Canada Province Birds

Found throughout Canada, the Grey jay, also known as Canada jay is popularly known by several colloquial names. One is "whisky jack", a variation on the name of Wisakedjak, a benevolent trickster and cultural hero in Cree, Algonquin, and Menominee mythologies. In 2016, an online poll and expert panel conducted by Canadian Geographic magazine selected the Canada jay as the national bird of Canada, although the designation is not formally ...
recognized. These birds are "scatterhoarders". They cache thousands of food items during the summer for use the following winter; this habit also allows jays to remain in cold boreal and subalpine forests year-round. Any food intended for storage is manipulated in the mouth and formed into a bolus that is coated with sticky saliva, adhering to anything it touches. The bolus is stored in bark crevices, under tufts of lichen, or among conifer needles. A single Canada jay may hide thousands of pieces of food per year, to later recover them by memory, sometimes months after hiding them. This cached food may also be used to feed nestlings and fledglings. Less

The Canada goose is considered part of the Canadian national identity. Extremely adept at living in human-altered areas, colonies of these birds frequently breed in urban and cultivated areas, where they can easily find food and have few natural predators. Canada geese are also known for their seasonal migrations with staging or resting areas where they join up with others. These birds typically fly in a distinctive V-shaped flight formation, ...
with an altitude of 1 km (3,000 feet) for migration flight; however, it has been reported that they can reach a height of 9 km (29,000 feet). Less

Meet the provincial bird of New Brunswick in Canada, the official bird of Vancouver, and the official bird of Calgary, Alberta. The Black-capped chickadee is well known for its ability to lower its body temperature during cold winter nights, its good spatial memory to relocate the caches where it stores food, and its boldness near humans (sometimes feeding from the hand). Black-capped chickadees often cache their food, which is stored singly in ...
various sites such as bark, dead leaves, clusters of conifer needles, or knothole. Chickadees remember the location of their caches for up to 28 days. Within the first 24 hours, the birds can even remember the relative quality of the stored items. Less

The Great horned owl is the provincial bird of Alberta. Many warrior-based tribes of Native Americans admired these birds for their "strength, courage and beauty". Great horned owls are extremely adaptable birds with a vast range and are the most widely distributed true owls in the Americas. Their favorite prey includes rabbits and hares, rats and mice, and voles, although they freely hunt any animal they can overtake. Great horned owls are one ...
of the earliest nesting birds in North America, often laying eggs weeks or even months before other raptorial birds. Due to their natural-colored plumage, Great horned owls are well camouflaged both while active at night and while roosting during the day. However, despite their camouflage and cryptic locations, the birds can still sometimes be spotted on their daytime roosts, especially by American crows. Since owls are perhaps the main predator of crows and their young, crows sometimes congregate from considerable distances to mob owls and caw angrily at them for hours on end. When the owls try to fly off to avoid this harassment, they are often followed by the corvids. Less

This majestic bird of prey has long been associated with humans, primarily for hunting and in the art of falconry. It is the official bird of Canada's Northwest Territories. The gyrfalcon was originally thought to be a bird of tundra and mountains only; however, it spends considerable periods during the winter on sea ice far from land. It hunts only birds and mammals and it usually hunts in a horizontal pursuit. The only natural predator of the ...
gyrfalcon is the Golden eagle, and even it rarely engages with these formidable falcons. During the nesting period, the gyrfalcon is especially aggressive and harasses any animals that come near its nest. Interestingly that the Common raven is the only predator that can successfully pick off gyrfalcon eggs and hatchlings; even the Brown bear has been reportedly dive-bombed. Less

The Common loon is the provincial bird of Ontario, and it appears on Canadian currency, including the one-dollar "loonie" coin. It is a large aquatic bird that lives on lakes and other waterways. The Common loon is an expert fisher and is able to catch its prey underwater by diving as deep as 60 m (200 ft). With its large webbed feet, the bird is an efficient underwater pursuit predator and adroit diver. The Common loon produces a variety of ...
vocalizations but its most common call is the tremolo. The tremolo call is sometimes called the "laughing" call as it is characterized by short, wavering high notes (hu)-heheheheheheha. The bird often uses this call to signal distress or alarm caused by territorial disputes or perceived threats. The voice and appearance of the Common loon have even made it prominent in several Native American tales. The bird also has some folk names that include "big loon", "call-up-a-storm", "greenhead", "hell-diver", "walloon", "black-billed loon", "guinea duck", "imber diver", "ring-necked loon", and "ember-goose”. Less

The Blue jay is the provincial bird of the province of Prince Edward Island in Canada and was also adopted as the team symbol of the Toronto Blue Jays Major League Baseball team. Blue jays live in forests and are also common in residential areas. They can be very aggressive to other birds and sometimes even raid the nests of other birds. These birds are named jays because of their noisy, garrulous nature. They are also quite bold in their nature ...
and may chase predatory birds, such as hawks and owls, and will scream if they see a predator within their territory. If an owl roosts near the Blue jay’s nest during the daytime it will endlessly mob the owl until it takes a new roost. Less

The Snowy owl is certainly one of the most unmistakable owls in the world. It is native to the cold Arctic regions of both North America and the Palearctic and is the avian symbol of Quebec. The Snowy owl has a number of unique adaptations to its habitat and lifestyle, which are quite distinct from other extant owls. It is the only owl with largely white plumage and often when seen in the field, the bird can resemble a pale rock or a lump of ...
snow on the ground. The owlets are grayish-white in color but quickly become dark gray-brown; this type of plumage helps them hide effectively from predators among the variously colored lichens that dot the tundra ground. Snowy owls also have extremely large eyes and may have up to 1.5 times more visual acuity than humans. When hunting these birds can detect prey from as far as 1.6 km (0.99 mi) away. Less

The only puffins native to the Atlantic Ocean, these birds spend the autumn and winter in the open ocean of the cold northern seas and then return to coastal areas at the start of the breeding season in late spring. Atlantic puffins spend much time each day preening to keep their plumage in order and spread oil from their preen glands. Just like with other seabirds, their upper surface is black, and their underside is white. This provides ...
camouflage to puffins as aerial predators are unable to locate them against the dark, watery background, and underwater attackers fail to notice them as they blend in with the bright sky above the waves. The Atlantic puffin is the official bird symbol of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The striking appearance of these birds, their large, colorful bill, waddling gait, and behavior have given rise to a number of informal names including "clowns of the sea" and "sea parrots"; juvenile puffins may be called "pufflings". Less

The osprey is a fish-eating bird of prey and is the second most widely distributed raptor species, after the Peregrine falcon. In 1994, it was declared the provincial bird of Nova Scotia, Canada. In heraldry, the osprey is usually depicted as a white eagle, often maintaining a fish in its talons or beak, and termed a "sea-eagle". It is historically regarded as a symbol of vision and abundance; more recently it has become a symbol of positive ...
responses to nature. Ospreys have an amazingly acute vision that helps detect underwater objects from the air. Prey is first sighted when the osprey is 10-40 m (33-131 ft) above the water, after which the bird hovers momentarily and then plunges feet first into the water. Ospreys catch fish by diving into a body of water and often completely submerge their entire bodies. For that help closable nostrils that keep out water during dives and dense oily plumage which prevents their feathers from getting waterlogged. Less

This bright bird is a native inhabitant of the Americas and it is the provincial bird of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The Steller's jay is noted for its mimic abilities; it can imitate the vocalizations of many species of birds, other animals, and sounds of non-animal origin. It often will imitate the calls from birds of prey such as the Red-tailed hawk, Red-shouldered hawk, and osprey as a warning of danger to others or ...
territorial behavior, causing other birds to seek cover and flee feeding areas. Less

The Rock ptarmigan is a ground-dwelling sedentary bird that lives across the Arctic and Subarctic Eurasia and North America (including Greenland). It is the official bird for the Canadian territory of Nunavut, and the official game bird for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Rock ptarmigans are quite vocal birds especially during the breeding season when males emit a repertoire of guttural snores and rattles, most often directed to other ...
males. On open leks, single or multiple males also carry out displays on the ground and in the air to claim their territory, including chasing other males while flying. Male Rock ptarmigans also use other signals during displays including fanning their tails, extended necks, or lowered wings. Less

The Great grey owl is the provincial bird of Manitoba. These large owls are top predators within their native habitats and rely almost fully upon small rodents. When hunting, Great grey owls wait, listen, and watch for prey, then swoop down; they also may fly low through open areas in search of prey. They frequently hunt from a low listening post. Their large facial disks, also known as "ruffs", focus sound, and the asymmetrical placement of ...
their ears assists them in locating prey, because of the lack of light during the late and early hours in which they hunt. Great grey owls have excellent hearing and may locate prey moving beneath 60 cm (2.0 ft) of snow in a series of tunnels solely with that sense. They then can crash to a snow depth roughly equal to their own body size to grab their prey. Only the Great grey owl can "snow-plunge" for prey, a habit that is thought to require superb hearing not possessed by all types of owls. Less

This large all-black bird is the official bird of the Yukon territory and is the most widely distributed of all corvids. Apart from its greater size, the Common raven differs from its cousins, the crows, by having a larger and heavier black beak, shaggy feathers around the throat and above the beak, and a wedge-shaped tail. The brain of Common ravens is among the largest of any bird species. They are unusually intelligent birds and display ...
ability in problem-solving and like other corvids, they can mimic sounds from their environment, including human speech. Common ravens have also been observed calling wolves to the site of dead animals. The wolves open the carcass and thus leave the scraps more accessible to the birds. Common ravens are also one of only a few wild animals who make their own toys. They have been observed breaking off twigs to play with socially. Less