Weed Lake Wetland

Black necked stilt

The black-necked stilt is an interesting bird that can be found at Weed Lake. It has a black head, very pink legs and is approximately 36 to 38 cm. It usually likes to eat flies, bugs, tadpoles and small fish in and around Weed Lake. When female black necked stilt are full grown, they will look for a male and find a home to have babies. They make a nest in grassy areas on the ground and lay the eggs from about 25 days. These birds are quite rare and uncommon so you will need to look carefully to spot them. They do however make a loud yip-yip-yip noise in the summer months, and kek-kek-kek while they are flying.

Black tern

These birds that can be found at Weed Lake have black heads and black under parts. They have a grey back, tail and wings, and white under tail coverts. They have a black bill and reddish- black legs. The black tern is approximately 23–25 cm long and 58–62 cm wide. Terns can live for 34 years or longer! Did you know? - they eat little fish from the lakes and ponds, as well as insects from the air, tall grass and the waters surface. They live in shallow, fresh water, cattail marshes, sloughs and lake edges that are grassy. Black terns communicate to each other with a “shrill” sound, “kik- kik-kik-kik and “kreea” sound. They leave Weed Lake in September to head to tropical coasts.

Boreal chorus frog

This frog has stripes on its bumpy back. Some of the frogs live in grassy areas including in and around Weed Lake. The boreal chorus frog eats insects. These frogs are under 4 cm long. If you are really quiet you will hear their loud croak noise. The boreal chorus frog starts as a dot then it start’s to form into a tadpole. You can find the boreal chorus frog in the forest. Reptiles, fish and birds are the frog predators. They are neither endangered or threatened. They are healthy and widespread. They do not migrate, they hibernate. They freeze during winter in dry places! The boreal chorus frogs can’t climb even though they are from the tree frog family!

Muskrats

Muskrats live in and around Weed Lake. They weigh approximately 2 kg. They have long tails covered with scales rather than hair and, to aid them in swimming, are slightly flattened vertically, which is a shape that is unique to them. After they breed, the mother muskrat has 2-9 babies. The baby muskrats leave their family and nest when they are about 20 days old. They often travel and move homes. To find them you must go to wetlands like marshes and bogs. They like to eat insects, cattails, sedges, rushes, pondweeds, grass, frogs, snails, and fish. Muskrats’ predators include wolves, coyotes, and foxes. People usually don’t set traps or choose to hunt muskrats. What makes them interesting is that they have amazing eyes that can see far. Their legs are also very fast with very sharp nails.

Northern shoveler

If you are on the look out for the northern shoveler, you might want to check out Weed Lake. They can also be found near ponds and marshes in the prairies of Western Canada. The northern shoveler is a duck that swims in shallow water and makes a nest on the land nearby. Be careful not to confuse this bird with the mallard. The northern shoveler male has a green head, red bottom and a white, brown and a light gray chest. Try not to get mixed up because a female northern shoveler and female mallard ducks, look the same. Male northern shovelers' eyes look different then male mallard ducks, they are yellow. Animal that prey on northern shovelers include red foxes, raccoons, owls, hawks, minks, crows, skunks and coyotes. They build their nest by water. In their nest, there are 8-12 eggs laid. When the duckling hatches, it will fledge - grow feathers large enough to fly. This usually takes 40–70 days. The northern shoveler communicates with a quiet quack, mostly heard at spring courtship. In the fall, it migrates to Mexico for the winter. Males weigh 17-38, females weigh 17-28 and the wingspan is 31 inches long. The northern shoveler diet is pondweed, bulrush, various grasses, sedges and algae.

Coyotes

Coyotes are yellowish, grey, white and sometimes black. This animal lives around Weed Lake. This creature gets to the height of 81–94 cm and they weigh as much as 20-50 lbs. When this mammal wants to communicate with other coyotes they will whine, bark or howl. Between February and April coyotes migrate. They walk as far as they can to mate or to find a better home (instead of migrating to a warmer place). Around May they have 2 to 12 pups. The pups are blind for about 2 weeks and at 3 weeks the parents will teach them to hunt. After October, pups will mate and parents will split up. Humans, foxes and bears often kill coyotes. Sometimes coyotes will attack humans but only if they have to. If you touch a coyote’s home they will know and just make it bigger. Coyote homes are holes in the ground.

American white pelican

The American white pelican can be found at Weed Lake during the months of April – September. It is a very interesting bird, because if a human comes close to a pelican egg or baby, it will leave its baby. The American white pelican is not endangered. There are 2000 American white pelicans in Alberta. This large water bird likes to eat small fish. Its wing span is approximately 2.9 meters. The American white pelican that lives at Weed lake is approximately 138–178 cm. It is a very quiet bird.

Blue jays

Blue jays weigh around 70 to 100 g. Its wingspan is roughly 16 inches (41 cm) and its height is about 30 cm from head to feet. All blue jays are blue and whitish gray. They have blue feathers on the upper parts and white on the under-parts. Most of them have a crested gray and blue head. These birds are located in most eastern and northern parts of the United States and Canada. You can find them in the woodland areas but can also be found near wetlands (including Weed Lake) and even in backyards! This birds diet is insects, nuts, acorns, fruits, seeds and eggs. The predators of these birds are large owls, raccoons, hawks and domestic dogs and cats. This female bird lays up to 4 to 5 eggs. Their lifespan is roughly 7 years. This noisy bird communicates by squeaky Wheedelee sounds. You can also hear them screaming jay-jay. Many people who feed blue jays in their backyards are seeing one population of blue jays in the winter and another population in the summer.

Canadian goose

The Canadian goose is the largest wild goose in the world. It is a monogamous species, which means when pairs form they stay together for life. Each flock has a king goose who leads their group. Most geese are found in Alberta. This animal migrates in a ‘V’ formation and they migrate September to October. In ten days of migrating ten thousand geese will fly over Alberta. The predators of this species are dogs, raccoons, fox, owls and weasels. Males make a honk or bark to communicate and females communicate with a higher-pitch honk or bark. The length of the Canadian goose is 55 to 122 cm and the width can be up to 178 cm. This animal has a white U-shaped patch on its rump and has white by its eye. Their body is dark brown and they have solid black heads with long necks. This animal eats grass, roots, leaves, crops, grain, sedges and worms. This creature lays between 2 and 12 eggs from May to October. The babies are called goslings.

Great blue heron

The great blue heron is a type of bird that has a yellow beak, black shoulders and long hair at the back of its grayish black blue head. The head is slightly curved at the neck. The great blue heron is 3.2 to 4.5 feet (1 to 1.4 meters) tall. Its wingspan is 5.5 to 6.6 feet long. This hungry bird eats large insects, gophers, fish, frogs, mice, small mammals, small reptiles, salamanders, crayfish and squirrels plus ducklings. The great blue heron likes to hang out anywhere in Alberta (including Weed Lake) and in the U.S.A (Florida). They communicate with a loud screech or a squawk. They migrate to South America in the fall. The great blue herons' predators are bald eagles and great horned owls. The great blue herons hunt alone and migrate in small flocks.

Trumpeter swan

Trumpeter swans have white feathers and straight necks. This animal makes its nests around tiny islands with tall grass. They will have 3-6 eggs and will have their babies from September to April. Then they will hatch and turn into feathery little trumpeter swan babies. This creature will live in lakes, ponds and freshwater. The size of this mammal is 150–183 cm and the width is 2–4 meters. The swan can weigh up to 28 lbs. This extraordinary creature’s diet is leaves, seeds and roots. Wild swans will eat leftover grains and vegetables and they will also eat algae and aquatic plants. trumpeter swans predators are snapping turtles, coyotes, river otters, mink, golden eagles, great horned owls and raccoons. The way they communicate is by making French horn noises like koh-hoh and oh-ho. Majority of them migrate all the way from Load farm, which is in the United States to the Yukon. The population is roughly 9,000 and about 7,000 are adults. The lifespan of these animals is about 24 years. Did you know that the trumpeter swan almost became extinct in the 20th century for their meat and feathers?

Mallard duck

The mallard is a type of duck that can be found in calm and shallow waters, like Weed Lake. The female has a brown head with a brown body. The male has a green head with a white band around his neck with a brown body. Mallards also have waterproof feathers. The average size of a mallard is 26 inches. The female mallard are the only ones that quack. This is how they communicate. The male mallard likes to strut around to attract other female mallards. Mallards live in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. They migrate during winter to warmer, southern places like California, central United States or Mexico. In the spring, females lay 8-12 buffy green eggs. You would never want to bother a mother laying on her eggs because she is very protective of danger for her new babies, she might come towards you and try and scare you off. When the babies hatch, they are yellowish brownish in color. Mallards are dabbling ducks, which means they don’t dive under water for food; they go on land to get food. They eat waste grain from harvest, wetlands plants, wheat, barley, rice, and oats. The mallard duck has many predators such as foxes, raccoons, hawks, herons and crows. A dangerous animal like a coyote can come and eat the eggs. They have been known to live up to 20 years.

Butterflies

Butterflies can be found all around Weed Lake. If you are lucky, you might even see a monarch butterfly. These beautiful insects can migrate to about 3,200 km from Mexico to arrive around Weed Lake and other locations in Canada for the summer. This insect eats nectar from flowers and sap from trees. They are about 4 inches long and have orange and black on their wings. The male monarch butterfly is a darker orange and the female monarch butterfly is lighter orange. There are also white monarchs. Their predators include birds/spiders and other insects around Weed Lake. During its life cycle, the butterfly lays eggs and they hatch into caterpillars. The caterpillars then eat a ton of food until they turn into a pupa. In few weeks the pupa turns into a chrysalis then into a butterfly.

Diving beetles

If you look carefully into the water at Weed Lake, you might be able to spot a diving beetle. You have to look quite carefully though because they are only 4 – 5 mm long. Their diet consists of dead plants and fish and they only live for about a week. They start as eggs, then pupa, larvae and adult. Diving beetles fly from pond to pond. These beetles’ predators include frogs, fish, salamanders, and water spiders. There are over 300,000 species around the world. Sometimes diving beetles ride on the backs of fish. Their bodies and nose are round. They can be black, brown, and green.

Dragonflies

When you are at Weed Lake during the summer months, you might be able to find a few dragonflies. Dragonflies are some times can be blue or green or brown with clear wings. Dragonflies live off mosquitoes and flies. Dragonflies can be 1.9–13 cm. They are usually found near fresh water. This insect can live up to 3 weeks or 6 month if the weather is dry and it is warm. Its life cycle includes the stages; eggs, nymph and adult. Dragonflies lived 300 million years ago. Grown dragonflies are master fliers.

Ladybugs

You can find ladybugs in the dry and grassy parts of Weed Lake. They eat aphids, pollen, nectar, other insects, plants, mushrooms and many others. Their life cycle begins with adult ladybugs mating. They lay eggs, which hatch and turn into larva. Larva molts, turn into a pupa, then young adult and finally mature adult. Ladybugs can come in all different sizes. Ladybugs look different. Some ladybugs can be red, orange, yellow or even black. Their predators are small birds and ants. There are about 5,000 different kinds of species left. They lay golden eggs. They touch and taste with their antenna. Ladybugs keep warm by huddling together. They live for 1–2 years.

Grass spiders

The grass spider (Agelenopsis) has an interesting life cycle. It starts out as a little egg then hatches and looks like a tiny adult. It then sheds its skin as it grows. These arachnids like to eat grasshoppers, ants and crickets. Some things that like to prey on grass spiders include cats, dogs, owls and birds. Humans are also a predator of the grass spider and people usually don’t like them and choose to step on them. They can grow up to be 1/3 to 2/3 inches when full grown. If you want to find the grass spider it is located in North America and lives around grassy areas, stone fences, and small shrubs. You will definitely find these critters at Weed Lake so be careful not to step on them. They look brownish grey with prominent stripe markings. Their life span is about a year long.

Algae

Algae, the first plant on earth, can be useful for both nature and us. It is extremely edible for many ducks, geese and fish. It also absorbs carbon dioxide and makes oxygen and sugar inside itself. Algae can also be made into medicine, biofuel, fertilizer, pollution control and food. Algae can come in three different colors, brown, red and green. Plus, algae has two sizes, macro algae and micro algae. Micro algae are a quarter of a millimeter large and macro algae can appear to be enormous! You can find algae in all sorts of places such as Northern Canada, Eastern Canada, in Central Africa, and Western Europe. It can be found in rivers, ponds, lakes and wetlands. These places have high levels of chlorophyll, which algae need to grow. But if there is too much algae it can be harmful for the environment. When algae grow it multiplies over, and over again. It is similar to duckweed in a way that it doesn’t reproduce; it just grows and then multiplies. This fascinating plant falls under the aquatic family and protist family. This plant can grow in both freezing conditions and warm areas but it prefers warmer water. There are also estimated 27,000 species of algae!

Cattails

If you're looking for cattail, chances are you're going to find a Typha latifolia, which is the most common type of cattail. However, the cattail is found almost everywhere, most people find them in wetlands. You can grow cattails in ponds near you but to grow them you need at least 50 percent water. If you did not know, cattails grow horizontal because the wind pushes the stem sideways. Cattails reproduce by cross-pollination, which is when the wind blows the seeds onto different cattails. But they depend on the wind and the rain to pollinate. Sometimes cattails produce 200,000 seeds. Lots of people don’t know that cattails are edible. In fact every part of the cattail is edible. Be careful though because there are two plants that look identical to the cattails. Iris and flags look like cattails but if you eat them you can get really sick. To tell them apart, iris and flags grow straight and cattails grow horizontal. Another way is that cattails have a cigarette shape but iris and flags do not. Cattails are perennial which means it's a plant that is active all year, or survives more than two growing seasons. Many people use cattails for weaving baskets out of their leaves, for food, and lastly they can be used to start fires. To grow cattails you need shallow water or a wet garden area, light, and wind to self-pollinate. Sometimes they can grow up to 30 inches or 2 to 3 meters long.

Sage

Sage is an herb that blooms. Sage has a stem, leaves and roots. The leaves look curvy. These leaves are soft grayish green and have little veins on them. This plant can get up to 37 cm high. Sage needs well-drained soil, water every day and grows about 24-30 inches apart and it also needs full sun. Cattle, sheep, horses, elk, deer, small mammals, and some birds eat sage. It can also be used for cooking. Sage lives mostly in northern areas and it can also grow in Spain. The 1st step is the seed, 2nd Step the seeding stage, 3rd step (trans plant) into the vegetative stage, 4th step the flower stage that means flower forcing. Sage grows during spring and summer. It usually grows from the same plant for 2 years. Interesting facts: Sage can be used for tea called sage tea. The leaf is used for medicine. It also attracts butterflies.

Duckweed

Duckweed is a very green plant that has a rough texture. It grows in huge clumps in ponds. Duckweed has many uses, it can be used to purify water, and it can be food for many aquatic creatures, like, turtles, fish, ducks and most waterfowl. It can be dried and given to cattle for food. Also it can be frozen and used as frozen duckweed treats for aquatic pets. Duckweed has been known to make great nutritional compost. Duckweed can be found in smooth slow moving water in Alberta, no rough rivers and oceans. It cannot grow in extreme hot or cold temperatures. Duckweed can only grow in warmer, moist climates like Canada and the United States. Duckweed reproduces asexually which means it doesn’t need a mate to reproduce so it means it clones itself. Duckweed does not need soil to grow; it needs only water and warm weather. Duckweed can act as a pest or be a problem in small ponds.

Early blue violet

Did you know that the early blue violet petals have vitamin A and C? These petals can make tea, syrup, salads and garnishes for various desserts. The petals are shaped like a kidney stone. The early blue violet usually grows up to 1–4 cm tall and the leaves can grow up to 1–2 cm. The flower comes out of its seed in late May. This plant grows best in moist places such as mossy woods, some prairies, meadows and wetlands, like Weed Lake. You can find them by the side of the road in ditches. Also in Alberta’s Foothills and Rocky Mountains. Early blue violets can feed itself by collecting water and fertilizer from its surroundings. This plant needs moist dirt, half sun and half shade most of the day.

Bulrush

The bulrush plant is in the cattail family. It can be found in wetlands around Alberta. It needs wet and moist soils. Bulrush is located near and in water. Did you know most parts of the plant such as the stalk and the seeds are edible raw. One of the most important purposes of this special plant is that animals such as ducks, swans, geese and muskrats eat this plant. It needs about 7 cm of room, wet moist soil, sun and a body of water. The bulrush is a perennial plant, which means it comes back each year. It flowers in June and July, and during autumn the seed head will break off and be carried by the wind. The stem part that is underground will survive the winter. This plant can grow up to six feet tall and the leaf blades are about three feet tall. The bulrush has seed heads and also has a stem. The color of this plant is both green and brown. Interesting facts: The stems are used to make boats and the pollen can be used to make flour.

Dandelion

The dandelion, also known, as Taraxacum officinale is believed to be one of the oldest plants on the planet. The flower is yellow in color, with smooth jagged leaves. The leaves curve inward to allow water to project into the center, like a funnel. The life cycle of the dandelion starts as a seed, and then it turns into a flower. Then the flower turns into tiny seeds. They do not need pollination to reproduce. When the wind blows parachutes carry the seeds for miles. Then life cycle begins again. It can grow almost any were, it grows year-round, but prefers full sun. The blooms are sensitive to weather; if it is fine weather all the parts are open. If it is cold and rainy it will close. An interesting fact is that at about 5-oclock in the evening the flower closes as if it is going to sleep. At a-round 7 in the morning the flower opens up. Another interesting fact is that the dandelion is an edible plant it can be used in salads and on sandwiches.

Bladderwort

The bladderwort is a carnivorous plant that eats insects and bugs. This is their main purpose, to eat bugs. These plants grow in shallow marshlands, near streams and ponds throughout Alberta. They can live anywhere but Antarctica. They come out at spring and winter. They are green in color and bloom yellow flowers. It is a free-floating plant, meaning it has no roots and floats around in the water. They grow about 10-30 leaves per stem and grow roots below the water surface. It can grow up to 14–20 mm wide during June and July. They need water, shady areas, and lots of space. The bladders of the plant, which is the mouth, traps water insects and decomposes them and uses it for food. The bladderwort produces winter buds, and blooms again in spring. In summer buds sink to the bottom of any lake and grows back to the top of the lake in spring. Bladderworts are classified in the Magnoliophyta division. Magnoliophyta means flowering plants. They have leaves, stems, and roots. They have seeds, which are enclosed in a shell-like coating.