Great Blue Heron Announced As Peterborough's Official Bird At EnviroX

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The great blue heron has been crowned Peterborough’s first official city bird during the Environmental and Climate Action Expo (EnviroX) at Beavermead Park on Friday.

Photo by Felicia Massey.

EnviroX at Beavermead Park and Ecology Park brought together community partners and municipal workers to teach about initiatives and projects that lead to greenhouse gas emission reductions. They also taught greater environmental sustainability through demonstrations and displays.

Bird Friendly Peterborough (BFP), an organization dedicated to creating Bird Friendly Cities, spoke at EnviroX about the City’s commitment to monitoring bird populations and mitigating any threats.

Earlier this year, it was announced that Peterborough is recognized as a Bird Friendly City.

Nature Canada’s Bird Friendly City program certifies cities throughout Canada based on meeting a set of standards pertaining to reducing threats to birds in their municipality, protecting and restoring natural habitats and increasing climate resiliency. Bird Friendly Cities also actively engage their community in these protective and restorative initiatives through education and outreach.

“You only have to walk down trails along the Otonabee, or through Jackson Park to realize that these urban-protected areas host dozens of species year-round,” said Thomas Luloff, Bird Friendly Peterborough vice chair. “They (urban spaces) serve as vital corridors and stop-over places for migratory birds back and forth.”

Luloff, who is also a conservation biology professor at Fleming College, spoke about a big part of becoming a Bird Friendly City: choosing a bird to represent the community.

A community vote took place from Aug. 2 to Sept. 5 for residents to select their favourite local bird species from a list of 16 local birds curated by BFP.

Among the list included many birds, such as the osprey and Northern cardinal but the blue heron came out on top.

“I think the Great Blue Heron is the perfect choice the Peterborough City bird,” said Luloff. “They are resilient; being able to adapt to changing environments, and are found all along out Otonabee River, its waterways and throughout our local marshes and parks.”

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