Protecting Birds on the Move in Canada

Nestled in the heart of “North America’s bird nursery” are vast landscapes, wetlands, and coastal habitats that are home to billions of migratory birds during the breeding season. Many are traveling there from locations across the Western Hemisphere and may even be passing by your windows, yards, and parks right now on their way north. When they arrive, they will be greeted by the safety and bountiful supply of food made available to them each year in the Boreal Forest of Canada.

The Seal River Watershed in northern Manitoba is one of these biodiversity-rich places within the Boreal. Another is the western shore of Hudson and James Bays in Ontario. Both regions currently have large-scale Indigenous-led conservation initiatives underway.

The Seal River Watershed is considered crucial to maintaining and growing healthy bird populations throughout the hemisphere. The Indigenous People who have lived on, harvested on, and stewarded these lands for millennia are in the process of protecting it. The Sayisi Dene First Nation along with their neighbors the Northlands Denesuline First Nation, Barren Lands First Nation, and O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation—who collectively formed the Seal River Watershed Alliance—are in final negotiations with the federal government of Canada and the Manitoba provincial government to establish an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) in the watershed. This enormous 12-million-acre IPCA will consist of a network of protected areas. Together they will sustain lands and waters, honor Dene and Cree traditions, and welcome visitors into the future. Visit  www.sealriverwatershed.ca to learn how you can support the Seal River Watershed Alliance in their effort to conserve the watershed.

The region along the western shores of Hudson and James Bays—or Washaybeyoh and Weeneebeg in the Omushkego Cree language— hosts an array of marine and avian wildlife. More than 170 species of birds, including millions of shorebirds and waterfowl, rely on the region for safe breeding and migration stopover habitat. Each year, migratory birds flying south from their Arctic breeding grounds are funneled through here where they spend several weeks fueling up for their long journeys southward. These vitally important waters, shores and coastal lands have been home to the Omushkego people for millennia, and they want to keep these lands and waters healthy and protected from harm. First Nations along the coast that are a part of the Mushkegowuk Council, as well as the Weenusk First Nation and the Fort Severn First Nation, are embarking on negotiations with the Government of Canada over a proposed National Marine Conservation Area (NMCA) that would keep 22-million acres of ocean safe from bottom trawling, dumping, oil and gas drilling, and other industrial development. Support this Cree-led effort to protect this coastline by taking action here https://marine.wildlandsleague.org/take-action/

The impacts of the Seal River Watershed Alliance and Mushkegowuk Council’s critical work don’t stop at the Canadian border. Billions of migratory birds that nest and rest in these regions are better equipped for their journeys across the hemisphere.

This is just one part of a much larger story. In Audubon’s Birds on the Move, a four-part documentary series, we follow these migrations from the Boreal Forest to Colombia—tracing the paths of the birds, and the people and places working to ensure they make it safely along the way.

Watch the first episode here and subscribe to our YouTube channel to follow the journey.