregrine falcons and the bald eagle also live here and it is the only stable natural breeding ground in the world for the rare trumpet crane.
Trumpeter CranePhoto: Rod CC 2.0 Generic no changes made
Waterton Lakes National Park has the richest wildlife of all Canadian parks, from bears to bighorn sheep and from waterfowl to sapwoods.
Banff National Park (6,640 km2), Canada's oldest national park, is home to many animal species in their natural environment: mountain goats, big horn sheep, deer, black bears, grizzly bears and wapiti. A special appearance is the American nutcracker. The lower slopes are covered with dense forests of pine, silver fir, and some Douglas fir. At higher altitudes, the species are supplanted by pine trees and the Engelmann spruce. At an altitude of 2,135 meters there is a semi-arctic climate where many colorful alpine flowers still bloom. Around Banff Cave & Basin, an area with many hot springs, a snail species lives in the hot water that is only found here, the Physella johnsoni or Banff Springs snail.
Physella johnsoni or Banff Springs snail, unique in AlbertaPhoto: Paulmkgordon CC 2.5 Generic no changes made
The flora in Banff and Jasper National Park includes 996 species of vascular plants (trees, grasses and flowers), 407 lichens, 243 mosses and 53 liverworts.
Saskatoon Island Provincial Park is one of the nesting areas of the rare trumpeter swan.
Nesting trumpet swanPhoto: public domain
McLennan in western Alberta is known as the 'Bird Capital of the World' as it is here that three major migration routes converge around Kimiwan Lake, namely Mississippi, Pacific and Central. About 27,000 beach birds and 250,000 water birds converge here, more than 200 different species have been spotted here.
Below is an extensive overview of breeding and migratory birds observed in Alberta:
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS | |||
American wigeon | whistling swan | small winner | ruddy thorntail |
American pochard | Great Canada Goose | cockade sawbeak | Brent Goose |
American Scoter | large pochard | white-fronted goose | shoveler |
American Black Duck | Great merganser | king eider | wigeon |
Blue-winged Teal | Great Scoter | gadwall | snow goose |
goldeneye | harlequin duck | Tufted Duck | topper |
Spectacled Sea Duck | long-tailed duck | middle merganser | trumpet swan |
buffalo-headed duck | Icelandic goldeneye | pintail | wild duck |
Summer duck | cinnamon teal | ring-billed duck | teal |
eider | Small Canada Goose | Ross' goose | summer translation |
Male GargeneyPhoto: Dick Daniels CC 3.0 Unported no changes made
PARTRIDES, PHASANTS, TURKEYS, HOVERS | |||
Blue Grouse | turkey | partridge or field hen | fan fowl |
forest grouse | collar grouse | Prairie Fowl | White-tailed Grouse |
pheasant | Marsh Grouse | Spiny-tailed Grouse |
White-tailed SnowgrousePhoto: Footwarrior CC 3.0 Generisk no changes made
DIVERS, GREENS, CORMORANTS, PELICANS | |||
Clark's Grebe | Eared Cormorant | Crested Diver | Red-throated Diver |
Fat-billed Grebe | Black-necked Grebe | Pacific pearl diver | white pelican |
Yellow-billed Diver | Ice Diver | red-necked grebe | gooseneck grebe |
Swan-necked GrebePhoto: Frank Schulenburg CC 3.0 Unported no changes made
ROERDOMPEN, HERONS, IBISES | |||
American Blue Heron | green heron | Cattle Egret | White-bellied Heron |
American Little Egret | Great Egret | quack | white-faced ibis |
Yellow-crowned night heron | Little Blue Heron | North American Bittern |
North American BitternPhoto: Walter Siegmund CC 3.0 Unported no changes made
BIRDS OF PREPARATION, VULTURES | |||
American Sparrowhawk | Cooper's Sparrowhawk | Red-headed Vulture | merlin |
American Kestrel | Gyrfalcon | Red-tailed Hawk | golden eagle |
Bald eagle | hawk | red rough-legged hawk | osprey |
Hen harrier | prairie buzzard | rough-legged hawk | |
broad-winged hawk | prairie falcon | Peregrine Falcon |
Coopers SparrowhawkPhoto: Cephas CC 3.0 Unported no changes made
RAILS, COATS, CRANES, PLEASURES | |||
American coot | soraral | American Golden Plover | killdeerplevier |
Canadian crane | Trumpeter Crane | American Kentish Plover | Mongolian plover |
yellow ral | Virginia-ral | Asian Golden Plover | Prairie Plover |
crane | Ringed Plover | Piping Plover | silver plover |
Great Ringed PloverPhoto: Dick Daniels CC 3.0 Unported no changes made
BEACH RUNNERS, SNIPES, CHAPTERS | |||
American Avocet | blonde rider | big gray snip | red godwit |
American Black-winged Stilt | Bonapartes Sandpiper | knot sandpiper | Red-throated Sandpiper |
Alaska Randloper | variegated sandpiper | ruff | red phalarope |
American Woodland Rider | surf runner | Little Yellow-legged Rider | Siberian Sandpiper |
yellow ral | three-toed sandpiper | little gray snip | turnstone |
American Woodcock | eskimo curlew | little sandpiper | stilt sandpiper |
American sandpiper | striped sandpiper | smallest sandpiper | willet |
American snipe | gray phalarope | curved sandpiper | black rider |
American curlew | gray sandpiper | Spoon-billed Sandpiper | black turnstone |
Baird's sandpiper | large phalarope | marble godwit | |
Bartrams rider | Great Yellow-legged Rider | whimbrel |
Eskimo curlewPhoto: Cephas CC 3.0 Unported no changes made
GULLS, STERNS, FIGHTERS | |||
Little Tern | great black-backed gull | smallest hunter | Thayer's gull |
Bering Gull | ivory gull | middle hunter | common tern |
Kittiwake | Kamchatka century | arctic tern | fork-tailed gull |
Little Gull | Little Mayor | prairie gull | herring gull |
Forsters stern | little hunter | giant tern | black tern |
Franklin's Gull | little black-headed gull | Ring-billed Gull | |
great mayor | lesser black-backed gull | Storm Gull |
Grand MayorPhoto: Sowls Art in the public domain
ALKEN, PIGEONS, COOKIES | |||
Asiatic Marble Alk | rock pigeon | white-winged terror pigeon | Black-billed Guillemot |
band-tailed pigeon | weeping pigeon | Silver Alk | |
Yellow-billed Cuckoo | Collared Dove | black guillemot |
Yellow-billed CuckooPhoto: Factumquintus CC 3.0 Unported no changes made
OWLS | |||
American Eagle Owl | Lapland Owl | long-eared owl | Short-eared Owl |
striped tawny owl | North American Scops Owl | rough-legged owl | Western Screech Owl |
burrowing owl | Eastern Screech Owl | snowy owl | saw owl |
Barn Owl | Ponderosa Scowl's Owl | Eurasian hawk |
American Eagle Owl, 'national' bird of AlbertaPhoto: Brendan Lally CC 2.0 Generic no changes made
SWALLOWS, HUMMINGBIRDS, KINGFISHES | |||
American nightjar | Pied Common Swift | poorwill | whippoorwill |
Anna's Hummingbird | callio hummingbird | Ruby-throated Hummingbird | black swift |
band kingfisher | Costa's hummingbird | ruddy hummingbird | Black-throated Hummingbird |
Ruby-throated HummingbirdPhoto: Jeffreyw CC 2.0 Generic no changes made
SWALLOWS, HUMMINGBIRDS, KINGFISHES | |||
American three-toed woodpecker | yellow-bellied woodpecker | North American Helmet Woodpecker | black-backed woodpecker |
mountain sapwood | golden ground woodpecker | Red-bellied Woodpecker | |
Down Woodpecker | hair woodpecker | Red-headed Woodpecker | |
acorn woodpecker | Lewis' woodpecker | Red-necked Woodpecker |
North American helmeted woodpeckerPhoto: Cephas CC 3.0 Unported no changes made
PAIRING BIRDS | |||
wormwood tyrant | Cassin's bunting | cat bird | red-necked bunting |
American Tree Creeper | Cassin's rosefinch | keep | red-throated bluebird |
American Wood Thrush | Cassins vireo | Kentucky singer | Red-crowned Cock |
American Magpie | Cedar Waxwing | Great Gray Shrike | red-eyed vireo |
American Gold Rooster | Connecticut singer | little fairy tyrant | red-eared bunting |
Great Gray Shrike | pine ice cream | king tyrant | Red-tailed Bunting |
American cliff swallow | pine warbler | curved-billed thrush | Red Mockingbird |
American crow | dickcissel | crossbill | mourning singer |
American bullhead | dwarf thrush | lazuligors | savannah bunting |
American rosefinch | Elzenfeetiran | Lecontes bunting | Says phoebe |
American Redstart | epaulet starling | Lincolns bunting | snow bunting |
American Rock Winter King | Gambels tit | Louisianatangare | spruce tyrant |
Arkansas King's Tyrant | yellow-breasted vireo | magnolia pendant | spruce piewie |
evening fat beak | Yellow-breasted Warbler | mangrove warbler | spruce warbler |
evening bunting | Yellow-Jawed Meadow Starling | McCowns Ice Bunting | mockingbird |
Baird's bunting | yellow-throated warbler | Mexican Redhammer | grasshopper thorn |
Baltimoretroepial | yellow headed groupial | swamp bunting | Steller's Jay |
Redpoll | yellow-rumped warbler | swamp wren | beach lark |
mountain hedge sparrow | Scarlet Warbler | Monk Warbler | scrub tyrant |
mountain bluebird | yellow black-throated warbler | sparrow bunting | Wheatear |
mountain solitaire | spotted towie | Nashville singer | Tennis singer |
mountain spot thrush | regular mask singer | Nelson's White-tailed Bunting | Tiger Warbler |
Birch Feather Tyrant | common raven | North American rough-winged martin | tundra dragons |
blue jay | Common Starling | North American dipper | Townsends singer |
blue black-throated warbler | shiny gravel | Northern House Wren | veery |
blue-gray mosquito trap | Gold Kruingors | arctic water thrush | field bunting |
Blue-throated Bluebird | gold ice cream | river tyrant | fork-tailed king tyrant |
Blue-winged Warbler | Gray-headed Warbler | sand martin | western forest view |
pale bunting | gray-crowned mountain finch | East American Wren | willow flycatcher |
bobolink or rice troepial | gray-cheeked thrush | Orpheusvireo | Wilson's singer |
barn swallow | gray junco | oven bird | whiteband crossbill |
variegated ice bunting | Gray Nutcracker | Pacific water pipit | White-breasted Nuthatch |
pied thrush | gray black-throated warbler | palm warbler | Whitefish Meadow Starling |
colorful singer | green vocalsthere | Waxwing | White-throated Sparrow |
tree martin | green swallow | Philadelphiavireo | White-crowned Gingers |
Brewers bunting | green-tailed towie | phoebe | white-rumped redpoll |
Brewers troopial | great crested tyrant | Pinyongaai | singing bunting |
Glasses singer | hook beak | prairiegors | say winter king |
glasses vireo | Hermit Thrush | prairie beeper | summer tangare |
brown-headed cowbird | Hermit Warbler | purple bunting | Swallowtail King's Tyrant |
Bullocks troopial | Hudson Tit | purple swallow | black troopial |
cactus pot thrush | house sparrow | red cardinal | black-throated bunting |
Canadian Nuthatch | Ice Bunting | rust flank warbler | Black-headed Cardinal |
Canadian taiga jay | indigogors | Robin Cardinal | Black-headed Warbler |
Canadian singer | chestnut back | European Robin | black-crowned goose |
Carolina Wren | chestnut warbler | red-sidedowie | Black Wing Tangare |
Canadian long jayPhoto: Mdf CC 3.0 Unported no changes made
Sources
Canada
Cambium
Canada
Lonely Planet
Hempstead, Andrew / Calgary
Avalon Travel
Hempstead, Andrew / Edmonton & Northern Alberta
Avalon Travel
Pashby, Christie / Frommer's Alberta
Wiley
Struijk, Aad / West-Canada
Elmar
Teuschl, Karl / Canada-West : Rocky Mountains, Vancouver
Uitgeverij Unieboek/Het Spectrum BV
Veldt, Marc / Canada
Gottmer/Becht
Wagner, Heike / West- Canada
Lannoo
Wikipedia
CIA - World Factbook
BBC - Country Profiles
Copyright: Team The World of Info