A National Bird? –What would you choose?

The Canadian Raptor Conservancy came to realize that our beautiful country does not have an official representative national bird. We are obviously well represented by the maple leaf and also have many other representative symbols. We have national products like maple syrup, we have national sports like ice hockey and lacrosse, we have animals such as the beaver, the moose, the caribou, the polar bear, the grizzly bear, the Canada goose, and the Canada lynx, but we do not have a national bird. Why? Meanwhile, bird watching is the number one hobby in the world, not to mention falconry being one of the oldest sports practiced in the world. The Canadian Raptor Conservancy thinks it is time for us to put forward a petition to our Federal government suggesting the nomination of an official bird to represent our country.

Watch this video to find out which birds are the most popular so far.

http://www.canadianraptorconservancy.com/index.php?page=official-bird-of-canada

We will collect 200,000 signatures & suggestion, after that the winning suggestion will be formulated into a petition and handed to our local Member of Parliament to be presented to the House of Commons.

Using the electronic form provided HERE, we would like you to suggest a bird accompanied by a short text explaining why you are suggesting that particular bird.

Lake Windermere District Boxing Day Bird Count

Seventy four people counted 3,927 individual birds during the 34th annual Lake Windermere District Christmas Bird Count. The number of birds is up by 47% from last year. Some of the increase can be attributed to high number Bohemian Waxwings and Common Redpolls. The total of 52 species recorded this year matches the average seen during the last 10 years of the count.

Some of this year’s highlights include a new species for the count. Dean and Bill Nicholson observed 2 Trumpeter Swans in the open water at Athalmer. They also spotted a lone Hooded Merganser which has only been recorded 5 times in the history of the count. Many of the feeder watchers commented on the lack of birds however one hot spot was Ron Speta’s yard. He said “in the 25 years of watching his feeder this has been the best!’ He recorded 16 species. Troy Rad once again ventured into the high country a found a couple of White-tailed Ptarmigan. Elijha and Haley Bowels were delighted to see 8 American Robins in their grandma Luciel Campbell’s yard. Fran Kimpton saw an unusual bird and after some study it turned out to be a partly albino Mountain Chickadee. There is also another 'mystery' bird in Linda Taylor’s yard. From the description it may be a Northern Hawk Owl but it needs a little further investigation to confirm. Thanks to Greg Wagner a visiting birder from High River whos keen ears found the only Northern Pygmy Owl near Eline Madson School. A couple of birds that were noticeably missing were the Great Blue Heron and Common Merganser.

The complete list of birds counted is as follows. Birds in bold indicate high counts or equals previously high counts.

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