[Archived] Status of Birds in Canada 2014

Environment Canada is committed to working with partners, both within Canada and internationally, to help maintain the diversity and abundance of migratory birds in Canada. Understanding the current status of bird populations is a critical tool for their conservation, especially when combined with information on how these populations have changed over the past years. By synthesizing results stemming from Canada’s multiple bird population monitoring programs, this website identifies the current status of some 450 species, describes some of their conservation issues and provides a mechanism to track progress in how well birds are monitored in Canada and the success of ongoing conservation actions.

The website includes accounts for all species of birds that regularly breed or occur in Canada. Assessments are based on the best available information up to 2014. The change in the national status for each species is assessed relative to 1970 (when many of the major bird surveys began). Further details on the status of waterfowl species can be found in the Canadian Wildlife Service’s Population Status of Migratory Game Birds in Canada report.

Environment Canada would like to acknowledge the contribution of the thousands of volunteers who generously donate their time and expertise to bird monitoring programs throughout North America, as well as the many professional biologists and technicians working for various government agencies and non-government organizations in Canada and the United States who helped to establish, design, run and analyze the results of these surveys.

For multi-species syntheses of results on the state of Canada’s birds and further discussion on their conservation issues and actions, see the report entitled State of Canada’s Birds 2012. For syntheses on the state of birds in North America, see the State of North America’s Birds 2016 report.