I like this article in Nature Canada celebrating Canada’s (and North America’s) largest moth, the Cecropia moth. It *is* an excellent moth.
“Adult Cecropia moths last about two weeks. They can’t eat during this stage, since they have no digestive system or moveable mouth parts. About the only thing they can do is mate! An adult Cecropia moth is basically a work of art designed to create more works of art.”
https://naturecanada.ca/news/blog/the-cecropia-moth-art-on-the-wing/
KITCHENER DEEMED BIRD-FRIENDLY CITY
In November 2024, Kitchener was certified as a bird-friendly city by Nature Canada.
A bird-friendly city is one that removes key threats to bird populations, restores nature to create habitat, engages in bird admiration and monitoring, organizes events to support birds, and has progressive municipal policies that help urban bird populations.
As bird populations have dropped significantly over the past few decades, it is more important than ever to take concrete steps to help bird populations thrive.
“Really, a bird friendly city is a community where key threats to birds are effectively mitigated, and our primary concern,” Jennifer Clary-Lemon, a co-chair of Bird-Friendly Kitchener, said.
“So, mitigating those threats can take a variety of forms, everywhere from restoring natural areas to, not using pesticides and rodenticides in your own backyard and a variety of other measures,” she said.
It is estimated that 2.7 million birds are killed each year due to agricultural chemicals. Another major threat to bird populations is outdoor cats that kill an estimated 2.4 billion birds every year, which is why another recommendation of Nature Canada is to keep cats inside.
“[We also do] things like public outreach about fatal collisions by window collisions and trying to communicate to folks what they can do if they just have that window in their house that keeps getting bird collisions and keeps killing birds. Billions of birds killed from window collisions, believe it or not,” Clary-Lemon said.
To become a bird-friendly city, a municipality is judged on how it meets certain criteria and is awarded points that contribute to its ranking. Currently, Kitchener is at the entry level.
“They have a low, medium and high entry level, all the way up to kind of advanced gold star level, so that every two years you would recertify, so we’re gearing up to recertify ourselves as bird-friendly next year,” Clary-Lemon said.
As May was Migratory Bird Month, Bird-Friendly Kitchener held several events to celebrate the city’s certification. For example, they have held talks on topics such as creating bird-safe windows and the effects of light pollution on birds. In addition, they have had screenings at the Kitchener Public Library of the documentary Lights Out Texas and an exhibition at Clay and Glass gallery.
#2024 #birdFriendly #BirdFriendlyKitchener #Birds #JenniferClaryLemon #kitchener #KitchenerPublicLibrary #KPL #lightsOutTexas #migratoryBirdMonth #natureCanada #november #RachaelMacIntosh
Well, looks like we get to call ourselves the *award winning* Calgary Climate Hub now.
Thanks so much, #NatureCanada! What a great boost for our incredible membership and volunteers in the early days of 2025! And shout out to our INCREDIBLE Nature Node!!!
#ClimateAction #GoodTrouble #yyc #Conservation #Environment #Trees #TinyForests
#Industrial #logging is one of the country's biggest #climate #polluters with more than 10 per cent of #Canada ’s total planet-heating #emissions .
This is according to an #analysis of the #NationalInventoryReport produced by both #NatureCanada & #NaturalResourcesDefenseCouncil #NRDC - #American #environmental #advocacy group.
https://www.pentictonherald.ca/spare_news/article_b70fe9af-6f70-511e-80a1-90f171fd207a.html
#StopEcocide #StopClearcuts #StopDeforestation #SaveOldGrowth #WorthMoreStanding #WorthMoreStanding #CorporateGreed #GreedKills #TreesOverGreed
A national #biodiversity group says #Canada needs to keep #GeneticallyEngineered #animals out of the #wild , after the #federal #government recently rejected several attempts to strengthen its existing laws.
Jon Sullivan
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