After a heated debate, Calgary residents spoke out and officially named the black-footed chicken as the city’s official bird.
A total of 36,677 Calgary voters voted, with the chicken taking 44 percent of the vote from a selection of five birds selected in consultation with local groups and natural organizations.
The official results are as follows:
- Black-capped chicken – 16,114 votes (44 percent);
- Black-billed Magpie – 8,933 (24 percent);
- Northern Flicker – 6,076 (17 percent);
- Blue jay – 2,938 (Eight percent); and
- Red-breasted walnut – 2616 (Seven percent).
“It was a fiercely contested race,” said the Count of the 11th Division. Courtney Penner, who presented the notice of movement in mid-March to identify an official bird.
“There were a lot of people who said that magpies are the bird we really deserve, and the chicken is the bird we strive for, but being able to stand up for all kinds of birds in Calgary is really important.
Calgary has been declared a bird-friendly city by Nature Canada and one of the requirements for maintaining honor is to determine the best bird.
count. First-nation Corrine Eagletail-Frazier Tsuut’ina said she was honored to be involved in the project because of the importance birds have to local groups across the country.
“We really respect birds, it’s like the messages and the signs, the energy they give, because when they’re happy and they sing, we know things are good and life is good,” she said.
“It’s just a sign that something is wrong when they’re not there, so it’s important to protect them.”
Saturday’s announcement of Calgary’s official bird also coincides with World Migratory Bird Day with this year’s theme focused on preventing light pollution.
Dylan Holbeck, research coordinator and naturalist with the Weaselhead Glenmore Conservation Society, says light pollution has a significant impact on bird migration patterns and confuses them.
“In migratory birds, for example, this distracts them from their migration route, they often migrate at night. “They will continue to fly in a circle, somehow confused, and many of these birds, songbirds, for example, will start screaming and then more birds will come,” she said.
“And since we will hear these birds crying, then you will find yourself with a whole mass of birds caught in this light and then exhausted. Because they are attracted to cities, they do not end up in places rich in food, so in the end it is really dangerous for them. “
Golbeck says her focus now is to educate Calgary residents about the importance of reducing light pollution where possible by turning off lights when not in use or dimming lights.
Other solutions include the use of redshift lights or warmer colors.
“This is because there is no broad-spectrum radiation emanating from it, and the higher end of white and blue is more similar to the radiation you would receive from the sun, so it causes more birds to react to the sun.”
Calgary Bird Team Chairman John McFaul added that bird conservation has become particularly important over the years.
“Studies show that the number of birds in North America has dropped by about 3 billion over 50 years,” he said.
“So we are concerned about different things that are happening in our environment, everyone is concerned about climate change, but the loss of biodiversity is really important. They are like canaries in a coal mine, and if the birds do well, our environment is probably fine. ”
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