Bird Conservation

Protecting Endangered Birds in Canada, and Keeping Common Birds Common

Related Links Special Report: State of the World's Birds English; French Take Action! Save Our Boreal Birds! Birds and Climate Change: How are Birds Affected Four Things All Birds Need

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Birds link us to the natural world every day of the year-even in the most urban settings. Like so many Canadians, did you wake up to nature and wild things by stopping one day to watch a bird fly, feed or nest?

Birds do so much for us. They keep our ecosystems running smoothly by controlling rodents and insect pests, scavenging wastes and pollinating plants. And there’s much to be learned by getting out the binoculars and watching common birds. As our best-known group of living things, birds are easy to identify and count. The results, over time, show us where our environment is not what it used to be, and when the decline (or improvement) started happening.

The truth is that healthy bird populations suggest healthy habitats for all species, including humans. So we watch, count, study and marvel at them!

Sadly, many of Canada's birds have suffered severe population declines over the past decades. Like other species, birds face mounting pressures on their habitats and populations. Some of these pressures may be due to climate change. Currently, one in eight of the world’s birds are threatened with global extinction, and of the 428 bird species that regularly breed in Canada, 60 are classified as at risk.

Where does Nature Canada fit in?
Nature Canada is a Canadian co-partner in BirdLife International, the outstanding worldwide protector of birds and habitat. Our BirdLife role keeps us active nationally and internationally, protecting key sites for breeding and non-breeding Canadian birds. We achieve this nationally:

	Through the Important Bird Areas program;
	By empowering Canadians to become stewards making a difference for our country's birds; and
	By getting involved and sharing information on land use, political or economic issues.

Working internationally with other BirdLife partners throughout the Americas, we develop and advance hemispheric bird conservation objectives for migrating and local birds.

We also support biodiversity and bird conservation projects in the Americas.