Friday, February 24, 2017

CANADA AT 150

      This year on July 1 is Canada's 150th birthday. There are many events and celebrations planned. Not too much has been advertised yet. Most events will take place July 1. However, other events will take place in the summer season.

      Now I think most readers know that I lead a bird watching group on Saturdays. We don't go out birding in the winter so I have extra time to think about things. Now that could be dangerous.

      I came up with the idea that we look for 150 bird species in our city and surroundings!!! So this is one event that will run most of the year. People will report bird species that they see to an email address. Yours truly will sift through the sightings and make an official list of species sighted. This idea was met with enthusiasm so here we go for a Canada birthday project.

    With this project we will be celebrating Canada's birthday.

    I also hope that this project will get some publicity. The local paper picked up my project proposal to members within 24 hours so that was great publicity. With publicity I hope that birders will get to know other birders. I hope other people just generally get an interest in birding.

    I also hope that the public becomes aware of the importance of natural habitat in the health of bird populations and other wildlife.

    So wish us well in finding 150 species this year and around July 1 you can wish us happy birthday.

     As of today we've found 35 species.