Project Feeder Watch 2011

Backyard birdwatchers across Canada are invited to take part in the 25th season of Project FeederWatch, from November 12 through April 6. With each season, FeederWatch increases in importance as a unique and indispensable monitoring tool for more than 100 bird species that winter in North America. Last year, over …

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Snow Bunting Network Needs Your Help

The Canadian Snow Bunting Network (CSBN) is a collaborative network of researchers and volunteers monitoring the migratory and wintering behaviour of Snow Buntings in Canada. Currently based in southern Ontario, the network is hoping to expand into the Prairies, Quebec, and the Maritimes. Banding wintering Snow Buntings is the CSBN’s only reliable way …

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Hmmm. Uhh. Wha?

Rarely – if ever – do I find myself speechless. Last weekend, I had purposely worked things out so that I had the whole of Sunday to write up a proposal. A proposal that should be done sooner than later. Everything was ticking along to according to plan, when I …

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Premier Redford Cancels Notorious “Potatogate” Land Sale

2011-10-19 Alberta Wilderness Association News Release Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA) is delighted to congratulate Premier Alison Redford on honouring her campaign commitment to scrap the notorious “Potatogate” public land sale. A short Government of Alberta news release, October 19, 2011, announced: “Government cancelled the RFP after people expressed concerns that …

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Those Aren’t Geese…

Greater white-fronted geese are mythical birds. A myth perpetrated by the oil industry so that some of us jump in our gas-driven cars and spend hours cruising through the country looking for them when they’re reported on the local bird alert. Again. This was intended to be a post about …

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Whooping Crane Wednesday

Last weekend, a small group of local birders were lucky enough to meet North America’s tallest birds in person. Whooping cranes stand about 1.5 m (5 ft) tall. Their wingspan is 2 m (6.5 ft) or more between the tips of their long black flight feathers. At close range, adult …

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Tracking Sable Island Gulls

In the spring of 2011, an Acadia University research team led by Dr. Phil Taylor, Bird Studies Canada Chair in Ornithology, captured Great Black-backed and Herring Gulls during the breeding season to fit them with electronic tags and mark them with coloured wing and leg bands. The purpose is to …

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