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Wikipedia’s List of National Birds indicates that 106 of the world’s 195 countries have official birds. But Canada is not listed — because we do not have one. We do have other symbols. The beaver was given official status as an emblem of Canada on March 24, 1975. Its hard-working nature and its role in early commerce helped make Canada what it is today. Our country was also built on forestry and the maple sugar industry, which convinced our government to adopt the maple tree, at least the generic version, as an official symbol in 1996. Watch any Olympics or international athletic contest and one cannot help notice that we have two official colours — red and white. That was a result of the proclamation of Canada’s coat of arms by King George way back in 1921. Put those colours and the maple leaf together and voila, we created our Canadian flag, one recognized all over the world. And every Canadian worth his or her salt knows that ice hockey is our game. The National Sports of Canada Act on May 12, 1994, officially declared ice hockey as the national winter sport, and lacrosse as the national summer sport. We’ve even got a national horse. But alas, no official bird.

Photo by Postmedia News

This should change. An official bird would not only represent all of those wonderful things that birds do for us, but also symbolize the very nature of Canadians as being the friendly, hardy and intelligent people the world has come to know us as.

With thousands of ornithologists and bird-lovers from around the world gathering in Vancouver in August, it’s a perfect time for our federal government to officially adopt a National Bird. And yes, I know that such things do not take place overnight in government circles, but just a mere announcement of intent is all that would be needed in 2018. Let’s get it done.

David M. Bird, Ph.D., is emeritus professor of wildlife biology at McGill University.