Chirp! Chirp! Regina named a 'Bird Friendly City'

Regina has been honoured for its efforts to ensure more birds can thrive in the city. 

The province's capital is among 14 Canadian cities — and the only one in Saskatchewan — recognized as a "Bird Friendly City" at COP 15, the global biodiversity summit, in Montreal on Thursday.

Regina received its certification March 10.

Nature Canada developed the program to encourage municipalities across the country to become safer places for birds. Environment Canada backed the plan with a $655,000 investment. 

"Birds play an essential role in maintaining healthy ecosystems in our communities and they hold a special place in the hearts of nature-lovers all over the world," Graham Saul, Nature Canada's executive director, said. "But there are three billion fewer birds in North America today than 50 years ago."

The extensive loss of birds is mostly due to humans, according to Nature Canada.

Nature Canada bases its certification on three major categories:

• Reduction of human-related threats.
• Habitat protection, restoration and climate resiliency.
• Community outreach and education on the importance of birds in the city.

Regina's initiatives, including targeting cats with a "no roam" bylaw to reduce predation, protecting natural areas such as Wascana Centre, a 930-hectare urban park that supports 276 species of birds, and celebrating World Migratory Bird Day all led to the city getting bird-friendly certification.

Nature Saskatchewan's executive director, Jordan Ignatiuk, says it's nice to promote wildlife in the city in addition to the province's rural areas.

"Regina does tend to be a bit of a jewel in the middle of nowhere, and is a blip of habitat with surrounding cultivated areas," Ignatiuk said. "It's important as it provides birds a migratory spot-over site"

Regina is currently classified as an entry-level "Bird Friendly City".

Ignatiuk says Regina can become even safer for birds if the city strengthened feral cat regulations and made windows more noticeable to birds.

Each year in Canada, cats kill between up to 350 million birds, while approximately 25 million birds die in collisions with glass, according to Nature Canada.

 Ignatiuk hopes Regina's certification can inspire more Saskatchewan cities to join the effort.

"Within our own local societies, we've been encouraging Saskatoon to move in that same direction — to work toward the bird-friendly city," Ignatiuk said. "We've got one, we've got the ball rolling downhill where hopefully it encourages some others to do the same kind of thing.

Currently, 18 cities in six provinces — Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan — have won the designation.