Wetlands: A Stop-over in the Great Migratory Journey

Take a moment and picture yourself amongst the wildlife of your local wetland. Look for colourful blooms, hear the croak of the frogs, and maybe, listen for the call of a bird. Wetlands are biodiversity hotspots and invaluable ecosystems across Canada. They are the home or place of refuge to a multitude of species including migratory birds.

What are Migratory Birds?

Migratory birds are those which conduct regular seasonal movements, often to travel to more hospitable climates during the winter months. Distances of hundreds and thousands of kilometers are travelled each year as birds migrate between their northern summer breeding grounds to their southern wintering habitats. Crossing borders and intersecting landscapes, migratory birds play an important role both ecologically and biologically within the environment by dispersing seeds, eating insects, and pollinating plants. Understanding the patterns of migratory birds is not only a crucial measure to tracking changes in bird populations, but due to their high sensitivity to environmental changes, migratory birds can be used as indicators of ecosystem health.

Lewis’s woodpecker (credit: Mick Thompson), Canada geese flyover (credit: Jason Jobin), western sandpiper (credit: Mick Thompson).

Wetlands in the Pacific Flyway

Like people, birds follow pathways to travel from one point to another. Birds have their own highways of the sky, often referred to as flyways. North America is the host to four major migratory pathways – the Pacific Flyway, Central Flyway, Mississippi Flyway, and the Atlantic Flyway. Here in British Columbia, we are along the route of the Pacific Flyway which stretches north to south from the Artic to the west coast of Mexico, and east to west from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Flyway encompasses the highest variability in waterfowl habitats within North America, leaving us with a lot of responsibility for the protection and conservation of these habitats.

North America migratory bird flyways. Image by U.S. Fish and Wildlife.

Many migratory birds make the journey to North America’s more northern climates in the spring to breed and raise their young through the summer before returning south in the fall and winter.

Migration is intensely demanding on birds. In fact, some birds have been tracked starting and ending their migratory journeys with no breaks at all. An example of this is the record-setting tracked migration of a young bar-tailed godwit. This specific bird flew an 11-day non-stop flight from Alaska to Tasmania in Australia (2022) setting a new world record for the longest non-stop flight. In many other cases, however, migratory birds such as the lesser snow goose, make stop-overs on their routes in ecosystems such as wetlands. These stop-over wetlands are critical ecosystems, providing habitat for migratory birds to rest, shelter, and feed before continuing their journeys.

The coastal zones and wetlands of British Columbia are critical breeding grounds for many migratory birds travelling through the Pacific Flyway. The wetlands of Canada’s boreal region provide breeding and nesting grounds for over 300 species of birds. The Fraser River Estuary, which has been identified as a Key Biodiversity Area, supports over 1.4 million shorebirds in its coastal wetlands and open water habitats. The Columbia Wetlands provide breeding and nesting grounds for over 180 different species of birds such as the Canada Goose.

Boreal wetland (credit: Garry Budyk), Columbia wetland (credit: Jason Jobin), Fraser River tidal marsh (credit: Ebba Hooft Toomey).

While migratory birds will not spend their entire lifetime in the wetlands of British Columbia and beyond, they would not be able to survive without them.

Are Migratory Birds Under Threat?

Reports by Environment and Climate Change Canada and the North American Bird Conservation Initiative indicate that Canada’s birds are facing many challenges to their success including climate change, pollution, pesticides, collisions with human-built structures, and habitat loss. As humans continue changing the landscape by developing, draining, and polluting wetlands, critical breeding and migratory stop-over habitat is being lost. Additionally, warming temperatures result in shifting migratory patterns, losses of habitat, and increased intensity and frequency of flooding and storms. Around 70% of southern Canada’s wetlands have been lost due to diking or draining, and with that a loss of crucial habitat for migratory birds.

Conserving and Restoring Wetlands can Help!

Healthy wetland habitats play a vital role in the mitigation of the threats that migratory birds are currently facing. Not only are wetlands excellent at mitigating flood risk by storing water from rainfall and runoff, but they are also known for efficiently and effectively storing carbon, often being called carbon sinks.

With the impacts of climate change becoming more increasingly felt across the globe for both people and wildlife, it has never been a more critical time to conserve and restore wetland habitat across British Columbia. Without these ecosystems, breeding and stop-over habitats for migratory birds will continue to grow scarcer, further threatening the success migratory birds in British Columbia, across Canada, and around the globe.

Birding in B.C.’s Wetlands

Interested in learning more about the birds of British Columbia? Now is the best time to try. As springtime approaches here in British Columbia, so does spring migration! Look out for birding events run by your local naturalist club or environmental organization. Or grab a pair of binoculars and head out on the trail yourself. Check out the BC Bird Trail for more information on places to go birding near you. Try out apps like Merlin to help you identify the birds you are seeing by sight and sound. Or grab a physical field guide – try out the Birds of British Columbia or the Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Western North America – and start jotting down the birds you are seeing.

Want to try out citizen science? Post your bird observation to iNaturalist or eBird to join a community of online citizen scientists. Or volunteer with the British Columbia Marsh Monitoring Program.