The Township of King and the King Bird Team—a group of volunteers and Township employees dedicated to protecting birds and their habitat in King—are inviting residents to choose King’s official bird.
The online selection runs until Oct. 7, 2023. All voters will be entered into a contest to win a bird-friendly prize. King’s official bird will be chosen by the highest number of votes for a specific bird and will be announced at the Fall World Migratory Bird Day Celebration at a location to be confirmed.
King was named a certified Bird Friendly City, the 19th in Canada, in March 2023 by Nature Canada. Being recognized as a Bird Friendly City involves promoting and protecting birds within King.
Options for the Official Bird
The Township and the King Bird Team suggest five options for the official bird: the American Robin, Cooper’s Hawk, Black-capped Chickadee, Northern Cardinal and the Pine Warbler. People can also choose another bird.
Here are some details about the five birds:
American Robin: The quintessential early bird, American Robins are common sights on lawns across North America, where you often see them tugging earthworms out of the ground. Although they’re familiar town and city birds, American Robins are at home in wilder areas. They are considered the harbingers of spring, although many spend the whole winter in their breeding range.
Black-capped Chickadee: The Black-capped Chicadee is almost universally considered “cute” thanks to its oversized round head, tiny body, and curiosity about everything, including humans. Its habit of investigating people and everything else in its home territory, and quickness to discover bird feeders, make it one of the first birds most people learn about. Once you’ve learned this bird’s calls, listen for them and then look for the flocks they travel in. The Black-capped Chickadee hides seeds and other food items to eat later. Each item is placed in a different spot and the chickadee can remember thousands of hiding places.
Cooper’s Hawk: These lanky hawks are a regular sight in parks, quiet neighborhoods, over fields, at backyard feeders, and even along busy streets if there are trees around. Cooper’s Hawks show the classic accipiter flight style: a few stiff wingbeats followed by short glides. But in pursuit of prey their flight becomes powerful, quick, and very agile, allowing the bird to thread its way through tree branches at top speed.
Northern Cardinal: The male Northern Cardinal is perhaps responsible for getting more people to open up a field guide than any other bird. They’re a perfect combination of familiarity, conspicuousness and style: a shade of red you can’t take your eyes off and even the brown females sport a sharp crest and warm red accents. Cardinals don’t migrate and they don’t molt into a dull plumage, so they’re still breathtaking in winter’s snowy backyards. In summer, their sweet whistles are one of the first sounds of the morning.
Pine Warbler: A bird true to its name, the Pine Warbler is common in many eastern pine forests and is rarely seen away from pines. If you don’t see them, listen for their steady, musical trill, which sounds like a Chipping Sparrow or Dark-eyed Junco, which are also common piney-woods sounds through much of the year. The Pine Warbler is the only warbler that eats large quantities of seeds, primarily those of pines. This seed-eating ability means Pine Warblers sometimes visit bird feeders, unlike almost all other warblers.
Your Choice: Do you have a favourite type of bird you think would make a great official bird for King? Enter the bird species into the survey.
Voting for the Official Bird
Visit king.ca/BirdFriendlyCity or this link to vote. To join the King Bird Team, contact environmentalstewardship@king.ca.
The Bird Friendly City designation has been developed by Nature Canada to encourage Canadians and municipalities to become safe havens for birds.
The Township of King joins many other nearby communities in protecting pollinators, including Bird Friendly Design strategies in their Green Infrastructure Plan and more.
The Environment King Team also delivers a variety of citizen science and educational programming, terrestrial invasive species monitoring, and native seed saving libraries.
About the Bird Friendly City Program
Nature Canada’s Bird Friendly City program encourages communities to take action to:
- Reduce the number of human-related threats to birds, such as roaming cats, the use of pesticides, and glass treatment on buildings with large windows
- Create safe environments for birds by promoting stewardship and ensuring that natural habitats are protected and restored
- Engage and educate citizens about the benefits of Bird Friendly Cities and celebrating birds in our communities.
As one of Canada’s preeminent conservation charities, Nature Canada is pleased to acknowledge the support of Environment and Climate Change Canada for the Bird Friendly City program and World Migratory Bird Day.
Quote
Mayor Steve Pellegrini
Township of King
“In King, we are proud to have received a Bird Friendly City Certificate from Nature Canada and are committed to creating and maintaining an environment where birds can thrive.
I encourage everyone to help choose King’s official bird. The official bird will remind us of the priority of protecting birds and of ensuring a sustainable future for King by protecting bird habitat.”
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Media Contact
Donna L. Kell, APR, Manager of Communications and Public Engagement
Township of King | Phone: 416-420-7492 | Email: dkell@king.ca