Canada’s national bird yet to be decided

Media reports also pointed out that not one of the four hundred and fifty species of birds found across Canada has been designated as the nation's national bird.

In 2015, the team at Canadian Geographic launched the National Bird Project to help designate an official bird for Canada by 2017, said media reports.

In the first phase of the project, Canadians were asked to determine a species that could represent Canada.

Voting closed on Aug 31, 2016.

Canada’s top five favourite birds selected were: Common Loon, Snowy Owl, Gray jay / Whiskey jack, Canada goose and Black-capped chickadee.

In the second phase, according to media reports, a panel of experts was convened for a meeting on Sep 19, 2016, to decide on the selection of National Bird of Canada.

The panelists were Steven Price, President of Bird Studies Canada, David Bird, Professor Emeritus of Wildlife Biology, McGill University, Alex MacDonald, Senior Conservation Manager, Nature Canada, Mark S. Graham, Vice-President of Research and Collections for the Canadian Museum of Nature, George Elliott Clarke, Parliamentary Poet Laureate, and Shirley Ida Williams, Professor Emeritus of Indigenous Studies, Trent University (who was unable to attend the meeting).

Catherine McKenna, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, provided opening remarks about why birds are important to Canadians.

Phase three would be the Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s official recommendation for Canada’s National Bird at its College of Fellows Annual Dinner on Nov. 16, 2016.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)