“The Black-capped Chickadee stays round Regina 12 months of the 12 months displaying its heartiness and resourcefulness identical to the individuals of Regina,” Ryan Fisher mentioned.
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It got here down to 6 feathery finalists in Regina’s Bird Friendly City contest, however just one might soar above the remaining to be named the town’s official hen: the black-capped chickadee.
“The black-capped chickadee is small bird that punches above its weight, just like Regina, we’re a small-medium sized city that punches above our weight here in Canada,” Ryan Fisher, curator of vertebrate zoology on the Royal Saskatchewan Museum and defender of the chickadee within the contest mentioned on the announcement at metropolis corridor on Friday.
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“Unlike a lot of the other birds in the contest, the black-capped chickadee stays around Regina 12 months of the year showing its heartiness and resourcefulness, just like the people of Regina.”
Fisher mentioned it was thrilling to have his tiny contender win after a hard-fought marketing campaign. He loved speaking concerning the chickadee and different birds in interviews.
“We have six different birds here that were part of the contest that anyone can go see,” he mentioned. “The ability in one small city to see all six of those species I think is really, really special.”
Regina’s new official hen was up in opposition to the American pelican, Canada goose, gray partridge, peregrine falcon and red-breasted nuthatch.
The small however mighty contest winner — which was introduced on National Bird Day — acquired greater than 8,700 votes, with over 21,000 votes submitted in complete.
Mayor Sandra Masters mentioned the response from residents was excellent.
“In terms of the City of Regina with a quarter of a million people, 700 nominations for different types of birds means we have a very active bird community here in our city,” she mentioned at Friday’s announcement.
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“It has been wonderful to see residents voice their opinion as to which bird should be our official bird to represent our city.”
Choosing an official hen will enable Regina to advance itself as a Bird Friendly City, after receiving the designation in March 2022. The volunteer committee has 14 members from environmental non-profits equivalent to Nature Saskatchewan, Nature Regina and Salthaven West.
Regina is the fifth municipality in Canada to earn Nature Canada’s Bird Friendly City designation.
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Angela Tremka, program coordinator with Bird Friendly Regina mentioned the competition was essential in directing consideration to the necessary roles the nominated birds play in addition to the challenges they face.
“It brought people together, it encouraged connection, it ruffled some feathers, it evoked laughter, it gave space for these important conversations and it gave a voice to the birds for us to advocate on their behalf,” she mentioned on the announcement on Friday.
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Tremka described the black-capped chickadee as “super adaptable, feisty, and cute,” with a “remarkable and almost frightening memory.”
Moving ahead, Tremka mentioned they hope to have numerous enjoyable with the town’s new official hen and embody it of their future occasions.
“We’re working with the City of Regina to ensure that we can be the best, most healthy place for birds to survive,” she mentioned, including they’ve many occasions deliberate and gadgets to work towards.
“We’re going to make sure that the chickadee is at the forefront of all of those issues, starting with, for example window collisions, which is a huge cause of birds declining across all of North America.”
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