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By Jennifer Nantais

In 2019, Nature Canada signed an agreement with Environment and Climate Change Canada to recognize 30 Canadian centres as “Bird-Friendly Cities” by May 14^th, 2022 – World Migratory Bird Day. The goal is to work with local partners within each city to develop a certification standard to recognize and celebrate cities that are making contributions to save birds in their communities.

A Bird Friendly City is one where key threats to birds are effectively mitigated, nature is protected and restored so native bird populations can thrive, residents and visitors are actively engaged in admiring and monitoring local bird populations, organizations are creating events to protect birds, progressive municipal policies are created to protect urban bird populations, and a Bird Team has been created to oversee and lead these initiatives.

Windsor is one of a dozen cities working toward the goal of becoming one of the first certified Bird Friendly Cities with the help of local partner Pelee Island Bird Observatory. Initiatives include partnerships with St. Clair College, the University of Windsor, the City of Windsor and others to reduce threats and protect and restore habitat. PIBO also plans to promote outreach through education and awareness campaigns, public resources to benefit birds and local flora and fauna, and engaging opportunities and events including celebrating World Migratory Bird Day on May 8^th, 2021.

The year is young, spring is around the corner and there is still much work to be done. With most Canadians living in cities, a focus on urban birds and citizen science initiatives will hopefully help achieve the goal of certification for our city. If you or your organization would like to help achieve this goal, please reach out and let us know!

Jennifer Nantais
Urban Bird Educator
Pelee Island Bird Observatory

pibo.ca

By Jennifer Nantais

After a year of unprecedented change in our lives, our city is preparing to resume normal activity in the near future. Case numbers are going down, many students are back in school, businesses are beginning to reopen, and people will soon be reconnecting with those they care about.

Despite how difficult the past year has been, some of the sacrifices that people have been forced to make during the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in less traffic, a decrease in industrial activity, reduced emissions, and a forced slowing down of our hectic lifestyles. While this has cut us off from the pleasures of recreation and spending time with friends and family, many have also noted cleaner air, less noise and light pollution, life returning to areas of reduced human activity, the ability to see and hear wildlife like never before, and people spending more time outdoors. As we prepare to once again embrace what we have been missing, let us try not to lose what we have gained.

Nature is uniquely situated to capitalize on the head start that it has been given. We are resilient, adaptable, and able to make sacrifices when the future depends on it. Keep up the great work; keep pressure on institutions and policy makers; keep working toward a healthy, sustainable community; and keep enjoying all that nature has to offer.

Happy Spring Everyone!

By Jeremy Hatt

Since 2015, birders in Essex County have kept a list of all the species found in our area during the month of February, a challenge we call the “Depths of Winter”. It is conducted each year on WEPBirds, an online forum created by ECFNC Vice President Kory Renaud for reporting and discussing bird sightings in the Windsor, Essex, and Pelee areas. WEPBirds is open to all levels of birding expertise and interest. Visit www.wepbirds.com to learn more. Each year the Depths of Winter list is tallied from reports to WEPBirds, eBird, and other birding listservs.

2020 and 2021 were the sixth and seventh years birders have taken part in the Depths of Winter challenge. The total number of species tallied in 2020 was 95. The only new addition last year to the all-time list was Gyrfalcon. This was the second lowest count since the challenge began. 2019 saw the lowest number of species at 83, which isn’t surprising considering it was an exceptionally cold winter with a higher amount of ice cover than other recent years.

Despite not publicizing the challenge this year due to the pandemic, in 2021 birders broke the previous record high of 116 species set in 2017 by 2 birds. The record high for the number of species seen during February now stands at 118 species. Since it has been a mild winter, several species that would normally have moved out of the area due to ice cover were able to overwinter. It was also an irruption year for winter finches and quite a few early spring migrants also showed up at the end of February with the onset of warmer weather.

Highlights this year included Greater White-fronted Goose, Long-tailed Duck, King Eider, Double-crested Cormorant, Virginia Rail, Gyrfalcon, Common Redpoll, Savannah Sparrow, and five new additions to the Depths of Winter list: Black Scoter, Bonaparte’s Gull, Great Egret, Varied Thrush, and Hoary Redpoll. Gyrfalcon, Hoary Redpoll, and Varied Thrush were new species for many birders’ Essex County lists.

Notable misses this year included Snow Goose, Ross’s Goose, Horned Grebe, Northern Saw-whet Owl, Red-headed Woodpecker, Eastern Phoebe, Marsh Wren, and Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

Since its inception in 2015, the Depths of Winter list now stands at a total of 139 species. A complete list of species seen during the Depths of Winter challenge from 2015 to 2021 can be found at http://www.wepbirds.com/depths-of-winter—february-sightings.