Photo by BarrytheBIrder

Weathered birdhouses

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BarrytheBirder

Heron

By my brother Bob Wallace

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Barry Wallace

Other hawks hereabouts...

Red-tailed Hawk

After having published so many photos of Swainson's Hawks in this blog over the course of the past year, I just want to say that there are other hawks hereabouts such as Red-tailed Hawks, Rough-legged Hawks, Cooper's Hawks, Sharp-shinned Hawk, etc. etc. and I have photographed many of them. Please forgive my fascination with the Swainson's for I know not when I shall be graced again.

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Barry the Birder

Trends in Canada's bird population...

 Prepared by Government of Canada

From 1970 70 2022 ( 52 years)

Birds are sensitive to environmental changes, such as habitat loss and pollution, so the health of birds populations can be used as an indicator of ecosystem health.   While bird populations fluctuate naturally, rapid declines can signal the need for urgent conservation action.   These indicator track changes in the population trends of various groups using native Canadian bird species that are representative of their ecological groups.

KEY RESULTS

From 1970 to 2022, the trends in bird species groups varied:

1. The following groups experienced an increase: waterfowl (by 46%), birds          of prey (by 35%) and wetland birds (by 21%).

2. The following groups experienced a decrease: grassland birds (by 67%),          aerial insectivores (by 43%), shorebirds (by 42%, long-distance migrants          (by 29%), and Arctic birds (by 28%).

3. Marine and forest birds showed little change overall (less than 1%).

Go online to Trends in Canada's bird populations to see how these indicators were calculated. (13 pages).

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BarrytheBirder

Still with the winter warriors...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

I have recently been writing about small finch-type birds that I affectionately refer to as 'winter warriors'.   Here's a picture of three of those winter warriors at the same feeder, at the same time.   Don't let it be said that Purple Finches, Common Redpolls and Dark-eyed Juncos don't share at the winter seed feeders.

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BarrytheBirder