Shannon Terrace Family Walk
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Stop #1: In front of the washroom      GARTER SNAKES

As a provincial park, Fish Creek has a mandate to preserve and protect the diversity of lifeforms that live in or visit this area. Human use of the hill immediately south of this picnic area had affected the garter snakes and their winter den (hibernaculum). To protect the snakes, their denning site and to maintain park visitor safety, the hill in this area is now a preservation zone with restricted access.

For more information about the project and garter snakes, please read the display posted on the bulletin board located on the outside of this washroom.

Activity: Garter snakes eat many different animals. Fish, frogs, salamanders, earthworms and insects are some common meals. Look around the grassland for insects the garter snakes might eat. Remember, the snakes are on the ground so most flying insects are safe.

As you are looking for insects, you will also see many holes in the ground. These are made by a key species in the grasslands ecosystem. Remain in the picnic area to learn more about this important mammal.

Stop #2: In picnic area      GROUND SQUIRRELS

The small, beige animals darting around the picnic area are Richardson's ground squirrels, often mistakenly called gophers (actually, gophers are entirely different animals). Ground squirrels are common in grasslands and grazed pasture. They eat insects and carrion but are mainly herbivorous, eating grasses and broad leaf plants. They will feed most of the time they are above ground. This allows them to store the needed body fat for their long, winter sleep (hibernation). When these animals hibernate, their body temperature drops to slightly above freezing and their breathing and heart rate slow. Their stored body fat can then meet the reduced requirements for survival throughout the long winter.

Within Protected Areas, the ground squirrels are recognized as a key grasslands species. They are important link in the food chain. They keep the populations of weeds and insects in check while being an important source of summer food for weasels, badgers, hawks and coyotes.

PLEASE just stand quietly and watch these animals. Do not feed or chase them.

Activity: Can you find the three different kinds of entrance holes that enable ground squirrels to disappear so quickly?

As you move along the paved path to the next stop, watch the antics of these animals as they defend their territories from each other.

Follow the paved path east to the end of the picnic area. From there you will go approximately 200 metres downhill past the wooden stage and seats to the white barn.

Stop #3 Next to the white barn      NORMAN WILLANS and JOSEPH SHANNON

This area of Fish Creek Provincial Park is named after Joseph Shannon, one of the early settlers in the Fish Creek valley. He arrived in 1882 and by 1911, the ranch he had created was over 500 acres. A neighbour just east of his land was Norman Willans. He had been a manager at the Bow Valley Ranch, however, his eyesight had begun to fade with age so he retired. In 1932, Norman and his wife Alice purchased 10 acres of the available land to build their new home. They wanted it to be old-fashioned with a sod roof, plastered walls and thick double doors so they used the methods and styles of construction from the 1870's. The white barn is the only building that remains and is now used as a riding stable.

As you move to the next stop, imagine what it may have been like living in this area 60 years ago.

Continue along the path past the barn. When you reach the fork in the trail, take the paved path to your left, rather than the shale trail. Follow the paved path around a curve approximately 220 metres from the white barn.

Stop #4 Waist height shrubs on right side of trail      RED OSIER DOGWOOD

Although you may have noticed many different bushes with berries, few of these were edible enough to be used by early settlers. The red osier dogwood is one of the species that has attractive but bitter tasting berries. The cluster of white flowers that produce these berries will appear in late May. The long, oval leaves have veins that all point to the leaf tip, an easy way to identify them. In autumn, these leaves turn a very noticeable reddish purple. The reddish bark is most often found on the young branches.

Activity: Look carefully around the bushes and at the branch ends. Can you find signs of animals and birds using these for food and shelter?

As you move to the next stop, continue to look at the bushes and trees. What animals might find food and shelter in the forest?

Follow the paved path approximately 200 metres to a stand of evergreen trees on the left side of the trail.

Stop #5 In an area of coniferous trees      WHITE SPRUCE TREE

Many species of animals, including birds and insects, depend upon the white spruce tree for food and shelter. Spruce trees need the well-drained areas and moist soil found in this area of Fish Creek Provincial Park. The white spruce is a coniferous tree, which means its seeds are found within a container called a cone. The leaves of coniferous trees are called needles. These are shed a few at a time, continuously throughout the year, unlike deciduous trees that lose all their leaves at the same time in the fall. The spruce needles are bluish-green with four sides and grow from all angles of the branch. Cones of a spruce are pale brown and hang downward. The Natives mixed the sap from the trees with fat and applied it to insect bites, burns and rashes. They also boiled the sap to use as a cough syrup.

Activity: Find a spruce cone on the ground. The cone provides shelter not only for the tree seeds but also for many small insects. Gently tap the cone on a white piece of paper. Look at any insects that come out. Compare the sizes and colours. Tap the cone on the paper again to dislodge any others that might be still inside. The insects will be very small and move quickly so you will need to look carefully! If, after several tries, nothing emerges, try a different cone. Maybe no one was "home" in the first one.

As you move along to the next stop, watch for signs that might indicate a small mammal has been using the spruce trees for food.

Continue following the trail east. It changes from pavement to grey shale. Go approximately 400 metres until you see many fallen logs on the left side of the trail in the spruce forest.

Stop #6 In the coniferous and deciduous trees      RED SQUIRREL

Red squirrels are the native species of tree squirrel common in the Park. Their big, bushy tails help them keep their balance while running along tree branches. They use cavities or burrows under tree roots, if available, for shelter. Sometimes, they build nests (dreys) using grasses and mosses. Look for these large, round nests up high in the evergreen trees, against the trunks. Squirrels like to live alone and have their own territory. Red squirrels do not hibernate: they are active all winter.

Activity: Look for squirrel middens, (an old English word for garbage). The red squirrels often have favourite places to sit and eat. They take apart the spruce cones to eat the seeds inside. Discarded bits of the cones are all that is left after the squirrels have eaten. When you find a midden you know you are in a red squirrel's dining room. Can you find the stems of the cones left when the squirrel is finished eating?

Continue to look for middens and dreys as you move through the forest to the next stop. If you went on the Hull's Wood walk you can also see some of the things you discovered on that walk: woodpecker holes, bark beetle tunnels and lichens. These organisms can be found in spruce forests as well as the deciduous forests you explored at Hull's Wood.

Continue along the grey shale path approximately 450 metres until you reach the junction of the grey and red shale paths.

Turn left and head uphill to reach the Bebo Grove washrooms. Turn right on the red shale trail to go downhill to the Bebo Grove picnic area.

This picnic area, located right next to Fish Creek, has tables set within the spruce forest and is a beautiful place to rest and reflect on what you have discovered so far. The squirrels provide amusing company.

From the picnic area, continue to follow the red shale trail along the creek approximately 150 metres until you see silver coloured bushes on either side of the trail.

Stop #7 Silver coloured bushes on both sides of the trail      WOLF WILLOW

This bush is also commonly known as silverberry. Its colouring is very unique: the leaves are silvery green, the flowers are silvery yellow and the berries are silvery grey. In late spring, the odour of the flowers can be smelled from quite a distance. The wood also gives off a very strong odour when it is burned. The berries are dry and mealy with a large stone in the middle.

As you walk to the next stop, notice the variety of locations where this bush can be found.

Continue walking west along the red shale trail about 300 metres. Cross bridge # 2 and stop at the trail junction.

Stop #8 On the left side of the trail under shrubs      ANT HILLS

Forest-dwelling ants build dome shaped mounds on the forest floor by piling up spruce needles, twigs and other plant debris. These mounds are loosely constructed so they will drain quickly after a rain. They are connected by passageways to the main part of the nest, which reaches far into the ground. Early in the morning, worker ants carry the colony's developing eggs and larva up into these mounds, whose slanting walls are heated by the sun. These slanted walls have such a large surface area exposed to the sun that the temperature inside the anthill can be as much as 10 °C warmer than the outside air temperature. All day long, as the sun moves across the sky, workers shuttle the eggs from one part of the mound to another. In the evening, they retire with the eggs to the underground chambers, where heat has accumulated during the day. The workers block all entrances to those chambers to keep out the cool night air. Please leave the anthills intact.

Activity: If the ants are out watch them as they move about. Did you notice that one ant follows exactly the same trail as another ant? Ants leave a chemical (formic acid) trail for others to follow. Roll a pencil between your palms so some of your scent and palm perspiration goes onto the pencil. Place it on the side of the anthill. Allow the ants to crawl on it. The smell of your perspiration will attract them to the pencil. After 10 minutes, shake the ants off and quickly smell the vinegar-like odour of formic acid.

Birds, animals and insects are not the only ones to use plants and trees. As you walk to the next stop, watch for examples of plants using shrubs and trees.

Follow the trail leading straight ahead. It remains flat, with no stairs. Go approximately 100 metres.

Stop #9 Bushes on both sides of the trail that have large black lumps
BLACK KNOT OF CHERRY

The black, twisted shapes on some of the chokecherry and pincherry bushes in the Park are a disease called black knot of cherry. The lumps are created as the bushes increase xylem and phloem cells in reaction to an invasion of spores from a specific fungus (Apiosporina morbosa). Throughout most of the year, the spindle-shaped lumps are black. However, sometimes in the spring, the lumps are light green and have a velvety texture. This disease does not kill the bushes but a severe infection will stunt growth.

Activity: Fungi are plants that lack green chlorophyll so they cannot make their own food using the process of photosynthesis. Fungi must feed on dead or living plants or on animals. They reproduce using spores instead of seeds. Fungi come in a wide variety of shapes and colours. Black Knot of Cherry is just one example of a fungus found in the Park. How many types of fungus can you find as you continue your walk?

Follow the trail as it winds west to bridge #1, approximately 110 metres away.

Stop #10 At bridge #1      BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE

Many know the chickadees' winter song "chick-a-dee-dee-dee": The chickadees use this call to stay in contact with each other while out of sight among the tree branches. In spring, the call most often heard is two notes: one high, one low "fee-bee". At this time of year these small birds are indicating their territory as pairs begin nesting.Chickadees are found in forests. They nest in cavities (holes) in dead trees and will often use old woodpecker nests as their own. Chickadees eat small insects, spiders and conifer seeds. This diet is available all year so the chickadees are able to stay in Fish Creek Provincial Park over the winter season. Another reason these birds do not need to migrate is that they have thick feathers to trap warm air close to their body . Their body metabolism drops at night when they are resting, helping to conserve energy. They are able to withstand cold winter temperatures. If you look carefully while on your walk, you may see these birds. Watch for their interesting trait of flying over a clearing one at a time to prevent predators from attacking the entire flock.

Activity: If you stand quietly and wait, you may have the chickadees come closer and closer to you. Can you figure out why they approach people? What have humans done to encourage this behaviour? Why is this human behaviour harmful instead of helpful?

Answer: Humans have been hand feeding the birds. As a result, the chickadees now view humans as a source of easy food and have lost their wariness (fear) of people. This is harmful because the food given to the birds does not always meet their nutritional needs. ALL wildlife stays safer and healthier if we allow the animals to stay wild.

CONCLUSION

Alberta's Parks and Protected Areas, including Fish Creek Provincial Park, are living legacies of the beauty, diversity and wonder of Alberta's natural regions. They are landscapes that have been established to preserve our province's natural and cultural features.They are also places to come and recreate, reconnect and rediscover.

We hope you have enjoyed this walk in one of Alberta's provincial parks and will return time and again to enjoy the peace, beauty and time together in Canada's largest urban park.

Comments and suggestions about our Family Walk are welcomed. Please click on Irene Till at the bottom of this page to email us.

Remember to check this section of our website in June for information on the Family Adventure Kit!

A new guided walk will appear in this section in September.

To return to the Shannon Terrace picnic area (approximately 400 metres from the bridge), follow the trail straight ahead from the bridge. It will connect with the paved path. At that junction, turn left. You will have walked along this section of paved path earlier. Follow it back to the white barn and the paved trail leading to the picnic area.

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