Canadian agriculture is typically boiled down to a handful of animals:; geese, moose and maybe a loon resting on the lake. However, Ontario is a place filled to the brim with a variety of diverse animals and plants. So, what kind of creatures can be found populating the backyards of the Kitchener-Waterloo region?
An urban region of Ontario, Waterloo provides a unique mesh of cityscapes, farmland and open space. Combining natural spaces with residential and commercial areas creates complex support for the wildlife sharing our habitat. In the urban regions, the abundance of accessible food is important for raccoons and squirrels, who have evolved into scavenging from humans for survival. Other urban creatures such as skunks, possums, mice and rats fall similarly into this category.
Up in the Waterloo skies is a broad range of avian creatures. Hawks, gulls, woodpeckers, mourning doves, and waterfowl such as Canadian geese, swans, blue herons and mallards are all common bird species found in the region. Rarer birds that can be found are snowy owls, Iceland gulls, and Carolina wren. Alongside the birds are eight different species of bats that help control the bug population of Ontario.
The bug life of Waterloo is almost too extensive to properly describe. Bugs such as monarch butterflies, bumble bees, beetles, fireflies, dragonflies, grasshoppers and thousands of other species and their variations make up Waterloo’s insect ecosystem. As Ontario is the most diverse environmental region of Canada, the variety of insects is vast,colourful, spread across the area,and helpes boost the botany of Waterloo.
The flora of Waterloo is just as impressive as the insects, with a multitude of native Ontario plant life. Flowers such as the Coral Bean, red tubular flowers that bloom on stalks up to 6 feet tall, or the Black Dalea, a low-growing shrub covered in violet blossoms that provides shelter for mammals. Since the Waterloo region is a Moraine biome, a ridge or hill of loose rock left behind by a glacier, there is an enormous amount of biodiversity described as a green oasis, the Moraine allows wildlife to remain healthy and connected to the earth.
Alongside the wildlife, Waterloo houses a booming farm industry. With a total of 1,409 farms, 65 per cent being used for livestock, Ontarian farmers bring farm animals such as cattle, horses, mules, goats, swine, sheep, mink, chickens, hens, roosters, foxes and nutria to boost the agriculture of the area. Farmlands also bring forth agriculture and economy and in 2020 the Kitchener-Waterloo region alone saw a revenue of 21.1 million dollars through its farmers, with 652.5 dollars total throughout all of Ontario.
It is important to stay clean and eco-friendly. Often, it is easy to forget the impact humans have on the planet and just how much beauty is missed when there is no time set aside for it. There are a variety of accessible parks and trails in the Kitchener area to explore, each with great value and beautiful hiking trails. It is important to be kind to the land and to the animals that share it. The world is at your doorstep.
Contributed Image/USFWS Mountain-Prairie on Flickr
