National Wildlife Week

Canada is home to many incredible migrating species! Put your wildlife migration skills to the test, take the quiz for your chance to win one of three spring bird bundles.

Join Canadian Wildlife Federation experts for a fascinating excursion into the world of migratory wildlife during National Wildlife Week! From the Atlantic ocean's North Atlantic Right Whales to the Grassland's Pronghorn, you'll learn about some of Canada’s most captivating migratory species! Discover ways you can help support their conservation by taking action at home and in your community.

The Monarch Butterfly migrates thousands of kilometres (about 4,000 ) in vast numbers twice a year, a feat performed by only a small handful of insect species on Earth! Migrating Monarch Butterflies roost in shrubs and trees at night and can be seen by the hundreds in roosts along the shoreline of Lakes Ontario and Erie. Monarch Butterflies navigate during fall and spring migration using receptors in their eyes and their antennae.

Leatherback Sea Turtles, the largest turtle species in the world, migrate around 10,000 km between their foraging and nesting areas. Atlantic leatherbacks head from the southern nesting grounds of French Guiana, Suriname, Grenada, the U.S. and Trinidad to foraging grounds off the east coast of Canada. Eastern Pacific leatherbacks nest on the beaches of Costa Rica and Mexico and head southward to Galapagos, Peru and Chile, whereas western Pacific leatherbacks make more varied treks — south into the South Pacific, east into coastal waters off North America, north into waters off Japan and west into waters off the Philippines and Malaysia.

The Great Plains used to teem with migrating mammals. Today, only the Pronghorn is left. Like birds, they spend summers in the northern reaches of the Great Plains, walking between 320 to 450 kilometres south as winter approaches. Human barriers like fences and highways are increasingly stopping these migrations, scattering herds and trapping Pronghorn in places they'd rather not be.

This black-capped, red-billed and red-legged bird makes an impressive 71,000 kilometre round-trip migration. Having their summer breeding range in the Arctic they migrate all the way to Antarctica for their winter range. This earns them the world record for the longest annual migration! An Arctic Tern can rack up more than 2 million kilometres over its lifetime.

In 1947, Canadian Parliament officially proclaimed the week of April 10 as National Wildlife Week. April 10 is the birthday of the late Jack Miner, a Canadian naturalist known by some as the "father" of North American conservationism. "Wild Goose Jack,” as he was often referred to, was one of the first conservationists to determine the migratory paths of North American birds and is credited with helping to save the iconic Canada Goose from the brink of extinction. While we won’t all save an animal from extinction, we can all have a positive impact on our wildlife and the places they call home when we #DoMoreForWildlife.

Here are a variety of ideas and options you can incorporate into your outdoor activities this spring:

• Download the #DoMoreForWildlife Calendar ➡️
• Join the Kaleidoscopes and record Monarch Butterfly Observations ➡️
• Certify your garden Wildlife-friendly Habitat ➡️
• Plant native plants using this encyclopedia guide ➡️
• Take our FREE Gardening for Wildlife Course ➡️