Category: Conservation Staff Articles
2022 Bank Swallow Review
Bank swallows (Riparia riparia) are insectivorous songbirds with a distinctive dark brown breast band separating their brown upperparts from their white underparts. Known for their fast, agile flights, these small passerines can be seen buzzing acrobatically through the air along Prince Edward Island’s coasts during the spring and summertime. Bank swallows nest colonially in sandstone cliffs, till bluffs, high sand dunes, and sand pits. As they fly over nearby meadows, wetlands, and agricultural grasslands they forage on insects like beetles, wasps, bees, flying ants, and mayflies. Based on this feeding strategy, bank swallows belong to a guild of birds called aerial insectivores. Like many aerial insectivores, bank swallow populations in Canada are declining due to threats contributing to the loss of their breeding and foraging habitats: land use changes and associated agricultural intensification, and the practice of shoreline armouring. Bank swallow may also be indirectly impacted by pesticide use, which reduces the abundance and availability of their insect prey. In recognition of these threats, bank swallow was listed as a threatened species under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) in 2017.
Read moreFarmland Birds Program – 2022 Season In Review
As the summer comes to an end, so does our Farmland Birds program. This program is a partnership with the provincial department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action, as well as the federal program for Species at Risk Partnerships on Agricultural Lands.
Read moreTrail Code of Care
Here at the Trust, we are ready to greet the long-awaited arrival of summer and we welcome you to venture out to one of natural areas. While we understand people’s need to immerse themselves in the natural environment, it is crucial to do so while being mindful of our responsibilities to Island wildlife.
Please read, download or print our Island Nature Trust – Trail Code of Care before venturing out to one of our natural area trails.
Read moreBobolink – A Migratory Marvel
This fascinating but threatened bird has faced a busy and challenging summer. Now it’s time to wish it a ‘bon voyage’…
@brussell
Educate to Protect: Beach-dune Ecosystems
INT has been teaching young people across PEI how to take care of our vulnerable coastline.
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