The State of Canada's Birds Report provides scientific insight into the population status of 463 bird species that occur regularly in Canada. The most recent report, released in fall 2024, reveals concerning trends for many species that call Nova Scotia home. Shorebirds are continuing to decline, with a drop of 42% since 1970. The populations of some species, like the Hudsonian Godwit, have fallen by over 90 percent. Aerial insectivores like the Bank Swallow and the Chimney Swift have declined by 43% since 1970, likely due to habitat- and pesticide-related declines in insect populations. For these and many other birds, we could be doing more to help.

Urban environments can be particularly tricky for our avian friends to navigate. That's why Nature Nova Scotia is a founding member of the Bird Friendly Halifax Coalition, working to make our largest city a friendlier place for our avian neighbours through municipal policy and resident engagement, and why we launched Operation Window Strike, helping landowners in the Halifax area reduce deadly window strikes. To help fill data gaps and support federal priorities in pollution monitoring, in 2023 we started monitoring waterbirds in the Ports of Halifax and Sydney.

These concerning trends are also why we're taking legal action for bird conservation in 2025. As part of the Recovery Planning process for species like the piping plover, government must identify an area of Critical Habitat: “habitat that is necessary for the survival or recovery of a listed wildlife species.” In the 2022 update to the federal piping plover Recovery Strategy, government adopted a “bounding box” approach to habitat identification, meaning that instead of protecting the whole beach for piping plover habitat, as was the prescription previously, only small areas that meet a certain set of criteria will be recommended for protection. We argue that this new approach makes enforcement, and consequently protection, of beach habitats more difficult and leaves unprotected areas of sandy beaches open for development and construction. Ecojustice, on behalf of East Coast Environmental Law and Nature Nova Scotia, launched a judicial review in late 2022 of the federal government’s weakened approach to habitat identification for piping plovers. A win in this case could see the government revert to the more comprehensive way it identified habitat for plovers in 2012.

Support our work advocating for and stewarding birds in Nova Scotia with a donation to our Conservation Action for Birds Fund.