It’s spring, honest!
Spring has finally sprung, and with it has come a flurry of birds coming home to St. Albert.Bird enthusiasts should head down to the Big Lake Environment Support Society platform today and next Saturday for the annual Springing to Life bird count. The event, which has been running since the mid-1990s, celebrates the return of bird life to the city after winter and strives to track trends in bird populations.
This year’s count was supposed to be April 14 but got pushed back until now due to the interminable winter, said organizer Dan Stoker.
“It seems to have turned to spring in the last day or two, maybe.”
Most of Big Lake is still frozen, but there’s a long stretch of open river near the platform which could make it much easier to spot any birds that do land, Stoker said. Counters won’t have the platform available this year, but should be able to spot what they need from the nearby bike path, which is level with it.
Whereas there were hardly any feathers in the skies last weekend, Stoker said this week’s warm spurt has led to a flurry of activity. He’s seen plenty of Canada geese, a few snow geese, mallards, American wigeons (green mask, white forehead, pale blue beak with black tip), buffleheads (big black and white head, dives a lot), goldeneyes, and American coots, the latter of which might decide to nest here.
Stoker said he and a few other birders would be at the platform from 8:30 a.m. to noon on April 21 and 28, rain, snow, or shine, to count and help others spot birds. Up to 70 people typically drop by, but attendance usually depends on the weather.
Watch for invaders
Spring means new growth, but experts warn that some of the first blooms out of the ground may in fact be invasive weeds.City of Edmonton weed specialist Daniel Laubhann is giving a free talk to the Edmonton Nature Club’s plant studies group Monday on invasive weeds.
Invasive weeds are plants that aren’t naturally found in Alberta and that outcompete native species when introduced, infesting crops and throwing off whole ecosystems, Laubhann said.
Laubhann’s talk will look at Alberta’s invasive weed laws and how to control select invasives in the Edmonton region.
Many of the first plants to pop up this spring will be invasive weeds, said City of St. Albert arborist Kevin Veenstra. He was looking at some dead common burdock plants in Grey Nuns White Spruce Park when reached by the Gazette this week, and said the barbed seeds on them could easily start fresh outbreaks if not spotted and removed. Perennials such as the Canada thistle and leafy spurge have huge rhizome networks that will let them emerge as soon as the ground thaws.
Veenstra said one new invader residents should watch for this spring is the orange hawkweed, which is known for having clusters of small, dandelion-like blooms atop tall, bristly, mostly leafless stems. Crews spotted it spilling out of a St. Albert yard into a park last year. The plants come in brilliant orange or red and spread like dandelions, which is why they’re on the province’s prohibited noxious (destroy on sight) list.
He’s also on the lookout for Japanese knotweed, a “monster” plant now rampaging across B.C.
“As long as you don’t disturb the root mass, it’s just a nice little shrubby plant like bamboo,” he said.
Disturb it, and it suckers profusely, spreading powerful roots that can punch through concrete. The one St. Albert homeowner known to have it said he broke four shovels trying to hack through its roots, Veenstra said.
Veenstra encouraged residents to watch their flowerbeds for uninvited guests this spring, especially if those plants creep under their fence-line. Any plant that appears to be spreading out of control should be reported to the city.
Laubhann’s talk is at 7:30 in Room 8 of the J. Percy Page Centre in Edmonton. Visit edmontonnatureclub.org for details.
