Endangered shrikes to be released on Carden Plain
Aug 19, 2005
A conservation group plans to release Eastern Loggerhead Shrikes - an
endangered songbird - onto the Carden Plain this weekend.
The shrike is a predatory bird once common in Ontario, Manitoba, Quebec, as
well as in the Northeastern United States. The wild population hit an
all-time low in 1997.
But since 2001, 54 birds have been released into the wild, says a release
from Guelph-based Wildlife
Preservation Canada. Birds are also being released several times this
month in the Bruce Peninsula.
The birds will be released on the Carden Plain between 4 and 5 p.m. on
Sunday.
Elaine Williams, the executive director of Wildlife Preservation Canada,
said in June that a shrike nest is already located north of Kirkfield.
The nest held six baby birds that are tended by a mother, Ms Williams said.
The mother bird, which was sighted there May 30, was born in captivity,
proving reintroduced shrikes can survive in the wild, she said.
"This is our first evidence that captive-bred shrikes are able to migrate,
return, and breed the following year," she said.