Pollinators make it possible for many plants to reproduce by transferring pollen from one flower to another. In doing so, they support food webs, wildlife habitat, and the production of fruits and seeds that both people and animals rely on. Insects such as bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, and flies play especially important roles, along with birds and other pollinating animals.

Yet pollinators are increasingly at risk. Habitat loss, shrinking green spaces, pesticide use, and reduced plant diversity all threaten pollinator populations. Helping students understand these challenges builds awareness — and creates opportunities to take meaningful action.

Teaching Resources

• Pollination Lesson Plan — A clear, student‑friendly overview of how pollination works and why pollinators are essential to plant reproduction
• Pollinator Problems — A resource that lists and describes the main challenges pollinators face today, including habitat loss, reduced plant diversity, and human impacts.
• Wild About Pollinators poster — A colourful visual reference to help students identify common pollinators and their roles within ecosystems
• Pollinator Puzzles — A resource where students can decipher clues to match flower cards with pollinator agents.
• Plant a Pollinator Garden — A guide to a hands-on project that empowers students to create habitat by planting pollinator‑friendly native plants
• The Extraordinary Caterpillar — A really cool movie that highlights insect life cycles and the importance of host plants, helping students understand how plants support pollinators at every stage of life.
• Monarch Butterfly – Hinterland Who’s Who – A fact sheet and videos where students can learn more about Monarch Butterflies with the iconic Hinterland Who’s Who program

WILD Education Workshops

Wish you had a Project WILD activity guide or want to tell a friend to sign up for a WILD Education workshop? Check out our upcoming workshops:

1. Mississauga in-person workshop: June 27th. LEARN MORE
2. Not in Mississauga area? Sign up for the waitlist and we’ll work towards offering a workshop near you.

Now let’s review some relevant activities in the Project WILD activity guide.

• Busy Bees, Busy Blooms (p. 194) — Students model the process of insect pollination in an active simulation.
• Shrinking Habitat (p. 527) — This lesson helps students understand how development and land use reduce available habitat and affect food chains and biodiversity.
• Food Footprint (p. 590) — This activity traces food back to its original source: plants and pollinators.
• Habitat Heroes (p. 595) and Improving Wildlife Habitat in the Community (p.598) — These two activities engage students in creating plans to improve wildlife habitat.

Student Action Projects

“Nature reduces stress and anxiety, enhances physical health, and even inspires awe. […] Researchers found that nature connections drive better learning, support well-being, and inspire care for the planet. [The study] concluded, ‘It is time to bring nature into formal education — to expand existing isolated efforts into increasingly mainstream practices.’ Nowhere is the gap between what we know and what we do more offensive than in schools. Where 1.5 billion children and 81 million teachers spend their days indoors and disconnected from nature.” – Becca Katz

Here are some ways that you and your students can act to support nature.

Stewardship Actions:

• Plant milkweed or larval host plants for butterflies — Support monarch butterflies and other species at risk by planting native milkweed aligns with national recovery efforts.

Lifestyle Action:

• Avoid pesticides and choose natural garden care — Learn alternatives to synthetic pesticides.

Social Actions:

• Launch a student-led “Native Plant Swap” — Use local resources such as the horticultural society, share extra seedlings or native seeds with classmates and families.
• Create a school pollinator newsletter or social media campaign — Share photos, ID tips, “pollinator of the week,” or seasonal stewardship reminders. Don’t forget about iNaturalist.

Citizenship Actions

• Participate in citizen science programs — Collect and submit real data about pollinators or native plants using national platforms:
  • iNaturalist Canada
  • Bumble Bee Watch

Pollinators remind us that nature thrives through connection. By exploring plants and pollinators this spring, students develop curiosity, empathy, and stewardship for the living world around them.

For more educational resources, sign up for our WILD Spaces newsletter, which provides content and resources to help you and your students plant a pollinator garden in your schoolyard.

Do you have a teacher you want to reward? Nominate them for The Susan Langley Earth Steward Teaching Award – LSF-LST

Adding a pond to your backyard can be a stunning addition. It can even add property value to your home! But did you know that it can add value to wildlife too? It’s true! From frogs to birds, turtles to insects, a pond can offer a happy home or even a spot to stop and have a drink of water. But there are some things you should and shouldn’t do when it comes to building a pond with wildlife in mind.

For the Frogs

Do winterize your pond. Frogs hibernate in the winter, with some species hibernating on land under leaf litter, tree bark or in the ground. Others hibernate under water and need a depth approximately two metres in order to make it through the cold months. Young frogs (tadpoles) will use this deep water to grow into adulthood – a feat that can take over three years!

Do add an aerator. Aerators will keep the water moving and will stop your pond from freezing over in the winter.

Don’t leave your liner bare. When you’re building your pond, add soil to the top of your liner so frogs can use it to hide from predators.

Do grow native plants likes grasses and sedges around your pond as shelter for frogs as well as to encourage insects to visit. Insects are important snacks for frogs!

For the Birds

Do add levels to your pond. When you add a shallow spot, even seven centimetres in depth, you’ll offer an area for birds to drink and bathe.

Don’t mow near the pond. Have a wide strip of native vegetation surrounding your pond for birds and other wildlife to hide from predators. Even having some trees and/or shrubs nearby is very important to help birds feel safe as they approach and leave the water.

Do add a waterfall. Birds love moving water; if you add a waterfall or other form of recirculating water to your pond, they’ll come in droves. It’ll even help them find your pond easier because they’ll hear the moving water!

For the Insects

Do add blooms! It’s no surprise that pollinating insects love flowers. By adding native plants by your pond, you’ll attract more insects to it. Larger insects like damselflies and dragonflies love to snack on small pollinators, so don’t be surprised if you see them zipping from your pond to your garden! (And when in their immature aquatic form, they are voracious predators of mosquito larvae)

Do add some rocks! Adding a small pile of rocks to your pond will give flying insects like dragonflies a spot to rest. You might even notice a happy frog soaking up some sun on the rocks too!

For the Turtles

Do add a piece of driftwood. We can’t promise that you’ll see a freshwater turtle in your pond any time soon, but you’ll have a better chance of attracting turtles to your pond if you have a spot for them to bask. Plus! Adding a log to the pond can help to protect them from predators. How long should it be? About 60 centimetres is perfect.

Don’t forget plants! Turtles need to chow down too, you know. They love to eat cattails, lily pads, sedges and other aquatic plants.

For the Unexpected Visitor

Not every animal that lands in your pond wants to be there. Some fall in by accident! Keep these critters in mind when you’re building your pond.

Do add a gradual slope to all sides of your pond so animals can climb out.

Do add a log or rocks to the deep end. If your pond has a deep end (which is truthfully really great for frogs), be sure to add a log or a pile of rocks to the area so that animals that have mistakenly fallen into the pond can climb out on their own.

On April 26, 2026,  a Monarch was sighted feeding on nectar in Toronto, ON. This year, we expect the Monarchs to return in larger numbers than we’ve seen since the 2018-2019 overwintering season.

Counting individual Monarchs as they cluster together in the Oyamel Fir forests of central Mexico would be an impossible task. Millions of butterflies gather on trees, often layering branch upon branch.

To more accurately estimate Monarch population sizes, scientists measure the total area of forest occupied by overwintering butterflies – the larger the area, the larger the population. During the 2025-2026 overwintering season, Monarchs were estimated to occupy 2.95 hectares of Oyamel Fir forest, an increase of 64 per cent from last year’s estimate of 1.79 hectares! While this increase is worth celebrating, it’s important to keep perspective. Scientists estimate that Monarchs need at least six hectares of occupied forest to sustain a stable population, a number that has only been reached two times in the last 20 years. Our work to support Monarch recovery is not done yet!

One of the most critical needs for Monarch survival in their breeding range is milkweed. Monarchs rely exclusively on milkweed plants for breeding. In fact, a single Monarch caterpillar can consume up to 30 common milkweed leaves in its 10 to 14-day development! Last year, scientists estimated that Canada has about 484 million common milkweed plants and to support healthy Monarch populations, we need to increase that number by 61 per cent, or an additional 295 million more stems!

The Canadian Wildlife Federation is working towards this goal by restoring native meadow habitat rich in milkweed and nectar plants. These restored landscapes help support Monarch Butterflies and a wide variety of other insects and pollinators.

The Canadian Wildlife Federation is grateful for the support of the 407 ETR, whose partnership has helped restore critical pollinator habitat in communities surrounding the 407 ETR highway corridor. Thanks to their support, more than 14 hectares of habitat have been restored across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area over the last three years, bringing CWFs total restored area to 1,828 hectares since 2019.

How You Can Help Monarchs

Helping Monarchs doesn’t end with large restoration projects. Individual actions make a meaningful difference too! You can help by:

• Planting native milkweed and nectar-rich flowers like Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae), and Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta)
• Leaving milkweed where it grows in gardens, yards, or marginal croplands
• Participating in community science by tracking Monarch sightings on iNaturalist
• Avoiding the use of pesticides and herbicides wherever possible

Together, these actions help create a landscape where Monarchs and other insects and pollinators can thrive.

The cheery “chee, chee, chee” song of the Boblink inspired renown poet, William Cullen Bryant to write a poem about this remarkable prairie bird in the late 19th century. It seems the poem’s name “Robert of Lincoln” is responsible for its current naming “Bob o’Link”. Sadly, this bird’s romantic name has not prevented its population from taking a turn for the worse in recent decades. The Bobolink’s numbers plummeted in the 1980’s and 90’s, continuing to decline today, albeit at a slower rate. The most recent assessment (2022) by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) determined the Bobolink to be of Special Concern, meaning if steps are not taken to advance recovery, it may become Threatened or Endangered, leaving researchers to wonder how much longer the “chee chee chee” of the Bobolink will be heard. Can we save this species?

Little Nest on the Prairie

The Bobolink is a migratory grassland songbird. Every winter, it makes the 20,000 kilometre journey to its wintering ground in South America. This journey is one of the longest migrations of a songbird. Historically, when the Bobolink arrived home in the spring, it could be found in meadows as well as tall grass prairies. Over time, this habitat has been replaced by agricultural lands such as pastures and hayfields. The Bobolink has adjusted fairly well on this accord – indeed its diet includes oat seeds, rice, grain and a variety of insects – all great at helping to nourish its young and fuel its long migration.

The Bobolink is an unusual kind of songbird as it likes to nest on the ground. Females will find a special place in grasslands, hayfields or pastures to build their nests and in late spring and early summer, they will lay between three and seven eggs. The eggs can range in colour from blueish-gray to reddish brown. They’ll need between 11 and 14 days to stay warm beneath their mothers before they’ll hatch. When the tiny birds break out of their shells, they are sparsely clad in yellow down, unable to see or fly and must hide away among the grasses before their flight feathers grow in.

Plow and Plight

Unfortunately, agricultural practices have made the lives of Bobolink young rather difficult and have caused their populations to dwindle. When farmers harvest their crops too soon, many Bobolink nests and eggs are destroyed and hatchlings and females are killed. You can just imagine how devastating this is to the Bobolink. The sad thing is the Bobolink just need a little bit of time to nest and allow the fledglings to learn to fly. After breeding is complete, Bobolinks don’t stick around the area. They move on to waterways like marshes and coasts to molt before they ready themselves for the long flight south once again.

The Canadian Wildlife Federation is recommending that farmers wait until July 15th every year before they start harvesting. When you cut grasses and hay after July 15th, young Bobolinks will be able to fly away and won’t be killed by the mower. Another option? Cut one area at a time and leave some areas uncut. If a landowners can recognize the Bobolink in their fields, they can keep an eye out and see where the Bobolink spend their time and cut in another area – giving the Bobolink a chance to survive.

But we’ve all got different preferences, lifestyles, resources and by-laws to keep in mind. That can mean a little lawn is needed, for children to run and play on for instance, or perhaps you don’t have the energy or budget to replace an entire lawn. To help you find an option that suits you best, here are some ideas:

Expand existing beds

If you aren’t ready to completely replace your lawn, you can still make a difference by removing some lawn along the edge of existing garden beds. As you expand your beds, you can add more plants that will benefit you and your neighbouring birds and bees. Remember to choose plants that are still beneficial to wildlife.

Create New Beds

You can also remove chunks of lawn by adding brand new beds – for herbs, veggies, shrubs and/or perennials. Not only is the interest in growing food at home on the rise, but many gardens are visually stunning by having lots of shapes and textures from a variety of plants and plant types, with a meandering path throughout of grass, stone or natural mulch.

No-mow Lawns

For those that want or need some lawn for whatever reason, there are some grass mixes that can give a lush lawn without watering or mowing. A couple of Canadian examples include:

• Prairie Nursery
• Wildflower Farm

Of course, one needs to keep in mind that ticks like long grass and so if they are especially bad in your area, you may wish to explore a different option.

Adding or Replacing Lawn With Ground Cover

You can add in (or let grow, if they are there already) pollinator-friendly plants like the Dutch White Clover, Heal All (Prunella vulgaris) and creeping thyme. All are beneficial for pollinators like bees, butterflies and hover flies. Depending upon your needs and how thickly these plants grow in your lawn, you may still need to mow once in a while, after they have finished blooming.
If you or your family regularly walk through your lawn then you will need to be mindful when walking while the ground covers are blooming, which may only be a matter of days or a couple of weeks. Yours truly does it quite safely, both for my feet and for the tiny visitors feeding on the flowers, but the more thickly it is growing and therefore the more flowers blooming and pollinators visiting, the more care you may need when walking about!

Keep in mind that plants that spread easily can become a problem for neighours that don’t want it. Or, the plant might in fact be considered invasive, where there is a concern of the plant spreading to natural areas where it will outcompete the native plants there. So, as you explore ground covers, do your research to see if the plant is listed as a concern with your provincial invasive plant council. If not, still be mindful about neighbours and possibly burying a barrier between your properties to help prevent the plant from spreading.

Replace Your Lawn Entirely

Some people are turning their entire lawn into one huge bed with veggies and herbs while others are going totally native. But of course, one can incorporate them all, in whatever pleasing design and purpose suits you. Keep in mind that it is best to have lower growing plants near the road to provide visibility if needed. A CWF certified property in an urban area has plants by the sidewalk that are not only low growing for cars but also ones that do not attract bees. This is to help people who have a fear of bees feel safe walking by, while they can observe them several feet in, on the plants that support them within the garden. The owner, Berit Erickson, has signage close to the sidewalk so those that walk by can both understand the purpose of her gardening style as well as learn a few things in case they get inspired to apply some wildlife-friendly gardening on their own property. You can find out more on her website The Corner Pollinator Garden and Wildlife Habitat.

Make a Meadow

Some people live in areas where they can leave their lawns and allow nature to return wildflowers to the space. You can also give nature a hand and create a meadow. Either way, you will need to keep in mind by-laws that apply to you. If you are keen, you can have plants in groups so that there is the visual attraction as with a garden bed except that these plants are likely closer together and grow and spread as they please, rather than keeping tidy spaces and order as with a garden bed. Some plants for this can include New England Aster, Brown-eyed Susans (our native, Rudbeckia hirta).

If you have by-laws that prohibit this, or you don’t want a full-on meadow, you can create a mini meadow with a garden bed that applies the meadow style of a few groups of plants close together. You can keep it pleasant to most people’s eye (and signal to your neighbours that this is on purpose) by surrounding it with a rustic fence to give it an artsy look, or give it a nice shape with a thick border of natural mulch around it. As many of our native solitary bees nest in the ground, you may wish to have a spot within the bed or elsewhere that is free of mulch to allow our tiny allies a place to make a nest. Keep in mind that our solitary bees tend to mate, lay eggs, provision the eggs with food for when it emerges, seal off the nest and then die. By not having a hive and community of bees to protect, these bees are not likely to sting unless directly threatened (and even then most don’t have stingers).

Mowing Alternatives

If your main focus is to save gas and electricity, as well as minimizing emissions, and if your lawn is small, consider a reel mower. These mowers are powered by the person pushing them and while they have had the reputation of being hard to use, that is not necessarily the case anymore, with some being very easy to use. It can be very satisfying mowing your lawn quietly and not needing anything other than a push to power it — and with no emissions, unlike gas mowers. Even with electric mowers, power is still manufactured that can have impacts on the environment and there are differing opinions as to which is best. But of course, this won’t work if you have a hectare of lawn — another great reason to consider some of the above options for reducing grass and returning viable habitat back to your property. You’ll have more birds and butterflies gracing your space and all the delights – and important services – that ensue!

Plant Recipients Have Been Chosen!

Thank you to every school that applied for free native pollinator plants and submitted their garden project! Our 2026 plant recipients have now been selected.

• If your school was chosen, you will have already received a separate e-mail with the next steps.
• Schools that requested plants but were not selected will receive a small package by mail to the address submitted on the application. (Packages are reserved for schools—not groups or individuals.)

Didn’t Get Plants? You Can Still Plant a Garden!

There are many ways to create a thriving pollinator garden this spring:

1. Find Native Plants Locally — Use the CWF Gardening for Wildlife hub to locate a Native Plant Supplier near you.
2. Try Low/No‑Cost Habitat Wins — Add value now with brush or rock piles, leaf‑litter corners, or hollow stems left standing.
3. Use Other Forms of Support — Many organizations in Canada offer grants, small funding streams, or education to support outdoor learning, greening projects, or habitat creation. Here are some that schools frequently succeed with:

• Local community foundations
• Local plant nurseries
• Local horticultural societies
• Municipal environmental grants
• Provincial electric utility community grants (e.g. Hydro/Fortis local programs/)
• TD Friends of the Environment Foundation (TDFEF)
• WWF Go Wild Grants (when available)
• School district innovation or environmental stewardship funds
• Parent council fundraising

You can combine even small grants to cover expenses like soil, mulch, pollinator plants, tools, signage, and student materials.

Classroom‑ready Resources (CWF Learning Library)

• A Bird‑Friendly Garden (activity/colouring) — introduces habitat needs and observation skills for younger learners
• How to Start a Garden — practical tips for sequencing your project (site, soil, layout, maintenance)
• Helping Pollinators in Your Garden — quick wins students can add to their garden

 After You Plant: Get Certified (Free Sign for Schools!)

Once your garden is established, apply to certify your garden as a “Wildlife‑friendly Habitat.” Certification recognizes gardens that provide food, water, shelter and are cared for in earth‑friendly ways, and it’s a great way to celebrate student stewardship.

Bonus for schools: When your school garden is certified, you’ll receive a free sign to showcase your achievement and inspire your community!

April Events to Inspire Your Students

• National Wildlife Week — Check out our week of webinars
• City Nature Challenge: April 24–27, 2026 (use iNaturalist)

Thanks For Growing With Us!

Whether your school received plants or not, your efforts are creating real habitat and rich outdoor learning. Every native plant, water dish, log pile, and student observation helps local biodiversity.

If you discovered this blog on our website, be sure to sign up for the WILD Spaces e‑blast. You’ll receive monthly updates, next‑step reminders, and resources featuring each month’s highlighted pollinator—everything you need to stay inspired and keep your garden growing strong!

This is especially true when working towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and creating a more equitable society for all Canadians.

The International Volunteer Year is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to celebrate the power of civic participation and renew Canada’s culture of volunteering. ~Volunteer.ca

The Canadian Wildlife Federation salutes and celebrates our committed community of volunteers – from our Board of Directors and committee members, to local facilitators and group leaders who educate new teachers and lead youth in the community, and the youth themselves who create local action projects to make a difference. So many volunteers doing their part!

At the Canadian Wildlife Federation, our strategic goals depend upon healthy volunteerism to:

1. Strengthen conservation ethic among Canadians
2. Inspire conservation actions
3. Conserve key species and their habitat
4. Minimize the impact of climate change on species and ecosystems

To achieve these dreams our dedicated staff rely on all the amazing volunteers that engage with us across Canada. They are passionate about wildlife, habitat, conservation and the outdoors in general and conserving this important Canadian heritage for the future and generations to come.

Thank you to the Canadian Wildlife Federation volunteer community for all you do to help us reach these goals by giving your time and energy to conserve and inspire the conservation of Canada’s wildlife and habitats for the use and enjoyment of all.

With its bright orange wings, black tips and small eye-like spots on its hindwings, this butterfly is both beautiful and easy to recognize in gardens and wild spaces. You can help this butterfly and many other pollinators thrive, starting in your own backyard!

Give Them Something to Eat

Painted Lady butterflies are long-distance travelers – they arrive in Canada in early summer after migrating from warmer regions and spend the season feeding and breeding before heading south again when temperatures drop. Because they’re only here for part of the year, they need plenty of nectar-rich flowers while they’re visiting. Planting a mix of tall, nectar-producing blooms and host plants will help give them the energy they need during their stay.

Try these butterfly favourites

• Early summer: purple coneflower, milkweed, lupines, Wild Bergamont
• Mid-summer: blazing star, thistles (there are several native ones, but Canada thistle isn’t one of them!), Joe-pye weed, purple coneflower
• Late summer: asters (such as New England aster), blazing star, goldenrods
• Fall: native asters (such as New England aster), goldenrods, Joe-pye weed

Give Them Shelter

Painted Lady butterflies need more than nectar – they also need safe places to rest and plants where their caterpillars can grow. Creating a welcoming garden habitat gives them shelter from wind and predators while providing food for every stage of their life cycle.

Try these simple steps to support them:

• Host plants (for caterpillars): Native thistle, nettles and woodland Sunflower also gives painted lady caterpillars a place to feed and grow.
• Location: Plant your butterfly garden in a sunny, sheltered spot. Warm areas protected from strong wind help butterflies feed, rest and conserve energy.

Ditch the Pesticides

Pesticides are a major threat to pollinators, and Painted Lady butterflies are no exception. Whether it’s through direct contact, contaminated pollen, or polluted nesting spots, these chemicals can wreak havoc on pollinator populations including in areas like weedy field edges, brush piles, or even your flower garden. To keep pollinators safe, choose natural pest control methods and avoid buying plants that have been sprayed with pesticides like neonicotinoids (neonics).

Help Scientists by Snapping Photos of Painted Lady butterflies

Love watching butterflies as they fly from one bloom to another? Turn your observations into valuable data for scientists! By snapping photos and uploading them to iNaturalist Canada, you can help researchers track butterfly species and better understand their preferred habitats. It’s as simple as downloading the iNaturalist app or visiting iNaturalist.ca to share your sightings.

Helpful tip: try to take lots of photos close up and from different angles. Try to snap a photo of their back and don’t forget to showcase the flowers they’re visiting!

Community science opens the doors of discovery to everyone — not just professional researchers. Through accessible tools like iNaturalist and community-driven projects, everyday people can observe, record and share data about the natural world around them. Whether it’s tracking migrating birds, documenting plant species, or monitoring local ecosystems, every little bit helps conserve nature.

This collective effort not only expands the scale and depth of current scientific research, it also empowers individuals to become active participants in environmental stewardship. In a time when biodiversity is under increasing pressure, citizen science offers a powerful reminder that meaningful contributions to science and conservation can come from anyone, anywhere.

April is Citizen Science Month

April marks Citizen Science Month, a global initiative that encourages everyone to step outside and take part in meaningful scientific discovery. Whether it’s photographing a backyard pollinator, recording bird calls on a morning walk, or documenting seasonal changes in local parks, there are countless ways to get involved. Tools like iNaturalist make participation simple and engaging; users can upload observations, receive help with species identification, and contribute directly to a growing global database. Here in Canada, these contributions are especially valuable, helping scientists and conservationists track species distributions, monitor ecosystem health, and respond to environmental changes with better, more comprehensive data.

Citizen Science Month is filled with opportunities to put your citizen science hat on and make a real impact. During National Wildlife Week, form April 6 to 11, Canadians are encouraged to celebrate and appreciate native species by observing and recording wildlife found in and around their communities. Earth Day, taking place on Wednesday April 22, offers another moment to take action, with community science activities like habitat cleanups, species counts, and environmental monitoring taking centre stage. Rounding out the month is the City Nature Challenge, a friendly global collaboration that brings together participants in more than 40 countries—and over 40 Canadian cities from coast to coast to coast – to document urban biodiversity and kick off a season of nature exploration. The City Nature Challenge happens in two stages: April 24 to 27 uploading observations and recordings, then an extended identification period April 28 to May 6.

Taking part in these events not only deepens our understanding of the natural world, but they also empower people of all ages to contribute to the protection of Canada’s diverse habitats and ecosystems, ensuring they remain healthy and resilient for generations to come. To all you community scientists, remember this: change doesn’t wait for permission – every observation you make, every data point you gather, is a step toward reshaping the world for the better by providing a brighter future for wildlife!

Is this true of all owls? Every rule has exceptions.

Meet the Burrowing Owl. Smaller than a pigeon, this owl lives in Canada’s flat-to-gently-undulating treeless plains or grasslands. Contrary to what its name implies, it does not burrow or dig, but unlike other owls, it nests underground, using burrows vacated by small mammals like ground squirrels, badgers and prairie dogs. This social owl may be seen standing on dirt mounds near its burrow or perched on nearby fence posts, ready to chase prey, whether it’s daytime or nighttime. This bird consumes a variety of small creatures: ground insects, small rodents, frogs, toads, salamanders, snakes, small birds and dead animals. The Burrowing Owl migrates, staying in Canada only during the summer months, generally from April to September. That’s when the access to its burrow is not blocked by snow and there’s access to food. The rest of the year, Canadian Burrowing Owls winter primarily in Mexico and the southwestern United States. Wintering owls tend to be more nocturnal, so they are not as conspicuous.

Owl’s Not Well for the Burrowing Owl

This strange owl is not faring well: it’s considered an Endangered Species in Canada. At one time, the Burrowing Owl was common in the four western Canadian provinces. Now, it is one of the most endangered birds in these areas.

The decline in population began in the 1980s and accelerated during the 1990s to an average rate of 22 per cent a year. In 1977, about 3,000 breeding pairs of Burrowing Owls lived in Canada; by the year 2000, the number of pairs had dropped to fewer than 1,000. Another 64 per cent of the population disappeared between 2005 and 2015.

The main reason is linked to the fate of its habitat, the grasslands. Much of our native prairie habitats have been converted to cropland (where the original burrowing animals are often seen as pests), and the rest has been fragmented and degraded. In Canada, less than 24 per cent of the original prairie habitat remains. If we add the effects of reductions in prey populations, climate change and severe weather, vehicle collisions, effects from the expansion of renewable energy and predation, the situation is dire. And it’s ongoing, since the decline of populations has not stopped.

Canadians Dig Deep to Help the Burrowing Owl

But what are we doing about this decline? Given its status in Canada, the Burrowing Owl is protected by federal law and efforts must legally be made to stabilize and increase its population. Several programs in Canada’s four western provinces are conserving habitat for this owl, studying its habits, banning the use of some pesticides and raising awareness about its needs.

In Alberta and Saskatchewan, more than 700 landowners have conserved roughly 70,000 hectares of Burrowing Owl nesting habitat. Several other methods of helping the species have also been studied, notably prairie restoration, stopping the elimination of burrowing animals, captive breeding or raising chicks in captivity to reintroduce them, surveying the population, moving individuals from other localities and installing artificial nest burrows.

There have been some successes, including the reintroduction of the species in British Columbia and Manitoba, but with roughly 270 individuals in Canada, we are far from our goal of maintaining a minimum of 3,000 nesting pairs and much more work is needed!

You can help this unusual owl in a few ways:

• Learn more about the species, including reading up on them with the Hinterland Who’s Who fact sheet and spreading the word!
• You can also learn more about their habitat by visiting Canadasgrasslands.ca. Many Canadians have never heard of the Burrowing Owl or know very little about our grasslands. The more we learn, the more we care.
• If you live in the Prairies or in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, you can get active with local wildlife conservation organizations. Many areas have Burrowing Owl related programs where you can lend a hand.