Regina named bird-friendly city in time for spring migration

The snow is melting, there are plenty of sunny days and the pages on the calendar are turning.

Here’s another big sign that spring is here: Our feathered friends are flocking their way back into Saskatchewan.

It’s the sight of a flock of geese coming home from California, the chirping of robins and meadowlarks waking you up on a warm day, or catching a glimpse of a hawk or falcon speeding by overhead.

No matter where you are in the province, you’ll see plenty of birds — but not all places are equal for birds.

Regina was named a bird-friendly city by Nature Canada on March 10.

The only other cities with the same stamp of approval are Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver and London.

But what is it that makes the Queen City so special?

Lacey Weekes, the conservation and education manager with Nature Saskatchewan, took a walk around Wascana Lake to discuss it with 980 CJME.

One big draw is simply the environment.

“Regina has (an) incredible habitat for birds. I mean, we have a migratory bird sanctuary right here in our city; Wascana Lake. This is protected habitat for birds. So you’ll see, over the next few weeks, hundreds of species of birds will be coming back to Regina, either to rest and refuel on their journey, or they actually choose Regina to nest and raise their young,” she explained.

It’s also the behaviour of people in the province.

“We have lots of people that feed birds over the winter. That’s really awesome. That helps support birds during that really tough time,” she said.

She also gave the municipal government props for a law that helps birds.

“There are lots of things we’re doing as a city to make it bird-friendly. One of those things is we have a no-roam bylaw,” Weekes began.

The law to which she’s referring bans dogs and, more importantly, cats from running around freely in the city. While many of us love our feline friends, they can cause major problems.

“Cats are the No. 1 threat to migratory songbirds. So we need to keep our cats inside, or put them on a leash just like we do with our dogs,” she said.

While she’s glad to live in a city that’s being recognized for its good treatment of birds, she said there are still issues to work on.

“We can do a better job of protecting birds from window collisions. They can’t see the windows,” she said. “We often get birds colliding with our big skyscrapers, but also with our residential homes.

“So you can get feather-friendly window tape to put on your windows. This breaks up the reflection. I have it on my house, and I haven’t had one bird collision since I installed it.”

She also recommended not using pesticides in your garden or yard since the poison can hurt birds. Another tip is dimming your lights at night during the spring migration since it can mess with birds while they’re flying at night.

Many people love to take pictures and look at all sorts of different birds, but she said they’re important to everybody.

“You may not be interested in birds, and that’s OK. But I do want to acknowledge that birds bring a lot to our lives. They’re pollinators, they’re natural pest control and bird-watching is over a $1-billion industry, so they’re good for our economy,” Weekes said.

“They’re also bio-indicators, so they can tell us a lot about what’s happening within our environment, so it’s important to pay attention to them.”

Many birds have already started to arrive in Saskatchewan, but there’s plenty more to look forward to. Weekes’ favourite bird is the pelican. She also loves seeing peregrine falcons, which nest on top of City Hall.

She also mentioned blue jays, great horned owls and Cooper’s hawks as great birds to keep an eye out for.