Problem Solving

Are Bird Feeders Illegal in Canada?

Not nationally, but they are in three places: every national park, Canmore from April to November, and anywhere in British Columbia a bear can reach one. BC's rule needs no intent and the ticket is $400. Elsewhere it is your town's bylaw, and towns disagree about which birds you may feed.

No, not as a national rule: a backyard bird feeder is legal in most of Canada. It is illegal inside a national park, where feeding any wildlife is banned; in Canmore, Alberta, from April 1 to November 30; and in British Columbia wherever a bear can reach it, whether or not you meant to feed a bear.

Everywhere else the answer is a municipal bylaw, and the bylaws do not agree. The US rules are compared in is it illegal to have bird feeders up in bear season, and the practical side is in bird feeders and bears.

The rules we read#

Each row comes from the text of the rule, except Canmore and Vernon (the town's own notice) and Banff (the local paper's report of the council vote).

The mountain towns ban feeders or set dates. Everywhere else the bylaw allows a feeder on conditions: who can reach it, and what happens to the seed that falls. Definitions decide a lot. Beaverlodge defines wildlife as "all mammals other than domestic animals," so its birds are not wildlife at all, and the feeder only has to stay out of a mammal's reach.

Why the answers online disagree#

"There is no law, just advice." Wrong in British Columbia. A Gibsons staff report records the Conservation Officer Service's view that "the Wildlife Act only prohibits the feeding of dangerous wildlife," which is right about the chickadees. But section 33.1(2) reaches the feeder itself once a bear can get to it.

"Feeders are banned in bear country." True in the national parks and in Canmore for eight months. Elsewhere it often traces to a proposal. An April 2021 Gibsons draft would have banned feeders from April 1 to November 30, copying Canmore; the version amended for second and third reading that July has no feeder clause.

"The fine is $230." That was in an April 2023 Global News report quoting BC conservation officers. The ticket regulation, consolidated to October 13, 2026, sets $400 for section 33.1(2), plus a $60 victim surcharge.

British Columbia: "could attract" is enough#

Section 33.1 has two prohibitions, and only the first needs intent. Subsection (1) bars anyone to "intentionally feed or attempt to feed dangerous wildlife." Subsection (2) bars leaving an attractant "where there are or where there are likely to be people, in a manner in which the attractant could (a) attract dangerous wildlife to the land or premises, and (b) be accessible to dangerous wildlife."

The definitions close the gaps. "Dangerous wildlife" is a bear, cougar, coyote or wolf. An "attractant" includes "food or food waste" that could attract one, and birdseed, suet and nectar are food. And "leave," for an owner or tenant, "includes to fail to remove an attractant." A feeder hung in February for juncos can become the offence in May if it is still up and a bear can reach it. The test is "could," not whether a bear has come.

What it costs. A ticket is $400 under 33.1(2) and $500 under 33.1(1), plus surcharges of $60 and $75. In court, a first conviction can reach $50,000 or six months under (2), and $100,000 or a year under (1). If the offence continues for more than one day, each day can be fined separately.

The order before the fine. Under section 88.1, a conservation officer can order the owner or occupier to "contain, move or remove" an attractant that poses a risk to people, and can enter land, but not a private dwelling, without a warrant. Ignoring the order is a separate $500 ticket.

The dates are advice. Conservation officers tell residents to "take feeders down between March and November." That calendar is not in the Act; the test is the bear. A feeder near a bear that has not denned is exposed in December, and a balcony feeder no bear can reach is not exposed in July. More on timing is in when to take bird feeders down.

National parks: no feeders at all#

Section 4(1)(f) of the National Parks Wildlife Regulations says no person shall "touch or feed wildlife in a park or entice wildlife that is in a park to approach by holding out or setting out decoys or any such devices, foodstuffs or bait of any kind." Wildlife means "all wild mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, fish, insects and other invertebrates." No bird exception, no season.

The Canada National Parks Act names seven park communities: the towns of Banff and Jasper, and Field, Lake Louise, Waterton Lakes Park, Waskesiu and Wasagaming. A feeder in any of them is a feeder in a national park.

Banff added a municipal ban in October 2020 because, the Rocky Mountain Outlook reported, a charge by park wardens is "much more onerous" than a bylaw ticket. Asked about Canmore's winter window, the town manager said: "I don't think we can physically legalize bird-feeders within the Town of Banff."

Canmore: a calendar written into law#

Canmore, Banff's neighbour outside the park, is the only place we found where the dates are the law. Its Community Standards Bylaw allows feeders from December 1 to March 31. From April 1 to November 30 a feeder of any kind is an offence, bear or no bear. The town's March 2025 notice gives fines of $250, $500 and $1,000 for first, second and third offences.

A date is easy to enforce: nobody has to judge reach. That is why Gibsons staff proposed copying it, noting that deciding whether a feeder is "inaccessible" to a bear "can be very arbitrary."

BC towns: hang it out of reach#

The Squamish-Lillooet Regional District bylaw, adopted February 28, 2018, requires a feeder "containing bird feed, suet or nectar" to be "suspended on a cable or other device in such a manner that it is inaccessible to Wildlife and the area below any bird feeding devices or activity is kept free of accumulations of seeds." Vernon's April 2024 notice describes its bylaw in the same words, and the Gibsons report said every BC attractant bylaw its staff reviewed required feeders to be inaccessible.

Nectar is named, so a hummingbird feeder counts. The ground counts too: a cable feeder over a carpet of hulls still fails. The SLRD fine is $200 for the feeder, $450 for feeding wildlife. No bylaw we read gives a height, because "inaccessible" is judged against the animal, and a black bear climbs. A no-mess blend and the tray methods in seed mess under feeders keep the ground clean.

Ontario towns: which birds count#

The Ontario bylaws we read set conditions on bird feeding, not seasons.

Windsor (By-law 67-2021, passed May 3, 2021) says "No person shall feed any bird other than a song bird," and defines a song bird as "any bird belonging to the oscine division in ornithology." Cardinals, chickadees, finches and jays are oscines. Woodpeckers, mourning doves and hummingbirds are not, so on the bylaw's wording a suet cake for a downy woodpecker feeds a bird other than a song bird. Song bird feeding also needs the property owner's permission, a feeder "sufficiently above grade" that wildlife cannot reach, no large pigeon flocks, spill removed "forthwith," and no interference with the neighbours.

Essa Township (By-law 2026-19, passed May 6, 2026) exempts "the feeding of song birds on private property" if the feeder is raised and spill is removed forthwith. It bans feeding gulls and pigeons. The set fine is $250.

Owen Sound (By-law 2008-169) is the loosest: it "shall not apply to bird feeders, using bird feed only, which must be inaccessible to wild animals." Bird feed only means no table scraps. If pigeons are the complaint, see is it illegal to feed pigeons.

A setup that passes everywhere on this page#

Outside a national park and outside Canmore's April to November window, this meets every rule above.

• Feed in winter; bring everything in while bears are awake. In BC the test is the bear, not the date. The foods worth the space are in winter bird feeding.
• Hang it out of reach. For raccoons and deer, a baffled pole works; see baffles and feeder height. For bears, no pole is enough.
• Keep the ground clean. Fallen seed is named in the SLRD, Vernon, Windsor and Essa rules.
• Seed only. Scraps draw the gulls and pigeons bylaws single out; see what not to feed birds.

None of the rules we read mentions a bird bath, and water draws birds all summer. The rest of the feeding year is in bird feeding in southern Canada.

Where this page stops applying#

• Other provinces. We read only British Columbia's wildlife statute.
• Other towns. We read nine municipal rules. Search your municipality's name with "wildlife attractant bylaw."
• Canmore, Banff and Vernon come from a town notice or a news report, not the bylaw text.
• Gibsons. We read the July 2021 text amended for second and third reading, not a record of adoption.
• Federal fines. We did not trace which penalty tier of the Canada National Parks Act applies to section 4(1)(f).
• Strata, condo and lease rules can ban feeders where no bylaw does; see neighbors and ordinances.

This is a reading of statutes, regulations and bylaws, not legal advice.