Birds need your support this fall

By Kris Dobney, Member Services Specialist, Birds Canada

The Great Canadian Birdathon is a fantastic way to raise the funds needed to advance bird research, awareness, and conservation. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Great Canadian Birdathon, which is normally held in May each year, has been extended through to the end of the year allowing participants to choose a time that best suits their situation. You can still provide valuable support for Canada’s birds in 2020. Sign up your team today, make plans to go birding, and ask friends and family to support you!

If you’d like some inspiration, or would prefer to sponsor a team rather than go birding yourself, here are some examples to check out! The Lovebirds of King City, ON have been doing the Birdathon for several years, but are getting ready to head out on their first-ever fall Birdathon. The West Coast Warblers, a group of young birders, completed their Birdathon on August 20^th; they biked 83 km and found 113 species in BC’s Fraser Delta Important Bird and Biodiversity Area! And another group – the HBO Harriers – are joining together in support of the Haldimand Bird Observatory as a way to give back to a place they all hold dear. Birds Canada’s Grassland Conservation Manager, Ian Cook, is holding his “Prairie Birds and Cow Turds” Birdathon this fall, and our President Steven Price is also planning his fall Birdathon.

Please check out these participants’ pages through the links above to learn more about their plans and show your support! We will be following up with each of them to share their results.

If you are planning a Birdathon yet this year, be sure to share your day with us by emailing me, Kris, at kdobney@birdscanada.org or by using the hashtag #GreatCanadianBirdathon on social media.

If you have already done a Birdathon this year – thank you so much! If you are planning one soon – good luck! And, if you have not planned to participate in a Birdathon of your own, why not sign up today?