Featured News Stories

The gifts you make through Birds Canada support important work for birds. Thank you for your generous contributions!

Birders participating in the 2022 Great Backyard Bird Count from February 18-21 created an outstanding snapshot of bird populations around the world. Thank you to each bird enthusiast who took part and shared your observations through the Merlin Bird ID app or eBird!

Volunteers are needed to cover vacant survey routes across Canada, and there is a priority need for new volunteers in northern and central Ontario. The North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) is the primary source of long-term bird population trends across the continent and keeps scientists and wildlife managers informed of significant changes in breeding bird populations.

Volunteers needed in the Atlantic Region to help with the Maritimes Marsh Monitoring Program, Maritimes SwiftWatch (New Brunswick and Nova Scotia), the Newfoundland Breeding Bird Atlas, and Newfoundland and Labrador Nocturnal Owl Survey.

With spring on the way, keep an eye and an ear out for Chimney Swifts returning from South America! Unfortunately, along with other species that rely on flying insects, Chimney Swift populations are in trouble. Since 1970, Canadian populations have declined by about 90%, and they are listed as “Threatened” under the Species at Risk Act.

Birds Canada staff Janine McManus, Prairie Biologist, and Dr. Kiel Drake, Prairie Director, as well as other colleagues, also listened to the recording. They agreed: a Common Poorwill in Manitoba!

We are looking for volunteers to adopt existing routes that are not currently being surveyed or new routes in areas with no current coverage.

Thank-you to the prize donors, participants, and sponsors who made Birds Canada’s 2021 Great Canadian Birdathon a success. All of your hard work and generosity will benefit Canada’s wild birds in many, many ways, and is deeply appreciated.

A proposed shipping terminal expansion project in BC has returned to the media spotlight. The Roberts Bank Terminal 2 (RBT2) project would see an artificial island about the size of 150 football fields built in the heart of the Fraser River Estuary. This is expected to impact a number of species legally protected under Canada’s Species at Risk Act, such as Chinook Salmon and Southern Resident Killer Whales. Experts within Environment and Climate Change Canada have also warned it would irreparably damage vital habitat for long-distance migratory birds like Western Sandpipers.

Silver linings of the pandemic are scarce, but one of them is surely Canadians reconnecting to the outdoors and nature. We went for a bike ride or jogged when we couldn’t visit a gym. For relief from another Zoom call, we walked, catching up with friends and counting steps with family. And many of us discovered birds in our backyards and from our balconies for the first time.