World Migratory Bird Day Walks in Stanley Park and Queen Elizabeth Park

The City of Vancouver has proclaimed Sunday May 15, 2011 as World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD). Two bird walks have been organized to demonstrate the importance of park habitat in Vancouver to birds on their long migration to location over the world.

Two Bird walks on Sunday May 15 at 9 am.

Walk One, Stanley Park: Join Vancouver Park Board Commissioner Loretta Woodcock with the Stanley Park Ecology Society and expert bird watcher Cathy Aitchison for an easy 2-hour walk to explore the varied and beautiful bird life of Stanley Park’s wetlands and forest.fringes .

Meet at Pavilion Restaurant beside Malkin Bowel at 9 am Sunday, May 15, 2011.

For more info: 604 718 6522 programs@stanleyparkecology.ca

Walk Two, Queen Elizabeth Park: Join Vancouver Park Board Constance Barnes with famed ornithologist Rob Butler, expert birder Adrian Guff and community activist Brent Granby (rookie birder) and organizer of the walk for an exploration of the birds of the park.

Meet at Bloedel Conservatory at 9 am Sunday, May 15, 2011.

The proclamation signed by the Mayor recognizing World Migratory Bird Day will be read by Commissioners Woodcock and Barnes at both walks to celebrate the United Nations Environmental Program that encourages world wide participation in the need to protect migratory birds and their habitats.

WMBD official site

Here is what the UN is saying WMBD

Migratory birds as indicators for a changing environment

Because of their dependence on many habitats along their migration routes, migratory birds often feel the effects of these changing environments first before many other animal species, making them key indicators for the health of our environment.

In a statement to mark World Migratory Bird Day 2011, Professor Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands said: “Migratory birds have been called “global sentinels of environmental change” because in the course of a year they move between and sample the health of many different places and habitats throughout the world. Their state of health provides us with a clear signal about the overall changing state of our environment. And the signal is not good.”

“For migratory birds the world certainly failed to reach the 2010 target of reducing the rate of loss of biological diversity. To address the follow-up “Aichi Targets” adopted at the Convention on Biological Diversity’s COP10 in Nagoya last year and to which all environmental conventions including Ramsar, CMS and AEWA are committed to collaborating on delivery, needs a redoubling of efforts by all of us, whether governments, business or civil society, to stem and reverse the underlying cause of migratory bird declines”, said Professor Davidson. Link: http://www.ramsar.org/

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