Canada: Waterside

Canada 2018, Mammals, travelogue 1 Minute

September 2018 – Canada is riddled with water. Rivers, waterfalls, mountain lakes – frequent material for tourist advertisements, yet quiet corners remain where wild creatures swim.

beaver1 23 sept 2018

Beaver: ecosystem engineer. They’re a hot topic in the UK at the moment because the reintroduction of the closely-related European species has shown a lot of promise, not only for biodiversity but also in reducing flooding of towns. Beavers change the environment, more than any wild animal except perhaps elephants. They slow rivers, create pools, fell trees – creating microhabitats, in other words, which other species eagerly use.

And the beaver’s fans don’t get much bigger than moose! These fabulous ungulates often browse in the marshy habitat created by beavers.

moose3 24 sept 2018

This one is clearly ready for the rut. A moose’s antlers can weigh close to 80lb, one of the heaviest crowns in the animal kingdom.

moose4 24 sept 2018

The weather’s still turning.

lakeside rmnp sept 18

But a woodchuck is still awake. Hibernation hasn’t called him to a winter burrow yet.

woodchuck rmnp sept 18

Published by Adele Brand

Wildlife researcher and writer. I let the animals tell their own stories.

Published

13 thoughts on “Canada: Waterside”

      1. Thanks for the link. How interesting that saliva can limit fungal growth in this way. Moose seem to be particularly fascinating animals. I have never been to North America. It is good to know that Wilderness still exists in parts of Canada.

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    1. Me as well! Thinking back over my favourite wildlife sightings over the years, so many have been in a wetland environment of one sort or another. It’s so fascinating to see how wetland wildlife interacts.

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  4. I am always happy when we see a moose. In Mt Robson and Jasper area there were three of them – near Maligne lake there is a much smaller Moose lake, almost like a pond in comparison and there were two females. But in Newfoundland, which was supposed to have 110,000 of moose, we’ve seen only 3 or 4. And one of them unfortunately being killed by a semi-trailer truck on a highway. So far I didn’t see a grown up male.
    Nice photographs!

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    1. Moose can be strangely unpredictable. I’ve seen a few in Jasper as well and of course it’s not really ideal habitat for various reasons. I don’t remember seeing any in Algonquin when I was there in 2001 and it’s supposed to be a much better location. I have, however, been surprised by one running across the Saskatchewan prairie on a misty day, and also seen one in a thunderstorm in Poland.

      Hope you see a bull moose at some point on your travels!

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  5. Adele, nice post with beautiful images! When I was looking for birds I always went to a Beaver dam. There was sure to be plenty and plenty of other animals as well. Manitoba is a wonderful place for water. I think there is actually move water than land there. One has to look at a good high definition map to see it all. Especially when one goes north from Winnipeg and up. There’s no wonder the Skeeters and Blackflies do so well!

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    1. Indeed – every time I think about going to the boreal forest in the spring, I remember Wade Hemsworth’s Blackfly Song! 😉

      It is an extraordinarily lake-filled landscape. Remnants of ancient glacial erosion, I guess.

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