Stellar’s Jay-British Columbia’s provincial bird
There seems to be some controversy about Canada’s National bird, in fact we don’t have one. Oddly enough Canada has not named its National bird, at the time of this writing there are several nominations for that distinction including: Canada Goose, Common Loon, Red Tailed Hawk, Grey Jay and Tundra Swan
In the very near future, this could all change according to the Canadian Raptor Conservancy which has been lobbying Members of Parliament and the federal government. To date they have collected over 200,000 signatures and over 3,000 suggestions. One of the criteria that has been put forth is that we should not allow a bird species that has already been chosen as a Canadian provincial bird or another country’s National bird.
Following are the official birds of Canada’s provinces and territories: British Columbia-Steller’s jay, Alberta-Great Horned Owl, Saskatchewan-Sharp Tailed Grouse, Manitoba-Great Grey Owl, Ontario-Common Loon, Quebec-Snowy Owl, New Brunswick-Black Capped Chickadee, Nova Scotia-Osprey, Prince Edward Island-Blue jay, Newfoundland-Atlantic Puffin, Northwest Territories-Gyrfalcon, Nunavut- Rock Ptarmigan and Yukon-Raven.
In 1986 the Canadian Mint released a series of currency featuring birds which were: $2 American Robin, $5 Belted Kingfisher, $10 Osprey, $20 Common Loon, $50 Snowy Owl, $100 Canada Goose and $1,000 Pine Grosbeak. In 1987 the $1 coin showing a Common Loon was introduced to replace the $1 note, it quickly became known as the “Loonie”
If you would like to learn more and submit your petition go to: Canadian Raptor Conservancy.
