WCS Canada

The study found:

🌲 Far less old-growth forest than natural levels
🦌 Habitat is fragmented & shrinking
📉 Forests not managed within natural range of variability

With Ontario reviewing its boreal management, this study couldn’t be more timely. Find out more in The Narwhal & The Conversation 👇

New research co-authored by WCS Canada reveals that Ontario’s forest management strategy, which claims to mimic natural disturbances like wildfire, is falling short 🌲🧪

More from the Birds & Burns team coming soon in our #DayInTheLife series 🤎

#PostFireEcology #BorealBirds #CavityNesters #BirdConservation

When threatened? They’ll pull a “wounded wing” trick and make the strangest sounds to distract predators.
 
And yes… the chicks? ✨Super-cute helpless fluffballs✨

🌓 Inside the Burns: Enter the Common Nighthawk - the most unbothered nester in the boreal.
 
This long-distance migrant flies up from South America to lay its eggs directly on the burned forest floor. No nest, no problem ✅🧵

Big thanks to our young donor. Your curiosity (and generosity) helps us protect these fascinating creatures every day 💚

Comment below if you have any questions about bats (or other Canadian wildlife!)

‪@albertabats.bsky.social‬

But if you head to the tropics, you’ll find sac-winged bats. Males of this species create a custom perfume from a mix of saliva, urine, and secretions to woo potential mates - nature’s original cologne!

Here’s the answer: Most bats don’t have much of a scent - they groom like cats and stay pretty clean! Their roosts, on the other hand, often have an earthy smell due to guano (💩)

"What do bats smell like?" 🦇

That was the question we received from a young supporter who donated her birthday money to bat conservation (how amazing is that?!) 🧵👇

📸 Jason Headley

📹 Snake den footage by Travel Manitoba

It's #WorldSnakeDay and we're shining a spotlight on the Narcisse Snake Dens in Manitoba, a Key Biodiversity Area!

Even if you're not the biggest fan of snakes, you’ve still got to admit, 40,000+ garter snakes gathering in one place every spring is pretty cool! @wcs.org 🐍🧪

Manitoba researchers look at potential impact of wildfires on polar bear denning habitat - Winnipeg | Globalnews.ca Some Manitoba researchers are looking into the potential impact and overlap of wildfires with polar bear denning habitat.

The intensity of widespread wildfires across Canada is impacting wildlife like caribou, Justina Ray of @wcscanada.org
tells @globalnews.ca.

“Caribou are a species that need older forests or larger expanses of older forests, particularly to calve in.”

🌎 globalnews.ca/news/1128818...

Enjoy this peek into their post-fire perch 💛
 
More field moments coming soon in our #DayInTheLife series.
 
#GreatHornedOwl #Birds #PostFireEcology #BorealForest #Yukon #Conservation

🦉 Inside the Burns: A surprise owl encounter!
 
In July 2024, our Birds & Burns team came across a Great Horned Owl family nesting in a recently burned patch of Boreal forest. A rare and special sight - and yes, we’ve got photos!

🌎 Want to support nature? It starts with awareness.

Sign up for the WCS Canada newsletter and get trusted updates on conservation science, wildlife protection, and how you can help.

📬 Subscribe here: https://wcscanada.org/newsroom/newsletter/

📸 Susan C. Morse

YouTube video by WCSCanada Western Bat Program WCS Bat Probiotics YouTube

This 5-minute video is balm for my environmental soul.
youtu.be/VOtuiB6aiLE?...

Bats are gorgeous, misunderstood, and in danger. Folks at @wcscanada.org @mcmasteruniversity.bsky.social are trying to help -- and it just might work...

(Also a fab example of effective storytelling!)

Peter Soroye @wcscanada.org explains how @inaturalist.bsky.social data factors into Key Biodiversity Areas (@keybiodiversity.bsky.social).

Join them in Blitz The Gap 2025! blitzthegap.org

#CSEE2025

Conservation Matriarchs: Leading through Nationhood For Indigenous Peoples - the original caretakers of their traditional lands and territories - conservation is rooted in sustaining respectful, reciprocal relationships with the land, waters, and all our relations.

Indigenous women have always been caretakers of land, language & life. At the 2025 First Nations National Guardians Gathering, it was evident that matriarchs are leading across the country.

🌿 Find out more: 

Carrion moss thrives in damp, shady spots and loves to grow on… well, dead stuff. It gets cozy on decaying organic matter like rotting logs and fallen leaves 🍂

Is it a little morbid? Maybe. But it's also part of nature’s clean-up crew, quietly helping to drive decomposition and soil renewal✨

Up the creek without a paddle: protecting Canada's freshwater The diverse, growing nature of the cumulative threats facing fresh water requires an equally diversified approach to tackling the problem.

As pressures mount, Connie O’Connor & Chrystal Mantyka-Pringle argue the health of these ecosystems is inseparable ours, with choices today determining the future of freshwater. 

Read more!

A report earlier this year from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) indicated that 18% of freshwater animals are now at risk of extinction 🧪👇

Bringing Indigenous knowledge & Western science together, without forcing one to fit the other.

This powerful piece by @cmantykap.bsky.social, Natasha Ayoub & Katie Fraser, spotlights our collab with Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation to centre Indigenous leadership & values in land use planning 🔗👇

Stay tuned for more stories from the field in our #DayInTheLife series 🤎
 
#Birds #BorealForest #PostFireEcology #Yukon #Conservation

From robins and juncos to raptors like the Red-tailed Hawk - and even shorebirds like the Lesser Yellowlegs - it’s a surprisingly busy nesting scene up here.
 
These species are finding opportunities in places you might not expect, showing just how dynamic and adaptable post-fire ecosystems can be.

🐣 Inside the Burns: It’s not just cavity nesters calling the burned boreal home. Our Birds & Burns team has also found a variety of ground and tree nesters using this post-fire landscape in the Yukon.

"This is not just about conservation. It's about the connection that we have with land, water, animals and one another. We are all equal."

WCS Canada Indigenous Relations Associate Cheyenne MacDonald shares the Mi'kmaq concept of netukulimk & how it should inform species protection #NIHM2025 🌎

It was a privilege to meet our First Nations Women Transforming Conservation Fellows alongside our partners the Indigenous Leadership Initiative (who also provided the footage 🙏)

🎥 This National Indigenous Peoples Day, get to know the Fellows and join us in celebrating their leadership and vision