City to conduct survey of urban wildlife
Officials, U of A researchers will team up in May to document animals’ movements
The city has a thriving nightlife and city officials want to record it.
Oh, we’re not talking bars and pubs. City officials are interested in what other creatures — apart from humans — share the space.
Beginning in May, urban wildlife officials, with help from researchers from the University of Alberta, will set up wildlife cameras and audio traps in different parts of the city. Of special interest to officials and researchers are areas that animals might not like to spend time in or have problems moving through.
“This year we’re trying to get a better understanding of wildlife movement in the city,” said Catherine Shier, principal ecological planner for the city. “The city is quite lively in terms of wildlife even though you don’t often get to see it directly … You can see signs such as tracks, feathers and my daughter’s favourite sign to spot: scat” (a.k.a. wildlife poop).
The city has a thriving wildlife population, including porcupines, beavers, badgers, chickadees, American white pelicans, great horned owls, Canadian toads, peregrine falcons and shrews. Overall, the city is potentially home to as many as 178 species of birds, 47 mammals, 27 species of fish, two kinds of reptiles, five amphibians, 487 kinds of plants including two kinds of carnivorous plants and 221 different kinds of fungi.
In 2007, the city started to work with community groups and developers to establish terrestrial wildlife passages for critters that do not like to get their feet too wet or do not like to cross busy roads.
In 2015, the city’s first wildlife underpass was constructed to help larger animals such as moose and deer go under a busy arterial road.
But not all animals access the same passages, and not all areas have the right kind of vegetation, Shier said.
For instance, research at the University of Alberta found that chickadees don’t like to cross roads and gaps that are greater than 25 metres.
“They will if they have to, but they prefer not to,” Shier said.
The birds have a higher resistance to crossing such areas — areas with wide roads, fields and low vegetation.
And, it is in areas where wildlife movement is potentially restricted that the camera and audio traps will be set up, Shier said.
“We’re going to be identifying some of those spots that animals might have a hard time getting through,” she said. “Is there anything moving through here and is there anything we can learn from this in order to improve the area?”
Over the summer, these cameras will record activity at night.
The river valley, Shier said sees a lot of human activity during the day, which makes wildlife shy away.
“But when humans aren’t there, what happens at night?” she asked.
“And so we want to see what the truly wild nightlife of Edmonton is like.”
The city is hoping local naturalists can help by sorting though wildlife photos and recorded bird songs.
The first spots the cameras will go up in is on the outskirts of the city where there are more natural areas and fewer concrete gardens.
“Let’s see if the species we think are using our natural areas and corridors between them are actually using them,” Shier said.
From there, officials will expand closer to the city centre.
“If people are willing to look, there’s wildlife everywhere,” Shier said. “They are still in the neighbourhood. When people go to sleep things abound. I’m excited to see what we find.”