Find out more about the people and organizations managing this ambitious project.
Birdwatchers needed!
Are you keen on birds? or do you birdwatch regularly? Whether you are an experienced birdwatcher or a beginner, this is your chance to contribute to the most ambitious ornithological project ever undertaken in Québec: the second Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Québec.
If you are thinking about registering as an atlasser or if you would like to learn more about the project and the tasks that volunteer atlassers are requested to undertake, please consult the Frequently asked questions page.
If you are already registered as an atlasser, you will find all the instructions and details that you need to participate in the Guide for Atlassers. The guide covers topics ranging from the preparations that should be done prior to collecting data, through to data entry and submission. You will also find a wealth of information on this website, which is the gateway to the project.
If you would like to register as an atlasser, which is free of charge but obligatory, please click here.
We sincerely hope that by participating in this project you will gain a greater insight into the private lives of the birds you will be watching, and that the experience will be an enriching and memorable one.
Thank you in advance for your participation,
The Atlas Team
Project updates
01 May 2013. The regional coordinators and the Atlas Team meet at the end of March to finalise preparations for the 2013 field season. Those present were treated to a visit from Normand David, who gave a greatly appreciated talk about his life as a birdwatcher. Click here to see a few of the photos taken during the meeting. For your information, the Calendar of nesting chronology has been updated to take into account the data collected over the first three years of the project. This is a valuable tool to consult when planning your fieldtrips, or if you simply want to verify the likelihood of finding the eggs or chicks of a given species, at a given time of the year. Recently, five more scientists involved in ornithological research (Marc Bélisle, Joël Bêty, Gilles Gauthier, Jean-François Giroux and Jacques Ibarzabal) lent their support to the Québec Breeding Bird Atlas. You can read their words of encouragement on the In support of the project webpage. Finally, if you would like to learn more about some of the members of the Atlas Team working behind the scenes, the Project staff page has been updated to include new profiles and information. Have a great spring!
The Eastern Bluebird is a favourite of many birdwatchers in Québec. This is hardly surprising since this colourful species frequents open places where it can be easily observed (e.g., pastures, uncultivated fields, orchards, gardens, burns and cutovers), and it regularly uses nest boxes that have been specifically constructed for it. Although not shy, the sweet, musical song of the Eastern Bluebird is often heard long before the bird itself is located. Individuals use lookouts (e.g., an electric wire or a fencepost) from which to locate insects; they then drop to the ground to capture their prey, before rapidly returning to their chosen observation post. The Eastern Bluebird breeds early, and in southern Québec, young can be observed in the nest at the beginning of May. This species is a secondary cavity nester, which means that it does not excavate its own nest cavity. Instead, it uses an existing hole in either a tree (e.g., an abandoned woodpecker cavity) or fencepost, or a nest box. The results obtained so far during the current Atlas suggest that the status of this species is better than it was during the second half of the 1980s. In only three years, it has been recorded in 354 more survey squares than during the six years of fieldwork for the first Atlas (adapted from Gauthier and Aubry 1996).
TOP 10 CONTRIBUTORS
List of participants who contributed the most to data collection. For a complete list, click here.
Participant
Total
GET INVOLVED
The Québec Breeding Bird Atlas project is open to birdwatchers of all skill levels, and we strongly encourage you
to get involved. The aim of participants of the Atlas is to find breeding evidence for as many bird species as possible within each 100 km2 survey square.
