E. Wood-pewee and Wood Thrush - listed by COSEWIC

I haven't made any posts in a while so I thought I'd do a quick PSA for those of you that don't follow changes to Canada's endangered species list made by COSEWIC (Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada). The addition of Wood Thrush and Eastern Wood-pewee are probably of most interest to people reading this blog, but I've also included any changes to species applicable to Ontario. Please go to www.cosewic.gc.ca for more information.

BIRDS

Wood Thrush - Threatened

From COSEWIC:
In Canada, this forest-nesting species has shown significant long and short-term declines in population abundance. The species is threatened by habitat loss on its wintering grounds and habitat fragmentation and degradation on its breeding grounds. It also suffers from high rates of nest predation and cowbird parasitism associated with habitat fragmentation on the breeding grounds.

Eastern Wood-pewee - Special Concern

From COSEWIC:
Reason for Designation: This species is one of the most common and widespread songbirds associated with North America’s eastern forests. While the species is apparently resilient to many kinds of habitat changes, like most other long-distance migrants that specialize on a diet of flying insects, it has experienced persistent declines over the past 40 years both in Canada and the United States. The 10-year rate of decline (25%) comes close to satisfying the criteria for Threatened. The causes of the decline are not understood, but might be linked to habitat loss or degradation on its wintering grounds in South America or changes in availability of insect prey. If the population declines continue to persist, the species may become Threatened in the foreseeable future.


REPTILES

Massassauga got split into two different populations with the Carolinian population being listed as Endangered and the Great Lakes / St. Lawrence population being listed as Threatened.

Eastern Musk Turtle got downgraded from Threatened to Special Concern.

Northern Map Turtle and Eastern Ribbonsnake got reviewed and remained unchanged at Special Concern.


AMPHIBIANS
Eastern Tiger Salamander got listed as Extirpated.


MAMMALS

American Badger got split into two populations with the jacksoni subspecies (southern Ontario) getting listed as Endangered and the taxus subspecies found in the prairies being Special Concern.


ARTHROPODS

Riverine Clubtail: Endangered (Great Lakes Plains population)
Mottled Duskywing: Endangered (Great Lakes Plains population)


WASCULAR PLANTS
Crooked-stem Aster - downgraded from Threatened to Special Concern

Posts without photos are boring, so here is a delicious bluebird cookie that I got to devour as I wrote this. Today was the CBC for kids down at Bird Studies Canada and a parent of some of the participants brought a whole box of these! They were delicious! Oh, and the birding today was lots of fun. A couple highlights for our group were Double-crested Cormorant, Horned Grebe, and Northern Goshawk.