Nature Saskatchewan celebrates World Migratory Bird Day

WATCH: Migratory bird day was celebrated in Regina with a bird walk, which saw residents learn about the several species that inhabit the city.

Every second Saturday of May, people from across the world, including communities in Saskatchewan, celebrate World Migratory Bird Day.

On Saturday, Nature Saskatchewan hosted a bird walk at the Saskatchewan Science Centre in Regina to help spread awareness about protecting the species.

This year’s theme is “Share Spaces” with the goal of creating bird friendly cities and communities.

“We are really lucky Regina was designated as a bird friendly city, in a large part due to this beautiful, migratory bird sanctuary we have right here in our city,” shared Lacey Weekes, conservation and education manager of Nature Saskatchewan.

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During the bird walk, people learned how to identify different birds and find out which type of birds occupy particular habitats.

Weekes shared how critical it is for the public to protect birds.

“Birds are wonderful. It’s a great pastime to go birdwatching, but they are also bio-indicators,” she voiced.

“They can tell us what is going wrong with our environment. If we see a drastic decline in bird species, [it means] there is something not right with our ecosystem, and we’re seeing drastic declines in our grassland songbirds right now.”

Weekes said there are hundreds of bird species in Regina alone, and more than 400 across Saskatchewan.

“I hope people come out and enjoy and learn about the incredible bird species we have here and ways to help protect them,” she expressed.

“We can do a better job here in the city. We can make sure that we are keeping our cats inside, we’re making sure that we’re turning our lights off outside when we don’t need them, and make sure that our windows are feathered friendly.”