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It was just after sunrise at Lobos Creek in the Presidio, and ornithologist Jennifer Phillips was crouched low in the dunes, waiting for sparrows. Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle Show More Show Less Researchers think white crowned sparrows, a common city bird, have started singing more complex songs in response to quieter streets and less traffic during the pandemic. Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle Show More Show Less 4 of4 A white crowned sparrow at MLK Regional Shoreline in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, November 25, 2020.
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Photos by Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle Show More Show Less 3 of4 Birder Clay Anderson looks for white crowned sparrows at MLK Regional Shoreline in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, November 25, 2020.
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Kurt Stricker / Getty Images Show More Show Less 2 of4 A white crowned sparrow takes flight at MLK Regional Shoreline in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, November 25, 2020. In the end, some 32 Fort McMurray birds were not collected by owners, and Couture found homes for all but two of the budgies, canaries, finches, macaws and cockatiels.1 of4 A white crowned sparrow sings while resting on a purple lupine. Photo by Larry Wong / Edmonton JournalĬouture, who has been running the bird shelter since 2010, still gets emotional talking about the experience. Janine Couture (left) and Ian Sprague operate Meika’s Safehouse â a bird shelter â out of their home in Sherwood Park. One of the agencies was Meika’s Safehouse. The EHS, along with a handful of other Alberta animal welfare agencies including the Alberta SPCA, received a group award in April from the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies for their exemplary work after the fire. The ASPCA distributed $80,000 worth of donations to eight of their partners in the rescue effort, including Meika’s Safehouse and the EHS. The Alberta SPCA received $370,000 in donations connected to the Fort McMurray fire, including the cost of two-months rent at the Nexus centre - $74,000 - donated back to the ASPCA by the building’s owner. There, pets were received, assessed and cared for, and then collected by owners or sent to other shelters in the Edmonton region, including Meika’s Safehouse and the Edmonton Humane Society (EHS). The ASPCA coordinated the animal support component of the disaster relief, setting up a care centre for pets in an empty big box store in the Nexus Business Park, near 142 Street and 118 Avenue. “The first group came on a hog trailer, dogs and cats in crates … Some 400 animals in the first shipment,” recalls Roland Lines, communications manager for the Alberta SPCA (ASPCA). Photo by Shaughn Butts / Edmonton Journal This unnamed pair of cockatiels, rescued from separate homes in Fort McMurray, met in Sherwood Park at Meika’s Safehouse. But many were left behind, and rescued by workers from the Fort McMurray SPCA, who sent them south. Meika’s Safehouse is just one of the animal care centres in Edmonton that went into overdrive the first week of May 2016 when the move began to evacuate 90,000 Fort McMurray residents and their pets. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.