Welcome to Bird Friendly City Camrose
The City of Camrose was certified by Nature Canada as a Bird Friendly City in 2025. As an effort to enhance our city's Bird Friendly initiatives, the Bird Friendly City Camrose Committee has made it their goal to reduce key threats to birds, restore natural areas so birds can thrive, involve residents in admiring and monitoring local bird populations, and implement municipal policies to protect urban bird populations.
What is a Bird Friendly City?
Nature Canada Describes a BFC as the following:
- Key threats to birds are effectively mitigated
- Nature is restored so native bird populations can thrive
- Residents are actively engaged in admiring and monitoring local bird populations
- Organizations are creating events to protect birds
- Progressive municipal policies are created to protect urban bird populations
- A Bird Team has been created to oversee and lead these iniatives
How we are approaching the requirements:
- Organizing events such as the Purple Martin Festival to give our community the opportunity to admire birds and learn more about how to preserve them.
- Participating in a May species count.
- Organizing educational events at the Stoney Creek Centre on how to protect birds and cats.
- Supporting efforts to establish a no roam bylaw for cats to help protect birds.
- The Bird Friendly City Camrose Committee meets regularly to discuss methods to reduce threats to birds.
- We have written articles in the Camrose Booster regarding the threat of cats on bird populations and are trying to spread the word on threats like window collisions.
Camrose's City Bird
Meet the Purple Martin!
Purple Martins are known for their social nature and iridescent blueish-purple feathers. After spending the winter in South America, they journey here to breed, in the spring, taking residence in about 50 birdhouses in Camrose. Many Purple Martins will return to the same house they were born in to raise a family of their own. They are insectivorous, flying up to 45km/h to capture insects mid-flight, including dragonflies, moths and damselflies.
As Camrose's City Bird, the Purple Martin:
- Encourages bird watching
- Inspires conservation of bird friendly spaces in our community
- Represents the importance of birds in our ecosystem
- Is an ambassador by attracting people to events such as the Purple Martin Festival to celebrate birds of all kinds
Election Process and Results
The Camrose City Bird vote occurred in the summer of 2026. The Bird Friendly Committee received nominations from various outdoor and nature groups in Camrose to provide five candidates: Black-capped Chickadee, Purple Martin, Blue Jay, Red-breasted Nuthatch, and Canada Goose. As the summer went on, voters were able to nominate their own candidate as well, nominating 13 additional birds. Election Results: 1st Place: Purple Martin, 34% of votes 2nd Place: Black-capped Chickadee, 31% of votes 3rd Place: Blue Jay, 10% of votes 4th Place: Red-breasted Nuthatch, 8% of votes 5th Place: Red-winged Blackbird, 3% of votes