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Vermilion Provincial Park
Vermilion Provincial Park is a provincial park located in east-central Alberta, Canada, in the County of Vermilion River. It is located on the outskirts of the town of Vermilion, which is at the junction of Highways 16 (Yellowhead) and 41 (Buffalo Trail), between Edmonton and Lloydminster. History The park was first constructed in the early 1950s, and opened to the public on May 29, 1953. Vermilion Provincial Park was the 7th park integrated into the Alberta Parks system. One of the key features of the park is that the Vermilion River was dammed to create an artificial lake (the 6.3 km long Vermilion Park Lake). Nature The environmental setting includes aspen parkland and prairie grassland biomes, with wildlife such as white-tailed deer, red fox, Franklin's ground squirrels, porcupines, ruffed grouse, harriers, red-tailed hawks, short-eared owls, Canada geese, great blue herons, American bitterns, common ducks, mink, muskrats, beavers, coyotes, Sprague's pipits ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
County Of Vermilion River
The County of Vermilion River is a municipal district located in the eastern part of central Alberta, Canada in Census Division No. 10. The municipal district was formerly named the County of Vermilion River No. 24 prior to an official name change that became effective on September 13, 2006. The administrative offices of the County of Vermilion River are located at Kitscoty. The Vermilion River flows through the County and is the namesake of the region. The Yellowhead Highway and Buffalo Trail are major transportation routes in the County. Several communities in the County such as Vermilion and Kitscoty are serviced by CN Rail. Geography Communities and localities The following urban municipalities are surrounded by the County of Vermilion River. ;Cities *Lloydminster (Alberta portion) ;Towns *Vermilion ;Villages * Kitscoty (location of municipal office) * Marwayne * Paradise Valley ; Summer villages *none The following hamlets are located within the County of V ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North American Porcupine
The North American porcupine (''Erethizon dorsatum''), also known as the Canadian porcupine, is a large quill-covered rodent in the New World porcupine family. It is the second largest rodent in North America, after the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis''). The porcupine is a caviomorph rodent whose ancestors crossed the Atlantic from Africa to Brazil 30 million years ago, and then migrated to North America during the Great American Interchange after the Isthmus of Panama rose 3 million years ago. Etymology The word "porcupine" comes from the middle or old French word , which means 'thorn pig'. Its roots derive from the Latin words or pig and meaning thorns. Other colloquial names for the animal include quill pig. It is also referred to as the Canadian porcupine or common porcupine. The porcupine's scientific name, ''Erethizon dorsatum'', can be loosely translated as "the animal with the irritating back". Native American terms for it include the Lakota name meaning q ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sprague's Pipit
Sprague's pipit (''Anthus spragueii'') is a small songbird (passerine) in the family Motacillidae that breeds in the short- and mixed-grass prairies of North America. Migratory, it spends the winters in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Sprague's pipits are unusual among songbirds in that they sing high in the sky, somewhat like a goldfinch or skylark. It is more often identified by its distinctive descending song heard from above than by being seen on the ground. Males and females are cryptically coloured and similar in appearance; they are a buffy brown with darker streaking, slender bills and pinkish to yellow legs. Sprague's pipit summer habitat is primarily native grasslands in the north central prairies of the United States and Canada (distinguishing them from the American subspecies of the buff-bellied pipit, which breed in the northern Rocky Mountains and the Arctic). The species was named after the botanical illustrator Isaac Sprague. Description Me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coyote
The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecological niche as the golden jackal does in Eurasia. The coyote is larger and more predatory and was once referred to as the American jackal by a behavioral ecologist. Other historical names for the species include the prairie wolf and the brush wolf. The coyote is listed as Least Concern, least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, due to its wide distribution and abundance throughout North America. The species is versatile, able to adapt to and expand into environments modified by humans. It is enlarging its range by moving into urban areas in the eastern U.S. and Canada. The coyote was sighted in eastern Panama (across the Panama Canal from their home range) for the first time in 2013. The coyote has 19 recognized sub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North American Beaver
The North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') is one of two Extant taxon, extant beaver species, along with the Eurasian beaver (''Castor fiber''). It is native to North America and introduced in South America (Patagonia) and Europe (primarily Finland and Karelia). In Canada and the United States, the species is often referred to simply as "beaver", though this causes some confusion because another distantly related rodent, ''Aplodontia rufa'', is often called the "mountain beaver". Other vernacular names, including American beaver and Canadian beaver, distinguish this species from the other Extant taxon, extant beaver species, ''Castor fiber'', which is native to Eurasia. The North American beaver is one of the official national wildlife of Canada symbols and is the official state mammal of Oregon and New York (state), New York. Taxonomy Evolution The first fossil records of beaver are 10 to 12 million years old in Germany, and they are thought to have migrated to North Amer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muskrat
The muskrat (''Ondatra zibethicus'') is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent native to North America and an introduced species in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands over a wide range of climates and habitats. It has important effects on the ecology of wetlands, and is a resource of food and fur for humans. Adult muskrats weigh , with a body length of . They are covered with short, thick fur of medium to dark brown color. Their long tails, covered with scales rather than hair, are their main means of propulsion. Muskrats spend most of their time in the water and can swim under water for 12 to 17 minutes. They live in families, consisting of a male and female pair and their young. To protect themselves from the cold and from predators, they build nests that are often burrowed into the bank with an underwater entrance. Muskrats feed mostly on cattail and other aquatic vegetation but also eat small animals. ''Ondatra zibethicus'' is the only s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Mink
The American mink (''Neogale vison'') is a semiaquatic species of mustelid native to North America, though human intervention has expanded its range to many parts of Europe, Asia and South America. Because of range expansion, the American mink is classed as a least-concern species by the IUCN. The American mink was formerly thought to be the only extant member of the genus ''Neovison'' following the extinction of the sea mink (''N. macrodon''), but recent studies, followed by taxonomic authorities, have reclassified it and the sea mink within the genus ''Neogale'', which also contains a few New World weasel species. The American mink is a carnivore that feeds on rodents, fish, crustaceans, frogs, and birds. In its introduced range in Europe it has been classified as an invasive species linked to declines in European mink, Pyrenean desman, and water vole populations. It is the animal most frequently farmed for its fur, exceeding the silver fox, sable, marten, and skunk in econo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duck
Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form taxon; they do not represent a monophyletic group (the group of all descendants of a single common ancestral species), since swans and geese are not considered ducks. Ducks are mostly aquatic birds, and may be found in both fresh water and sea water. Ducks are sometimes confused with several types of unrelated water birds with similar forms, such as loons or divers, grebes, gallinules and coots. Etymology The word ''duck'' comes from Old English 'diver', a derivative of the verb 'to duck, bend down low as if to get under something, or dive', because of the way many species in the dabbling duck group feed by upending; compare with Dutch and German 'to dive'. This word replaced Old English / 'duck', possibly to avoid confusion with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Bittern
The American bittern (''Botaurus lentiginosus'') is a species of wading bird in the heron family. It has a Nearctic distribution, breeding in Canada and the northern and central parts of the United States, and wintering in the U.S. Gulf Coast states, all of Florida into the Everglades, the Caribbean islands and parts of Central America. It is a well-camouflaged, solitary brown bird that unobtrusively inhabits marshes and the coarse vegetation at the edge of lakes and ponds. In the breeding season it is chiefly noticeable by the loud, booming call of the male. The nest is built just above the water, usually among bulrushes and cattails, where the female incubates the clutch of olive-colored eggs for about four weeks. The young leave the nest after two weeks and are fully fledged at six or seven weeks. The American bittern feeds mostly on fish but also eats other small vertebrates as well as crustaceans and insects. It is fairly common over its wide range, but its numbers are t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Blue Heron
The great blue heron (''Ardea herodias'') is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North America and Central America, as well as the Caribbean and the Galápagos Islands. It is a rare vagrant to coastal Spain, the Azores, and areas of far southern Europe. An all-white population found in south Florida and the Florida Keys is known as the great white heron. Debate exists about whether this represents a white color morph of the great blue heron, a subspecies of it, or an entirely separate species. The status of white individuals known to occur elsewhere in the Caribbean, and their existence is rarely found elsewhere besides in eastern North America. Taxonomy The great blue heron was one of the many species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his 18th-century work, '' Systema Naturae''. The scientific name comes from Latin ''ardea'', and Ancient Greek (), both meaning "heron". The great blue ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canada Goose
The Canada goose (''Branta canadensis''), or Canadian goose, is a large wild goose with a black head and neck, white cheeks, white under its chin, and a brown body. It is native to the arctic and temperate regions of North America, and it is occasionally found during migration across the Atlantic in northern Europe. It has been introduced to the United Kingdom, Ireland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand, Japan, Chile, Argentina, and the Falkland Islands. Like most geese, the Canada goose is primarily herbivorous and normally migratory; often found on or close to fresh water, the Canada goose is also common in brackish marshes, estuaries, and lagoons. Extremely adept at living in human-altered areas, Canada geese have established breeding colonies in urban and cultivated habitats, which provide food and few natural predators. The success of this common park species has led to its often being considered a pest species because of its excrement, its depredation of crops, its n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Short-eared Owl
The short-eared owl (''Asio flammeus'') is a widespread grassland species in the family Strigidae. Owls belonging to genus ''Asio'' are known as the eared owls, as they have tufts of feathers resembling mammalian ears. These "ear" tufts may or may not be visible. The short-eared owl will display its tufts when in a defensive pose, although its very short tufts are usually not visible. The short-eared owl is found in open country and grasslands. Taxonomy The short-eared owl was formally described in 1763 by the Lutheran bishop Erik Pontoppidan under the binomial name ''Strix flammea''. The specific epithet is from the Latin ''flammeus'' meaning "flammulated" or "flame-coloured". This owl is now placed with seven other species in the genus ''Asio'' that was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. Eleven subspecies are recognised: * ''A. f. flammeus'' – ( Pontoppidan, 1763): the nominate subspecies, found in North America, Europe, North Africa and n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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