Garden Bird Survey 2009

July 13, 2009

Dear bird enthusiasts,

The Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre, a national organization dedicated to the surveillance of wildlife health, is conducting a study on the health of garden birds in Atlantic Canada.  “Garden birds” is a term we’ve borrowed from the British, and refers to those bird species that are most commonly found in private and public gardens and around houses in the country or the city, such as finches, sparrows, pigeons, chickadees and blue jays.  Birds that frequent bird feeders or water baths are of particular interest.

We would like to invite all of you to participate by filling out an online questionnaire.  If you’d prefer, we can send you a printed copy through the regular mail or even give you a call to do it over the phone.  The questionnaire takes about 10 minutes to complete and it will provide us with very valuable information on the general health of garden birds in the area, so we can best investigate any diseases or other causes of death that may afflict these birds.

The online questionnaire will be available on our website on July 15, 2009.  Please take a look and see if you’d like to participate.  Simply click the orange button at the top of the page to start.

If you have any questions or comments, you can contact specific members of our staff or simply call 902 628 4314 for general enquiries.

Thank you all!

María Forzán
Wildlife Pathologist
mforzan@upei.ca