Posts by tag
grasslands
The Prairie’s Rarest Duo
Two Interconnected Grassland Mammals You May Never Have Heard Of Species #1: The Black-tailed Prairie Dog The Black-tailed Prairie Dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) is so rare in Canada it is only…
Guardians of Canada’s Grasslands
I didn’t grow up on the prairies, but as a kid I dreamed that I did. I read about life in the “wild west” and watched the movies. In my…
3 Superstar Long Distance Grassland Bird Migrants
As spring arrives on the Prairies, many species are either waking up or migrating to their summer homes. Here are three of our favourites — true superstars of long-distance migration.…
What Does Canada’s Smallest Fox do in the Winter?
The Swift Fox (Vulpes velox) is our smallest, fastest and least known fox species. They’re a dog, but about the size of a housecat, weighing in at only 1.5 to…
The prairies are a secret superhero ready and waiting to fight climate change
“…We owe our existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact it rains.” This quote, attributed with some doubt to the late Paul Harvey, an American radio farm…
At Home on the Range: My Summer as an Insect Field Technician
I have been surrounded by horses, cattle, and native rangeland my whole life. I grew up on a ranch along the South Saskatchewan River in West Central Saskatchewan. My perspective…
A City-slicker Taking on the Grassland Insect Project
To your average city-slicker, native grasslands may not be the first thought when it comes to a unique and diverse ecosystem. Hey — no judging — I am a city-slicker.…
The Prairie Duck Factory
Home on the range, where the … ducks … and the antelope play? In A Sand County Almanac, that classic of natural history published in 1949, Aldo Leopold describes the…
Am I Bugging You?
It is a common — and completely understandable — misconception that the best habitats for biodiversity are undisturbed habitats. The grasslands conjure an image of thick mature forests, tall waving grasses…
Conserving Our Pollen Nation
If prairie flowers were countries, and bees their only residents, then not only would this world rival ours for diversity and population size, but their economies would be, well, humming.…
