Aerial Insectivores

Aerial insectivores are birds that feed exclusively on insects while flying, and include the swifts, swallows, flycatchers, and nightjars (nighthawks and whip-poor-wills).

Much appreciated by bird-lovers, this group of birds also provides essential and free natural pest control services to farmers and communities.

This group of birds is experiencing steeper population declines than any other in Canada, according to the 2019 State of Canada’s Birds report. They face ‘death by a thousand cuts’: loss of habitat to industrial, agriculture, forestry, and urban land-use; pesticides decimating insect populations; and the devastating impacts of climate change.

For more information contact:

Ontario

Natasha Barlow, Ontario Projects Biologist