Title
BIRD FRIENDLY CITY UPDATE
Dorothy McKeown and Phyllis Tremblay, Co-Chairs of Nature Barrie’s Bird Friendly Team provided a presentation concerning Barrie Bird Friendly City Certification.
Ms. McKeown discussed slides concerning the following topics:
• The City’s support for becoming certified as Bird Friendly City;
• An introduction of the Barrie Bird Friendly team, members, member associations, and partners;
• The Nature Canada criteria for Bird Friendly City certification;
• The measures taken by the City related to threat reductions, habitat protection, restoration, and climate resiliency;
• The Community outreach and education;
• The next steps in the certification process;
• The steps the City can take to support the bird friendly city initiative include engaging the municipality to choose a bird to represent the City; and
• The Nature Barrie Bird Friendly City Team provided the following bird suggestions:
o Barred Owl (BDOW);
o Belted Kingfisher (BEKI);
o Downy Woodpecker (DOWO);
o Pileated Woodpecker (PIWO);
o White-breasted Nuthatch (WBNU);
o American Goldfinch (AMGO); and
o Red-winged Blackbird (RWBL)
Members of the Committee asked questions of Ms. McKeown and received responses. Ms. McKeown mentioned that the next step is to conduct a bird poll and advertise on the City’s website to engage the community. Councillor Kungl noted the Committee will be notified once the bird poll has been uploaded to the City’s website.