Bird's nest stalls preparation for Canada music festival

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A bird's nest in an Ottawa park is threatening to delay one of Canada's largest urban outdoor music festivals.

A killdeer, named for its penetrating squawk that sounds eerily like "kill deer," has laid four eggs in the area where the main stage for the annual Bluesfest is to stand, bringing preparations to an abrupt halt.

In less than two weeks, an estimated 300,000 music fans are expected to flock to the capital city's riverfront Lebreton Flats neighborhood for the annual festival.

.Foo Fighters and Shawn Mendes, have been on sale Tickets for the event from July 5 to 15, which this year features headliners including Beck, Bryan Adams, the Foo Fighters and Shawn Mendes, have been on sale since February.

The numbers of killdeer have halved since the 1970s, leading to the diminutive brown and white birds and their nests being given protected status under Canada's migratory birds law.

On Tuesday morning, yellow caution tape surrounded the cobblestone pedestrian roundabout where the bird made its nest, while two guards hired by Canada's National Capital Commission kept a round-the-clock watchful eye.

Nearby, construction crews sat idle, waiting for the go-ahead to start setting up the stages, railings, portable washrooms and food and drink kiosks.

It's not clear when the bird laid its eggs, which typically have an incubation period of 24 to 28 days.

"This is one of the most challenging problems we've been presented with, but we feel we can work through this," Bluesfest executive director Mark Monahan said on Monday.

If the situation was not resolved quickly, he added, the festival – which organizers say contributes more than 30 million US dollars to the local economy – could face "some delays that could start to snowball."

Monahan said possibilities included moving the nest or gathering up the eggs and sending them to a wildlife center for hatching.

Wildlife experts, however, warned against disturbing the nest, saying it could lead the parents to abandon the eggs.

On Tuesday afternoon, the government issued a permit "to allow the relocation of the nest to nearby suitable habitat," according to Caroline Theriault, spokeswoman for Canada's environment minister.

"The relocation will allow the nest to remain and eggs to hatch in the natural environment. In the event of nest abandonment, eggs will be transported to a rehabilitation facility to provide the best probability for survival," she added.

On social media, meanwhile, people rallied for and against the bird, some calling the killdeer the "most entitled annoying bird on earth," while others snickered at its security detail.

"Go mom bird," one commenter said.

(Top image: A killdeer has laid four eggs in a nest right by the planned location for the main stage at Bluesfest. /AFP Photo)

Source(s): AFP