The construction of the pipeline has been hindered for years by legal challenges and public protest.

The birds are currently nesting near Burnaby, British Columbia and now and order imposed by Canada”s environment and climage change ministry has meant work at the site must be stopped until the breeding season ends in August.

The project intends to widen a 1950s pipeline that runs 620 miles from Alberta to the west coast, trebling its flow rate to 890,000 barrels a day.

The Migratory Birds Act bans any activity that involves killing or capturing such birds or damaging, disturbing or destroying their nests, The Times reports.

Trans Mountain said work would continue in unrestricted areas and it would open on schedule in December 2022.