More of Our Canada – September 01, 2019

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Enjoying local nature spots

by James Hamilton, Wabasca, Alta.

BIRDS & BLOOMS

An eared grebe
perched on its
floating nest.

I

captured this shot of

an eared grebe com-

ing out of the water

on to its floating

nest. The nest was at-

tached to reeds growing

in a pond created by heavy equipment dig-

ging out clay in previous years. The pond

is just one of a group of ponds located be-

hind our acreage here in Wabasca. These

ponds attract all kinds of wildlife includ-

ing deer, the occasional moose, muskrats,

beaver, various waterfowl, birds and in-

sects. There is an osprey’s nest nearby and

every year the osprey picks off a few baby

bufflehead ducks to feed its young from the

brood of about a dozen that is raised on the

ponds. My wife and I feel grateful for this

plethora of wildlife, basically right in our

backyard. We can take our grandchildren

there to enjoy spotting wildlife with us. We

don’t have to drag them miles into the bush

to observe nature. They don’t have time to

lose interest if it’s “too hot” or “too buggy!”

The eared grebe always builds a floating

nest, like this one. Some years, the water

level will change so drastically during in-

cubation and fledging that the nest is ei-

ther flooded or left high and dry. In both

cases the young may not survive. In this

case all went well and three young eared

grebes survived and thrived. ■

52 More of Our Canada SEPTEMBER 2019