Name change to Canada Jay part of bid to make it the national bird
VANCOUVER Birders and ornithologists across Canada are hoping that a name change will help revive a campaign to make the cheeky songbird the country’s national bird.
What was once known as the Gray Jay is now the Canada Jay. Earlier this month the change was announced by the American Ornithological Association (AOA), the U.S.-based group dedicated to the scientific study and conservation of birds.
In fact, the decision corrects what many consider a historical mistake. Canada Jay is a restoration of the English name the bird held from 1831-1957.
The new name for the songbird is exactly what David Bird, a retired McGill University wildlife professor, thinks will help convince the federal government to officially adopt the Canada Jay as the country’s national bird.
Bird speaks on behalf of Team Canada Jay, a loose group of about 50 birders, ornithologists and supporters. One of its prominent members is artist Robert Bateman.
Last year, the drive to single out the Gray Jay ran out of steam when the federal government said it wasn’t interested. The campaign had been started by the Royal Canadian Geographic Society which ran a National Bird Project and an online contest. Finishing first and second in voting were the common loon and snowy owl. But the society chose the third-place Gray Jay for a very good reason, Bird said. The loon is already Ontario’s provincial bird and the snowy owl, Quebec’s.
“Can you imagine the furor that would have been caused if the federal government elevated the Ontario bird or Quebec bird to national status? There would have been all sorts of cries of foul,” said Bird, a raptor specialist at McGill in Montreal who has retired to Sidney.
“That’s why the team believes that we should go with something fresh and new — the same way we did in 1965 when we chose the flag.”
Bird believes 2018 is a perfect year for the federal government to single out a national bird from the country’s 450 species of birds. Internationally, it’s the Year of the Bird to commemorate the centennial of the Migratory Bird Treaty, which has been called the most important international, bird-conservation measure ever enacted. The treaty protected migratory birds between the U.S. and Great Britain which, in 1918, was acting for Canada.