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BACK BIRDWATCH True North Icon Nicknamed the camp robber or whisky jack (likely derived from the Cree name wJskicahk), this songbird lives year-round in northern forests in every province and territory, nesting and raising chicks during the harsh conditions of late winter. Our columnist David Bird is part of a campaign to declare the Canada jay the country's official bird: "Can you really think of a more Canadian bird than the Canada jay?" Kwee-oo Pop Click Smaller than a blue jay, larger than a robin, the Canada jay is a member of the Corvidae family, which includes crows and jays, and is most closely related to the magpie. [Extracted from the article]

BACK DESCRIPTION Small but powerful: About the size of a robin, its three-clawed grip, stout body and sturdy chisel bill enable this medium-sized woodpecker to deliver a surprisingly forceful blow for its diminutive size. That means each woodpecker devours more than 650,000 beetles (including larvae and pupae) in a year, arguably providing the most effective control of the spruce bark beetle, a major pest. Grubs for grub: Adults feed primarily on mountain pine beetles and spruce beetles and their larvae (though during breeding they switch to calorie-rich longhorn beetles). [Extracted from the article]

BEHAVIOURS Great grey owls live on voles and other small rodents and will travel great distances in great numbers when vole populations cycle down. DESCRIPTION Large birds averaging about 70 cm in height (females tend to be taller) with a huge wingspan, usually more than 140 cm. Their burly appearance is deceiving; augmented by a mass of layered variegated grey feathers, they weigh on average around one kilo. Watch for whitewash: splatters of chalky-white uric-acid waste on tree trunks or the ground are a sign an owl lingers there. [Extracted from the article]

Suitable habitat for endemic species is expected to decline significantly, especially for species on the Arctic tundra. The team of conservationists in Yukon and Alaska seeks to answer this question: What does the climate crisis mean for plant species already living north of the Arctic Circle? FRONT ONE EXPECTED CONSEQUENCE OF GLOBAL HEATING WILL BE SHIFTS IN the locations and ranges of wildlife, as endemic species seek the conditions they're adapted to. [Extracted from the article]

BEHAVIOUR Flocks ranging from 50 to 300 avocets migrate together to their breeding sites near water, on small islands or mucky shorelines, arriving from March to May. When predators such as ravens, harriers and skunks threaten nests, multiple adult avocets run around madly in all directions, flapping their wings, to distract them. Its name combines the Latin words recurvus, meaning curved backward, and rostrum, meaning beak, referring to the elegant slight upward curve of its long slender black bill. [Extracted from the article]

VITALS Length: 11 to 14 cm Weight: 11 to 20 g Wingspan: 19 to 22 cm DESCRIPTION When (or more likely, if) you are able to get a close look at one of these frenetic tiny songbirds, you will note it has a subtly distinctive look. The common redpoll's small head features a red patch or cap on the forehead and a pointy, small yellow bill surrounded by distinctive black feathering that forms a "jazz patch." Preferred habitat is boreal, in willow flats, conifer forests (typically pine, larch and spruce) and overgrown open fields, fence rows and cultivated lands. [Extracted from the article]

BACK VITALS Weight: 18 to 32 g Length: 22 to 26 cm DESCRIPTION With delicate pale-red colouring on its breast and head, back and rump, shading to beige above a white belly, the male resembles "a sparrow dipped in raspberry juice", said Roger Tory Peterson, the influential environmentalist and creator of the first modern field guide. Courting males sing softly to females, usually with a twig in their beak while hopping about and fluffing, followed by brief vertical flight and eccentric wing gestures. In disputes, the female usually defeats the male. [Extracted from the article]

During sporadic nest-building, the male contributes materials such as fibres from milkweed and thistle, but the female builds the nest, with a coarse exterior and downy lining, high on terminal branches. Produces four to six peanut-sized bluish-white eggs, incubated for nearly two weeks during which the male feeds the female as if newly hatched. Courting is marked by one or more males chasing a single female as she zigzags away, with the male briefly adopting slow straight flight. [Extracted from the article]

DESCRIPTION Males and females look virtually identical; females are slightly smaller. Both sexes build the nest; males feed and support females during incubation. HABITAT + RANGE Blue jays range throughout North America, from Florida pines to mixed-wood areas in southern Canada. [Extracted from the article]