Today, Environment and Climate Change Canada and Birds Canada released The State of Canada’s Birds 2024 report. Findings indicate that while many of Canada’s bird populations continue to decline, others have increased due to deliberate and informed conservation efforts.

“Birds are at the heart of Canada's biodiversity. Open-access data supports scientific decision-making and leads to a deeper understanding of our environment. Where deliberate conservation action has been taken, birds have recovered. Together with communities, citizen scientists, and organizations such as Birds Canada, we are working to build a nature-positive future. Canada is committed to halting and reversing nature loss by 2030 and achieving full recovery for nature by 2050.”
– The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change

“Through birds, we find beauty and solace in the natural world. Birds are also an important indicator of the health of our planet. And what they are telling us is that humans are having an impact on bird populations. Both positively, through the conservation of wetlands and the resulting impact on wetland birds, but also negatively, through the drastic decline of grassland birds from habitat loss. For our imperiled grassland birds, the time to act is now.”
– Patrick Nadeau, President and Chief Executive Officer, Birds Canada

• The State of Canada’s Birds 2024 report is hosted on the NatureCounts website by Birds Canada. This user-friendly, authoritative, and dynamic platform is frequently updated to incorporate the best available data, offering detailed overviews of each bird species regularly occurring in Canada. NatureCounts is one of the world’s largest biodiversity databases and helps inform many conservation efforts in Canada.

• The report focuses on 10 groups of birds: waterfowl, birds of prey, wetland birds, marine birds, forest birds, Arctic birds, long-distance migrants, shorebirds, aerial insectivores, and grassland birds.

• The main threats to birds include habitat loss, climate change, outdoor cats, window collisions, and pollution.

• Overall results of the report indicate that 36 percent of species has decreased in population, while 31 percent of Canada’s bird species has increased since 1970, with some of strongest recoveries seen in waterfowl, birds of prey, and wetland birds. The data shows us that when deliberate and informed action for conservation is taken, declines in bird populations can be halted and reversed.

• This is the third comprehensive assessment of the population status of all bird species that occur in Canada. Previous reports were published in 2019 and 2012, and since then, data has been added and the methods for analysis and assessment have improved. Two new groups have also been analyzed for the first time: long-distance migrants and Arctic birds.

Related products

• Backgrounder: Release of The State of Canada’s Birds 2024 report

Associated links

• The State of Canada’s Birds 2024 Report
• Birds Canada
• NatureCounts

Hermine Landry  
Press Secretary 
Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change 
873-455-3714 
Hermine.Landry@ec.gc.ca

Media Relations
Environment and Climate Change Canada
819-938-3338 or 1-844-836-7799 (toll-free)
media@ec.gc.ca

Jody Allair
Director of Communications
Birds Canada
519-586-3531 ext. 197
jallair@birdscanada.org

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