What’s the importance of muskrats for marsh birds? Find out in the new issue of “Marsh Monitor”. With the program celebrating their 30th anniversary, the team speaks to the value of having data span so many years. In their words “things are getting really interesting”!
Featured News Stories
The Hidden Threat: Why Neonics Are Still Putting Birds at Risk
Recent re-evaluation of pesticide regulation in Canada is a cause for concern. We explore their impacts on insectivorous birds, look at how we’re taking action as an organization, and share ways you can help at home.
The Results Are In: 2024 Birdathon Prize Winners and Top Fundraisers
Bird lovers, rejoice! The 2024 Birdathon was another soaring success thanks to the incredible passion and generosity of our participants, donors and sponsors. Together, we raised vital funds for bird conservation and for the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network. Your efforts made a real impact – thank you!
Get Ready for the Great Backyard Bird Count: Tips for New Birders
While February may still be wrapped in winter’s chill, it’s also a month of excitement, kicking off with the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) next week. Running from 14-17 February, this event engages bird enthusiasts of all ages around the world in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are.
Removing barriers and enabling conservation: Celebrating 25 years of Denis Lepage
Sometimes the secretive birds, the ones that are hard to see, tucked away in dense habitats, are the most amazing and inspiring. For me that is Denis. You may not have heard the name Denis Lepage before, but if you are interested in birds or conservation, I can all but guarantee that you have used something that Denis has built over the past 25 years.
Birding at the Edge of the World: Haida Gwaii’s Christmas Bird Counts
Celebrating forty years of tradition, Yousif Attia recounts his trip to Haida Gwaii and explores their rich history, unique species, and generous people who made this Christmas Bird Count so special.
Flock Together for the Great Backyard Bird Count
Share in the joy of birds during the annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) and help make your community stronger for you and the birds. Bird and nature lovers everywhere unite in the effort to tally as many of the world’s bird species as possible over these four days. Combined with other bird counts, GBBC results help create a clearer picture of how birds are faring—whether individual species are declining, increasing, or holding steady in the face of habitat loss, climate change, and other threats.
Happy World Wetlands Day: Protecting wetlands for our common future
Wetlands provide food and shelter for numerous birds year-round: Whimbrels in west coast estuaries, Bonaparte’s Gulls on marshy lakes in the boreal, pelicans on prairie potholes, bitterns in Great Lakes coastal marshes, rails in wetlands along the St. Lawrence, sandpipers on Bay of Fundy mudflats, and on and on. Many bird species spend some or all of their lives in a wetland, so protecting them has never been more important
Grassland Conservation Takes Flight: Innovative Project Aims to Conserve Declining Grassland Bird Populations
In a groundbreaking step to address the decline of grassland bird populations, Birds Canada and the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Foundation (SSGF) have launched the Bird-friendliness Index Incentive Pilot Program. Using the “holistic conservation model”, this new pilot program aims to address the needs of birds, biodiversity, and the people who make a living on the land.
Recent updates to extinction risk assessments for Canadian birds
In 2024, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) assessed the status of six bird species, two for the first time. Of the reassessed species, just one improved in status since its previous assessment; the remainder are unchanged, or reassessed at a higher threat level. Ninety-four bird species are now assessed to be at risk of extinction in Canada, a number that only keeps rising.