September Program

“Avian Influenza in Saskatchewan’s Migratory Birds: Ongoing Surveillance, Lessons from Fall 2025 and Future Outlook"

Dr. Trent Bollinger (Canadian Wildlife Health
Cooperative / University of Saskatchewan) & Mark
Bidwell (Canadian Wildlife Service)

In person and online!
Rm # HLTH 1A60, Health Sciences Bldg., U of S,

Thursday, September 17, 2026

7:30 PM

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) continues to affect bird populations across North America. This presentation looks at how the virus behaved in Saskatchewan during the fall 2025 migration. While high-profile losses in Whooping Cranes drew significant concern due to the species' small population, field monitoring and post-mortem testing showed impacts across a much wider range of birds, including waterfowl, shorebirds, raptors, and scavengers. Bringing together field observations from the Canadian Wildlife Service and health tracking from the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative, Trent and Mark will discuss local transmission patterns, what was learned from last autumn's events, and how surveillance is being conducted today. They will also share what these ongoing wildlife health dynamics could mean for migratory birds moving through the province this coming fall.

Dr. Bollinger specializes in the pathology and epidemiology of diseases in wildlife and fish. He is a professor in the WCVM's Department of Veterinary Pathology as well as a Regional Director and wildlife pathologist with the Western Northern Regional Centre of the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative.

Based in Saskatoon, Mark is a Wildlife Biologist with the Prairie Region of the Canadian Wildlife Service, where he leads the whooping crane monitoring and science program. His work focuses on assessing key threats to the recovery of the Aransas-Wood Buffalo population, including the emerging risks posed by Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza.

Please note that if the link to join online requests a passcode, please enter SNS. If you have trouble connecting via the Zoom link, please text or phone LeeAnn at 306-880-9027. Please consider joining the meeting a little early so we can address any problems.

All members who have registered an email address with SNS will receive an email containing the link to join the meeting through Zoom. If you have not registered an email address with us, but would like to do so, please contact Claire Bullaro at c.bear@sasktel.net.

Monthly Meetings and Speaker Programme

Listen, learn, and share ideas with people who are passionate about our natural world! 

SNS offers a monthly speaker programme from September to April on the third Thursday of the month. All meetings are live streamed through Zoom.

During the fall and spring months presentations will be in hybrid format: speakers will present live at in-person meetings while being simultaneously streamed through Zoom. During winter months speakers may be streamed from outside the Saskatoon region and on these occasions, there will be no in-person meeting.

All are welcome to attend these meetings either in-person or through Zoom. Look for details about each month’s meeting in the SNS membership newsletter, confirming any in-person meeting time and place. A reminder email with the meeting details and Zoom link will be sent to each member whose current email address is on file.

Non-members who wish to attend through Zoom should provide their name and email address to Claire Bullaro at c.bear@sasktel.netfor each meeting. Please consider becoming a member of the Saskatoon Nature Society if you wish to receive the Zoom link automatically each month.

We will not be providing shared refreshments, so please bring your own drinks and snacks.

The monthly meetings include announcements from the SNS president. If you have an announcement or notice, please contact the president at least 2 days before the meeting.

Tracking Migratory Birds:Where Do They Really Fly? - Ernesto Carman

September 2022

Wetland Drainage and its Impacts on Biodiversity in the Prairie and Parkland Region of Canada

Kiel Drake

February 2022