Weed Lake is a wetland near Langdon, Alberta, Canada. It is the home to many natural wildlife including several species of birds and fish. Weed Lake is located about east of

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

, immediately north-east of Langdon. It is a wetland that is regionally important as waterfowl habitat. In 1971, the original lake was drained for agriculture but since 2006, the lake has been restored and it is now a fully functioning, healthy wetland ecosystem. Organizations involved in acquiring the land and restoring the lake were led by Ducks Unlimited and include the Calgary Field Naturalists' Society.

List of species

In 2015 students of Sarah Thompson School, assisted by local wildlife experts, identified the following list of species at Weed Lake: Geese Eggs

Amphibians

Boreal chorus frog The boreal chorus frog (''Pseudacris maculata'') is a species of chorus frog native to Canada from central Quebec to eastern British Columbia and north to the Northwest Territories and the southern portion of the Yukon.Bee, M. A., Cook, J. M., L ...

Birds

(It has been reported elsewhere that 172 species of bird have been observed at Weed Lake.) Birds at Weed Lake

Black-necked stilt The black-necked stilt (''Himantopus mexicanus'') is a locally abundant shorebird of American wetlands and coastlines. It is found from the coastal areas of California through much of the interior western United States and along the Gulf of Mexic ...

* Black tern * Northern shoveler *

American white pelican The American white pelican (''Pelecanus erythrorhynchos'') is a large aquatic soaring bird from the order Pelecaniformes. It breeds in interior North America, moving south and to the coasts, as far as Central America and South America, in winte ...

Blue jay The blue jay (''Cyanocitta cristata'') is a passerine bird in the family Corvidae, native to eastern North America. It lives in most of the eastern and central United States; some eastern populations may be migratory. Resident populations are a ...

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 o ...

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 ...

* Trumpeter swan * Mallard duck

Mammals

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 ecologica ...

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 habitat ...

Insects

Butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

Diving beetle The Dytiscidae – based on the Greek ''dytikos'' (δυτικός), "able to dive" – are the predaceous diving beetles, a Family (biology), family of water beetles. They occur in virtually any freshwater habitat around the world, but a ...

s * Dragonflies * Ladybugs *

Grass spider Grass spider may refer to: * genus '' Agelena'', the Eurasian grass spiders * genus ''Agelenopsis'', the American grass spiders See also * genus '' Oxytate'', the (green) grass crab spiders * genus ''Runcinia'', the (brown) grass crab spiders * sp ...

s (''

Agelenopsis ''Agelenopsis'', commonly known as the American grass spiders, is a genus of funnel weavers first described by C.G. Giebel in 1869. They weave sheet webs that have a funnel shelter on one edge. The web is not sticky, but these spiders make up fo ...

'')

Plants

Algae Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

* Cattail ** Bulrush * Sage * Duckweed * Early blue violet * Dandelion (''Taraxacum officinale'') * Bladderwort

References

{{Reflist Wetlands of Canada Landforms of Alberta