REGINA - One fine feathered citizen of Regina flew highest above the competition to be named Regina’s Official Bird.
The Black-capped Chickadee was named the winner of Regina’s Bird Friendly City Contest, in an announcement made Friday at City Hall.
Mayor Sandra Masters signed the declaration to make it official, with the announcement of the city's Official Bird coinciding with National Bird Day.
There was an enthusiastic response from the public to the Official Bird contest. Over 21,000 online votes were submitted during the voting period at Regina.ca/bird.
The Black-capped Chickadee got over 8,700 votes, beating out some high flying competition which include the American White Pelican, the Canada Goose, the Gray Partridge, the Peregrine Falcon, and the Red-breasted Nuthatch.
Each of these birds can be found in Regina, and each one had active campaigns and defenders championing their attributes and qualifications in the media and elsewhere during the voting period. These six birds were the main contenders out of over 700 nominated.
In the end, the Black-capped Chickadee was considered a worthy winner for a number of reasons, as pointed out by its champion Dr. Ryan Fisher from Royal Saskatchewan Museum.
Fisher said the Black-capped Chickadee was small, but “punches above its weight”, similar to the city of Regina itself.
Notably the bird stays in the city all 12 months of the year including the wintertime, “showing its hardiness and resourcefulness, just like the people of Regina.”
Perhaps this was a factor in its victory, as other main bird contenders made the mistake of leaving the city during the campaign period.
“If you’re not willing to put in the work, how are you going to get the vote out?” Fisher joked.
What Fisher said probably made the most difference in the chickadee’s win was its accessibility to residents throughout the city.
“I think most importantly, this is a bird that whoever you are, and wherever you live in the city of Regina, you have an opportunity to see and interact with it. Whether you’re in Wascana Park, you’re walking in your neighborhood, even if you’re downtown in Victoria Park you can see the Black-capped Chickadee.”
Mayor Masters said she would have been happy with any of the birds selected. She welcomed the result of the contest, pointing to the Black-capped Chickadee’s “resilience and resourcefulness” in surviving 12 months of the year.
For organizers of the contest, it was more than a chance to have fun and tell a lot of bird jokes and puns. It was also an opportunity to promote Regina as a bird-friendly city and to educate and inform the public of the wide variety of birds who settle here.
In March 2022 Regina was declared a Bird City through Nature Canada’s Bird Friendly City Program. The city has also had the support of the volunteer committee Bird Friendly City Regina which includes 14 members of the community and local non-profits Nature Saskatchewan, Nature Regina and Salthaven West.
“Really, it’s important to raise awareness, there’s educational opportunities, there’s things the city can do in terms of stewardship of the land and policies and bylaws to help protect, but also, it really is about celebration,” said Mayor Masters. “It really is about going out, celebrating our environment, but also getting connected to other avid bird folks.”
Angela Tremka, Program Coordinator for Bird Friendly Regina, called the whole contest a “win for birds.” While there are ideas already flying about possible marketing and merchandising opportunities for Regina's new Official Bird, so far nothing is finalized.
As for what is next for the new Official Bird, “we will make sure to include this in our events going forward," said Tremka. That means including the Chickadee in raising awareness about the issues and threats facing the bird population in the city.
“We have a lot of different events planned up our sleeves and items we want to work towards. And so we are going to make sure 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.”
