Bird Conservation in Canada

Harlequin Duck

Related Links Important Bird Areas Canada's IBA Network Communities in Action Explore: A Detailed Guide to Featured Birds

Canadians love birds, from cultural icons, like the loon and the Canada goose, to lesser known but still treasured species like the northern gannet or ruffed grouse.

Hundreds of species and millions of individual birds are found across Canada – its magnificent mountain ranges, wide open grasslands, spectacular forests, and its far-reaching tundra.

Sadly, many birds in Canada have suffered severe population decline over the past decades due to mounting pressures on their habitat, climate change and pollution.

Nature Canada, as the Canadian co-partner in Birdlife International, with Bird Studies Canada, works to protect birds in many ways.

We keep stewardship within Canada's Important Bird Areas strong.
Community care of local bird habitat is essential for the health of our IBA system – and for the birds. Nature Canada supports community-based bird conservation programs across Canada to promote local stewardship and restoration efforts. Since 1996, Nature Canada has supported more than 150 grassroots projects and invested close to $450,000 in on-the-ground projects involving 100 Important Bird Areas.

In 2009, TransCanada Corporation committed $1 million over the next five years as a national sponsor of the Canadian Important Bird Area Caretakers Network, a nationwide initiative to establish a volunteer network of caretakers who will watch over and protect Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in their community. See what's already happening in British Columbia!

We protect and conserve migratory bird populations.
Working with BirdLife partners in the Americas, Nature Canada has launched projects in Paraguay, Brazil, Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic to reduce pressure on bird habitat, and we are currently participating in top-level policy talks to strengthen the Migratory Bird Convention Act.

We strive to protect the birds of the boreal.
The Boreal forest region contains crucial breeding habitat for 80% of the waterfowl species of North America, 63% of the finch species, and 53% of warbler species. To protect the boreal for all birds, Nature Canada is a member of the Boreal Forest Conservation Framework, a made-in-Canada effort to balance conservation and development in Canada's Boreal region. We recently submitted a petition, signed by 60,000 people, to Parliament demanding that 50% of the Boreal be preserved. We are working to ensure endangered birds are saved and common birds stay common.