• • Registration now open for both level 1 (grades 4-6) and 2 (grades 7-10) All school winners receive a medal A revitalized website makes the Challenge easier to manage than ever

PEOPLE HAS ITS “SEXIEST MAN.” Time has its “person of the year.” But it might be possible that Canadian Geographic’s declaration of a national bird — the gray jay ( above) — is the first time a magazine has named a national symbol. (Read the rationale for our decision on page 36.) We want the federal government to follow our lead, and it’s well aware of our initiative, but it has yet to acknowledge an official avian emblem. This despite nearly 50,000 votes and thousands of comments submitted to our online poll since we launched the National Bird Project in January 2015 with the aim of having Canada recognize a national bird in time for the nation’s 150th anniversary year, now just days away. So Canadian Geographic has taken it upon itself to name a national bird in time for the country’s anniversary. We polled our readers and Canadians at large. We consulted the country’s leading ornithologists. We used that input along with our position as one of the nation’s most respected journalistic brands to unilaterally declare the gray jay (formerly known as the Canada jay, which we still prefer) our national bird. We’ll henceforth refer to it as that in our publications. Until, of course, such time as the federal government officially recognizes a national bird. Then, even if it’s different from our choice, we’ll be more than happy to follow its lead. In the meantime, we’ve filled what was a conspicuous nationalemblem void.

—Aaron Kylie

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