Barred Owl

Classification:
	Kingdom:	Animalia
	Phylum:	Chordata
	Class:	Aves
	Order:	Strigiformes
	Family:	Strigidae
	Genus:	Strix
	Species:	Strix varia nycticorax

Description:

The barred owl is a large grey-brown owl with a large puffy round head and no ear tuffs (as there is in the great horned owl). The chest is barred across, and the belly barred lengthwise with white or pale buff. The back is spotted with white. It has large brown eyes, where most larger western owls have yellow eyes.

The hooting of the barred owl usually constists of 8 accented hoots, in 2 groups of 4 finishing in an "aw" sound. Some peaple say it sounds like it says: Who-are-you - Who-are-you-all!

Remarks:

Less common in Alberta then the more familiar great horned owl, the barred owl can be found as far north as Lesser Slave Lake and as far south as Calgary and Rocky Mountain House. The barred can be found in deep dark woods along rivers or lake shores and like most owls is nocturnal. The barred owl preys mostly on mice or voles that are active at night and located mostly by sound rather than sight.

The Western Plains Garter Snake

Classification:
	Kingdom:	Animalia
	Phylum:	Chordata
	Class:	Reptilia
	Order:	Squamata
	Family:	Colubridae
	Genus:	Thamnophis
	Species:	Thamnophis radix
	Subspecies:	Thamnophis radix haydeni

Description:

The western plains garter snake is a small slender snake between 500 and 1000 mm with some large females exceding 1000mm and is the largest of the three species of garter snakes in Alberta (the other two are the red-sided garter snake and the wandering garter snake). The body colour is greenish grey, light olive to brownish, with two rows of dark squarish spots forming a checkered pattern between the dorsal and lateral stripes. The dorsal stripe is orange-red to yellow, that fades posteriorly. The lateral stripes are normally yellowish or cream. The lips are light coloured, barred with black.

The fastest way of identification; if seen from above in the grass, (the way you are most likly to see a snake) is that if it appeares to be a dark or black snake with a red or orange stripe down the back, then it is the western plains garter snake.

Remarks:

The western plains garter snake can be found in grassy or brushy areas of southeast Alberta, mostly south of Cold Lake and east of Calgary. It can be active until mid-October on warm days, but will congregate at hibernacula when the weather cools. The hiberncula may be in the form of sink holes, mammal burrows or rock piles. This snake preys on small mammals worms and insects and will frequent ponds, streams, and marshes where it will take small fish and amphibians.

Mating may take place in the spring or fall and occures when the snakes gather at the hibernacula. Five to forty young are born alive from July onwards, and are about 180mm in total length.

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The Quagga

The Quagga was a subspecies of the Plains Zebra that went into extinction in the year 1883. This animal had the zebra stripes only on the front part of the body, which would fade and become wider in the middle of the body, and the hindquarter was brown (no stripes). The last wild quagga was probably shot in the late 1870s, and it was on 12th August 12, 1883, that the last specimen in captivity, a mare, of the died at the Artis Magistra Zoo in Amsterdam.

The American Avocet

Classification:
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Charadriidae
Genus:	Recurvirostra
Species:	Recurvirostra americana

Description:

A large black and white wader with a pinkish head and neck. It has a very slender black upturned bill, very long pale blue legs and the front toes are webbed. The call is a kleep, kleep, sound, repeated several times.

Remarks:

The American Avocet breeds in southern and central Alberta, east of the Rockies and south of Edmonton and Beaverhill Lake. In the nineteenth century specimens were found as far north as Lesser Slave Lake and Fort Chipewyan.

Avocets arrive in Alberta early in May, and gather in flocks of up to one hundred birds. Noisy courtship activities will take place in these loose colonies, and nests will be made by the end of the month. The nest is a depression in the ground usually on dried-out mud shores or islands of shallow lakes or sloughs. Several nesting pairs may be found very close together and two female may even share one nest, and will take turns in the incubation of the eggs. The eggs are dark olive to light brown spotted with dark brown and lavender. 3 to 5 eggs will be layed by each female so the nest may contain up to 8 to 10 eggs.

The Tiger Salamander

Tiger Salamander Ambystoma mavortium

Brief Description:
Larger than long-toed salamander; toes relatively short; great deal of color variation.

Habitat:
Moist areas and near water; fossorial; often use pocket gopher burrows; overwintering underground as adult form and in water as larval or neotenic form.

Feeding:
Predatory; feeding mostly on invertebrates; also tadpoles and small fish.

Reproduction:
Spawning in spring in temporary ponds or waterbodies without large fish; no amplexus; fertilization via spermatophore; neotenic forms may be seen in permanent prairie ponds.

The Black-Crowned Night Heron

Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Ciconiiformes
Family: Ardeidae
Genus: Nycticorax
Species: Nycticorax nycticorax

Description:
The black-crowned night heron has a typical heron profile, but with a stouter bill, neck, and legs. The bill to tail length of adults are between 58 to 72 cm. The adults have a greenish black sheen on the crown and back. The forehead, face, neck, and under parts are grayish white. There are two to four slender long white feathers extending back from the head. The bill is black, the iris red, and the legs and feet are yellow to reddish.

Remarks:
The Black-crowned night heron were first observed in Alberta near Strathmore during the summer of 1958. Since that time they have been seen as far north as the Edmonton area.
Marshes, mud flats or the edges of lakes that are overgrown with rushes and cattails are the haunts of this stocky heron. As the name implies this heron is active at night. During the day it is more inclined to roost in trees or can be found sunning on a rock or fence-post. It feeds largely on fish but will take frogs, crayfish and even small rodents.
The black-crowned night heron nests in colonies and makes a nest of sticks usually in trees, occasionally in bushes and rarely on the ground. The nest can contain 3 to 5 pale bluish green eggs. Incubation takes between 24 to 26 days. There is one brood a year.

The Deer Mouse

Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Muridae
Genus: Peromyscus
Species: Peromyscus maniculatus

Description:
The deer mouse is a small, white-footed mouse with large dark eyes and long whiskers. The tail is relatively long and sharply bicolored, white beneath and dark above. The soft fur of the deer mouse varies in colour from a golden brown to a pale grey on the back, while the underparts are white, including the underside of the tail. The ears are large, round, and are covered with fine hairs; and can be described as "Mickey Mouse" like. Deer mice have four toes on the forefeet and five toes on the hind feet. Adult deer mice weigh from 10-35g. with external measurements averaging 170 mm for total length, 81 mm for the tail, 20 mm for the hind foot, with the ear measuring between 12-20mm.

Meaning of name:

Peromyscus - little pouched mouse (may also be from Latin: Pero = pointed)
maniculatus - small-handed

Remarks:
The deer mouse is found throughout Alberta and indeed can be found all over North America. It can be found in forests, prairies, and deserts, but is not found where the ground is continually wet. Deer mice do not usually occur in urban areas. Their natural habitat is in rural and semi-rural areas, where they inhabit fields, pastures, and various types of vegetation found around homes and outbuildings. The deer mouse builds a spherical nest by shredding materials such as bark, grass, hair, string, and the fluff from cattails into a soft, warm bed with one main entrance. The nesting site can be found anywhere there is a cavity or opening such as under rocks or wood piles, or in empty bird's nests. Deer mice drop their scats and urinate in and around the nest site. Because of this there should always be a concern about Hantavirus when ever the deer mouse is found in sheds, attics, feed bins, or other enclosed spaces were people may breath the dust from the nest.
Breeding starts very late in the winter and young are then born in April, they have many litters each from 2 to 9. On average, the deer mouse has about four litters each year. The gestation period varies from 22 to 27 days, averaging about 24 days. Litter size ranges from one to nine, averaging about four. At birth the young are blind, pink, and hairless and weigh from 1.1 to 2.3 g. The male while not present at birth, does return to assists in the care of the young. Sexual maturity is reached before the young lose their "blue" juvenile pelage, and females born early in the year may themselves produce young by late summer or early fall.

The deer mouse is omnivorous, and feeds on seeds, plant greens, berries, nuts, mushrooms, insects, and carrion. They will also gnaw on bones or antlers for the calcium.
Deer mice in turn are an important food source for many carnivores, like weasels, foxes, skunks, minks, raccoons, bears, coyotes, and wolves. Owls and snakes are also important predators.