birds

B.C. Minister of Agriculture Lana Popham speaks during a news conference, in Vancouver, on Friday July 5, 2019. Farmers in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley are facing “intense disease pressure,” with an avian flu outbreak in commercial farms that the agriculture minister says is concerning. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

B.C. ‘doing everything’ it can to stop bird flu, minister says, as infections spread

Lana Popham says normally avian flu aligns with bird migration seasons, but not this year

 

A chicken looks in the barn at Honey Brook Farm in Schuylkill Haven, Pa., on Monday, April 18, 2022. Experts say outbreaks of H5N1 represent an unprecedented threat to Canada, infecting about 200 flocks with about 3.5 million birds nationwide. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Republican-Herald, Lindsey Shuey

Bird flu fighters in B.C. face unprecedented challenge, as H5N1 spreads across Canada

H5N1 has infected about 200 flocks with more than 3.5 million birds Canada-wide this year

 

Dr. Chris Shepherd, right, with his daughters Raven, left, and Robyn, at the Scout Island Nature Centre on Oct. 20, 2022. (Ruth Lloyd photo - Williams Lake Tribune)

B.C.-based researcher working to address global illegal wildlife trade

Dr. Chris Shepherd is based in Big Lake after decades in Malaysia and Indonesia

 

Deemed as an historic milestone for conservation, it was the result fo a partnership between the provincial Spotted Owl Breeding and Release Program and Spuzzum First Nation. (BC Gov News)

Wild B.C. population of critically endangered spotted owl jumps from 1 to 4

Conservation made possible due to partnership between Spuzzum First Nation and provincial government

Deemed as an historic milestone for conservation, it was the result fo a partnership between the provincial Spotted Owl Breeding and Release Program and Spuzzum First Nation. (BC Gov News)
Poultry owners - commercial and recreational - are being warned to take precautions to help mitigate an avian flu outbreak in B.C. (Submitted photo)

Province holds avian flu info session for Okanagan small-flock poultry owners

The information session comes after an avian flu outbreak in the North Okanagan

Poultry owners - commercial and recreational - are being warned to take precautions to help mitigate an avian flu outbreak in B.C. (Submitted photo)
An outbreak of avian flu was confirmed at Spallumcheen’s O’Keefe Ranch on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. (Historic O’Keefe Ranch/Facebook)

Avian flu outbreak hits North Okanagan’s O’Keefe Ranch

Several birds have died and a section of the ranch has been quarantined

An outbreak of avian flu was confirmed at Spallumcheen’s O’Keefe Ranch on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. (Historic O’Keefe Ranch/Facebook)
There were no birds on display at the IPE this year due to concerns about the avian flu. (Jennifer Smith - Morning Star)

Avian flu found in North Okanagan birds

Small, non-poultry, flock identified by Canadian Food Inspection Agency

There were no birds on display at the IPE this year due to concerns about the avian flu. (Jennifer Smith - Morning Star)
FILE - Luke DeGroote holds a Tennessee warbler for a closeup after getting caught in a long net at the Powdermill Avian Research center on May 8, 2018, near Rector, Pa. A new online atlas of bird migration, published on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022, draws from an unprecedented number of scientific and community data sources to illustrate the routes of about 450 bird species in the Americas. (Darrell Sapp/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP, File)

New atlas of bird migration shows extraordinary journeys

Online collection illustrates the routes of about 450 bird species in the Americas

FILE - Luke DeGroote holds a Tennessee warbler for a closeup after getting caught in a long net at the Powdermill Avian Research center on May 8, 2018, near Rector, Pa. A new online atlas of bird migration, published on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022, draws from an unprecedented number of scientific and community data sources to illustrate the routes of about 450 bird species in the Americas. (Darrell Sapp/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP, File)
Matthias Bieber examines the wings of a Red-Shafted Flicker at the Vaseux Lake Bird Observatory’s open house on Sunday. (Brennan Phillips - Western News)

Bird Migration Day open house returns to Vaseux Lake

The popular event gives the public a chance to see the birds banded and released

Matthias Bieber examines the wings of a Red-Shafted Flicker at the Vaseux Lake Bird Observatory’s open house on Sunday. (Brennan Phillips - Western News)
A peacock displays it feathers at the Toronto zoo in Toronto on Thursday, March 17, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Pete the peacock remains on the lam about two months after escape from N.B. garden

Owners hope proud bird avoiding foxes, can be located strutting somewhere around the countryside

A peacock displays it feathers at the Toronto zoo in Toronto on Thursday, March 17, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
(BC SPCA)

BC SPCA caring for 99 budgies found in West Kelowna home

Surrendered due to health and sanitation issues

(BC SPCA)
File photo (Jill Hayward photo)

Gang of turkeys attacks B.C. man, breaking both his hips and a finger

RCMP told the birds are scheduled to ‘receive the death penalty for their crimes’

File photo (Jill Hayward photo)
This Harris’s hawk is one of seven birds of prey The Raptors of Duncan B.C. showed off at the Allan Brooks Nature Centre Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022. (Brendan Shykora - Morning Star)

VIDEO: Raptors fly at Vernon nature centre

The Raptors are at Allan Brooks Nature Centre until Sept. 1

This Harris’s hawk is one of seven birds of prey The Raptors of Duncan B.C. showed off at the Allan Brooks Nature Centre Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022. (Brendan Shykora - Morning Star)
A mural featuring a scoreboard and a great blue heron is being created on The Roster. (Lacey & Layla Art rendering)

Vernon business mural takes flight

City and community support The Roster art honouring herons

A mural featuring a scoreboard and a great blue heron is being created on The Roster. (Lacey & Layla Art rendering)
Screenshot from Fraser Valley Rose Farm Youtube video.

VIDEO: Lonely B.C. duck follows humans around after coyotes kill her friends

Duck was recently rehomed to Pender Island to live with other birds

Screenshot from Fraser Valley Rose Farm Youtube video.
Laskeek Bay Conservation Society monitors black oystercatchers on Haida Gwaii. (Photo: supplied)

Scientists on Haida Gwaii find oldest black oystercatcher on record

At 27 years she’s not a spring chicken but still in good shape

Laskeek Bay Conservation Society monitors black oystercatchers on Haida Gwaii. (Photo: supplied)
A Nazca booby rests on driftwood approximately four nautical miles south from the Trial Islands Ecological Reserve on July 24. Whale watcher Tasli Shaw sighted the bird, which only breeds as far north as southern California, for the first time on record in the Victoria Harbour Migratory Bird Sanctuary the day before. (Photo by Matt Stolmeier)

Rare bird sighting off B.C. coast excites whale watchers, leaves birders jealous

Bird the first Nazca booby ever observed in Victoria area, and just the 3rd ever in B.C.

A Nazca booby rests on driftwood approximately four nautical miles south from the Trial Islands Ecological Reserve on July 24. Whale watcher Tasli Shaw sighted the bird, which only breeds as far north as southern California, for the first time on record in the Victoria Harbour Migratory Bird Sanctuary the day before. (Photo by Matt Stolmeier)
A black oystercatcher in south Oak Bay is pictured hunting for food between Victoria Golf Club and Kitty Islet. Waterfowl and raptors remain the wild bird groups at highest risk of avian flu, which has emerged in various species in B.C. since February. (Evert Lindquist/News Staff)

National avian flu outbreak launches B.C. bird feeder safety debate

BCSPCA says feeders and baths pose risk, others says chief concern is protecting poultry

A black oystercatcher in south Oak Bay is pictured hunting for food between Victoria Golf Club and Kitty Islet. Waterfowl and raptors remain the wild bird groups at highest risk of avian flu, which has emerged in various species in B.C. since February. (Evert Lindquist/News Staff)
Bald eagle populations in the southwestern part of the province are suffering (Courtesy Photo / Jack Beedle).

B.C. bald eagle nest success threatened amid avian influenza outbreaks

Province is monitoring troublesome conditions for eagles in southwestern B.C.

Bald eagle populations in the southwestern part of the province are suffering (Courtesy Photo / Jack Beedle).
A baby red-tailed hawk, right, originally captured as live food for an eaglet, left, has become part of a family of eagles on Gabriola Island. The eagles are feeding and caring for it after the eaglet wouldn’t kill it when it was brought to the nest in early June. (Photo courtesy Sharron Palmer-Hunt)

From food to family member: Baby B.C. hawk goes from eagle bait to roommate

Red-tailed hawklet brought to the nest as food instead gets adopted by eagles near Nanaimo

A baby red-tailed hawk, right, originally captured as live food for an eaglet, left, has become part of a family of eagles on Gabriola Island. The eagles are feeding and caring for it after the eaglet wouldn’t kill it when it was brought to the nest in early June. (Photo courtesy Sharron Palmer-Hunt)