Enewsletter

Bird enthusiasts have a new, improved source of information about Important Bird Areas, and the birds that inhabit them, with the launch of a new website for the Canadian Important Bird Areas (IBA) Program. The site's address is www.ibacanada.ca.

The new, bilingual website provides profiles of Important Bird Areas in Canada, organized in a fully searchable directory that includes maps and identifies the location of bird populations.

The site was created to be a one-stop resource for information about Canada's Important Bird Areas.

"The website's new, interactive tools and mapping features will help our IBA program partners and volunteers more effectively monitor birds and assess conditions at key IBA sites," said Mara Kerry, Nature Canada's conservation director. "We also expect this site will help inform decision-makers and land use planners about areas of high conservation value for birds."

The site was developed by Nature Canada and Bird Studies Canada, the Canadian co-partners of the global alliance known as BirdLife International. Together these two organizations deliver Canada's Important Bird Areas Program, a science-based initiative to identify, conserve, and monitor a network of sites that provide essential habitat for Canada's bird populations.

Our volunteer IBA Caretakers are working alongside ornithologists and conservation scientists to help us protect birds and critical ecosystems. Regional partners, including BC Nature, Federation of Alberta Naturalists, Nature Saskatchewan, and Nature Québec, also provide critical support.

There are nearly 600 Canadian IBAs, many of which are not legally protected. These natural spaces are vitally important for our breeding, migrating, and wintering birds, and the conservation of these sites is a cornerstone of effective bird conservation.

TransCanada Corporation and a U.S. Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act grant provided funding for the new website.