Reminder of
Upcoming Baillie Fund Grant Deadlines
5 December 2008 – Bird Studies
Canada’s Baillie Fund program provides grants for research,
education, and conservation projects that advance the understanding,
appreciation, and conservation of Canadian birds. Does your club or
organization have a project that fits these guidelines? The deadline
for Regular Grant applications is Monday, December 15, 2008. The
deadline for the Small Grant Program, which is open to individuals
and organizations, is January 15, 2009. Applications and additional
information are available by
selecting
this link, or by contacting Audrey Heagy,
aheagy@birdscanada.org,
or 1-888-448-2473, ext. 166.
BSC Seeks
Conservation GIS Analyst
4 December 2008 – Bird Studies
Canada is seeking a Conservation GIS Analyst to assist in the
delivery of a multitude of conservation projects, and to provide
general support for the organization’s ongoing GIS requirements.
Applicants should possess, as a minimum, an Honours B.A. or B.Sc.
degree in the environmental sciences, a good understanding of GIS
theory and application, and practical project experience with GIS
software. The position will be located at BSC’s National
Headquarters and Research Centre in Port Rowan, Ontario. Visit the
Job
Opportunities section of our website for details.
It’s
Christmas Bird Count Season Again!
3 December 2008 – The Christmas
Bird Count season begins on December 14, 2008 and extends right
through the holidays to January 5, 2009. Over 380 counts are held in
Canada each year, thanks to the efforts of over 12,000 volunteer
participants. The count is coordinated by Bird Studies Canada and
the National Audubon Society.
To find contact information
for local count organizers, visit our
Christmas Bird Count web page and click on “Find a Count
Near You.” If you can’t find a local count in that list and would
like to start a new one, please contact count coordinator Dick
Cannings at
dcannings@birdscanada.org for more information. You can download
a summary report of last year’s count on the
Audubon
website.
Report on
Birds and Tar Sands Released
2 December 2008 – A new report
released this week by the Boreal Songbird Initiative, Natural
Resources Defense Council, and The Pembina Institute considers how
birds are affected by the Alberta Tar Sands. The report projects a
cumulative impact over the next 30 to 50 years ranging from a low of
about 6 million birds lost to as many as 166 million birds lost.
More information, including the full report and related maps and
graphics, can be found by visiting the
BSI website
or the
NRDC website.
Latest
COSEWIC Assessments Completed
Photo: Ralph Hocken
1 December 2008 – The Committee on
the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) held a Species
Assessment Meeting in Ottawa from November 25-28, 2008. Full results
are available on the COSEWIC
website. Dick Cannings, BSC staff member, attended as
co-chair for the birds subcommittee, and reports that one bird
species was assessed.
The Band-tailed Pigeon, a
large native pigeon found in British Columbia, was assessed as
Special Concern because of steep historical declines in population,
and uncertainty about present population numbers and trends. The
species is hunted throughout its range in the mountains of western
North America, but harvest has been limited in Canada for the past
16 years. Although population surveys (e.g. Breeding Bird Survey and
mineral site counts) have low precision, they do suggest a
stabilization of the population in the last decade. The species is
long-lived (up to 22 years) and has a slow reproductive rate;
females typically lay only one or two eggs per year. Forestry may
negatively affect habitat in the long term, creating dense
second-growth forests with few berry-producing shrubs; the pigeons
also are susceptible to disturbance at isolated mineral sources
needed for their nutrition.
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