News

Four months after repealing its Endangered Species Act, the Ontario provincial government has introduced legislation that will cease to recognize Ontario’s 106 endangered species, handing responsibility for their protection entirely to the federal government. There are 13 endangered bird species in Ontario, including the Acadian flycatcher, Kirtland’s warbler, Golden eagle, and Red-headed woodpecker. Also dumped […]

Highway 413 Update Construction of the controversial Highway 413, which will arch north of Highway 401 from Halton to York Region, is scheduled to start this year. The mega-project – a $6-billion, six-lane highway stretching 52 kilometres – will cut through 220 wetlands, 85 waterways, the Ontario Greenbelt, and the protected habitat of 11 at-risk

Avian flu, or H5N1, has continued to spread across North America since its arrival in mid-January 2024, so far infecting 136 million domestic birds, 900 dairy herds and more than 11,000 wild birds. Although the risk to humans remains low, the U.S. Department of Health and Health Services (HHS) warns that the outbreak has pandemic

The second year of PIBO’s Graeme Gibson Prismaticos Project is underway. We gathered used binoculars, spotting scopes and bird books in Canada to distribute to forest rangers, nature guides, and school classrooms in Mexico. Over the winter, our Mexican partner, Rodrigo Lopez, sent out dozens of request forms, and from among those who applied he

Hummers Need Our Help Hummingbirds aren’t often included in discussions about threatened bird species, but according to Birdlife International, 28 species of New World hummingbirds are now considered vulnerable, with at least 8 nearing extinction. Most of those, such as Juan Fernandez and the Sapphire-bellied hummingbirds, are found only in Central and South America. But

The Ontario government wants to water down the province’s Species-at-Risk Act in order to push through its plans to build Highway 413, a mega-project that will cut through 220 wetlands, 85 waterways, the Greenbelt, and the protected habitat of 11 at-risk species, including those of 11 birds.

Sound Familiar? Canada geese in Ontario are dying in what virologists are calling an “unprecedented” worldwide surge of avian flu (H5N1). In the past year, the disease has affected 80 countries, and since spreading to North America, probably via migratory species, has killed 72 million farm birds in the United States alone. In January, virologists

The American Ornithological Society has committed to changing the English-language names of all birds in North America named after people, along with names deemed offensive or exclusionary. Beginning in 2024, a select AOS committee will rename 70-80 birds species in Canada and the U.S. that have human names: thus new names will be sought for

The ballots are counted and the winner is the Tufted Titmouse. This feisty grey-and-white member of the chickadee family has expanded its range into southern Ontario thanks to the many bird feeders urban watchers have put out, and so is a fitting avian ambassador for the Windsor area. The announcement was made in Ojibway Park