Find The Urban Flyway! A flock of migrating birds takes over the waterfront in this participatory performance by Nature Nova Scotia and Bird Friendly Halifax. Featuring handmade bird masks, papier-mache bird heads, and creative costumes inspired by local species, participants will journey through the city as a migrating flock. Along the way, they’ll encounter some of the obstacles birds face each day, from reflective windows to artificial light. By becoming birds ourselves, we invite visitors to experience the city from a new perspective and discover how simple actions can help make Halifax a safer place for birds.
The Urban Flyway invites participants to become migrating birds for one unforgettable evening. With handmade bird masks, papier-mache bird heads, wings, feathers, and imaginative costumes, participants will travel together through downtown Halifax as a living flock, demonstrating the urban migration route that birds use every day. Inspired by the spectacular movements of birds each migration season, this participatory performance asks a simple question: What might the city feel like if we experience it from a bird's perspective? Along the route, the flock will pause at several locations where participants and passersby can learn about the challenges that birds face while navigating our cities. Educational materials and conversations with participants and spectators will highlight bird-window collision, light pollution, free-roaming cats, and practical actions everyone can take to make Halifax more bird-friendly. The project will invite Nature Nova Scotia and Bird-friendly partners and volunteers to participate, and participants will also be recruited during the first-ever Halifax bird-themed market on October 9th. In advance of the event, Nature Nova Scotia intends to host a workshop where participants can create bird masks, papier-mache heads, and costumes inspired by local bird species. Whether someone arrives as Bird friendly Halifax’s Bird of the Year, the Northern Cardinal or their own favourite feathery friend, every participant becomes part of the performance. As darkness falls, the flock becomes a moving artwork, part parade, part performance, part environmental storytelling. Through movement, creativity and collective participation, the piece reminds us that every fall, millions of birds pass through cities, including Halifax, beginning their great migration! By embodying these feathery travellers, participants are invited to reflect on how our choices shape the urban environment and how even small actions can help wildlife safely navigate the places we call home.
Schedule: Participants will gather outside along the boardwalk, behind Nova Scotia Power Building, beginning at 5:45 pm. At 6:00 pm, the performance will begin, making its way through downtown Halifax, following along the waterfront boardwalk. Along the route, there will be several short pre-determined interpretive stops before ending at the Halifax Ferry Terminal. The route back to Nova Scotia Power will begin at 9:00 pm, meeting at the Halifax Ferry Terminal at 8:45 pm. On the returning trip, the group will stop at the same pre-determined interpretive sites.
