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Originally Posted by Calgarian
Calgary actually does quite well for nature and wildlife. One of the things that makes this city so spread out is the massive amount of park space we have, Nose Hill and Fish Creek are 2 of the largest city parks on the continent (each about 3x the size of Stanley Park in Vancouver) and both are located entirely within city limits. Add in places like Edworthy Park, Beaver Dam Flats, 12 mile coulee, Confederation Park and you get lots of places for wildlife. I hiked the Douglas Fir Trail yesterday (very tall, old trees on a 200' tall escarpment, kind of the Calgary version of old growth as some trees are more than 400 years old) and felt like I was in the mountains, such a great spot in the city . Didn't see any animals aside from squirrels and chipmunks, but the last time I was in there I saw 2 Great Grey Owls (and the chipmunk they were watching losing his shit! ). I live close to Edworthy park in the river valley and am really hoping I get to see a Bobcat at some point, one of my neighbours saw a pair of them in the spring. Aside from that, it's mostly deer, rabbits and Hares we see, not to mention typical city birds like pigeons and crows (and the always annoying Magpie). I did see a Bald Eagle in the city this summer, never seen one of them in Calgary before, usually it's Red Tailed Hawks and Falcons for predatory birds. I've seen a million Coyotes and a few foxes in the city as well, never seen a Cougar anywhere, though they do come into the city on occasion as was mentioned above. The other thing we have a million of in this city is Ground Squirrels (colloquially referred to as Gophers, though they are different).
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That Douglas fir trail is amazing. The first time I went there I almost stepped on a 3 foot garter snake.
Other animals I’ve seen in the city include bald eagles, hawks, osprey, falcons, great horned owls, mule deer, white tailed deer, a red fox, coyotes, jackrabbits, white pelicans, cormorants, bats, beavers, prairie chickens, a muskrat, a pheasant, and I actually saw that cougar that was killed by the south hospital 4 years ago.