Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas

I know I will be referring to the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas (OBBA) many times in forthcoming posts. So, here’s a quick backgrounder: OBBA is a project to map the distribution of all birds that breed in Ontario. It is the third such exercise following our atlas work of 1981-85 and 2001-2005.  Five years of data gathering starts now.

It is work to be done largely by amateurs, birders willing to methodically observe and collect indicators of breeding. Our observations and discoveries in the field will provide evidence in one of four categories of increasing value: Observed, Possible, Probable, and Confirmed.  A male singing his territorial heart out is considered as ‘Probable’, while a nest with eggs or young is considered to be ‘Confirmed’, there are many more fragmentary pieces of evidence within each category.

I have been assigned an interesting square to scour for evidence of breeding over the next 5 years. It measures 10Km. X 10Km. and includes farmland, woodland, suburban tracts, old city, industrial lands and our large harbour, very varied and none of it far from home, it will be interesting. It is an opportunity to explore places that I know about but but scarcely know at all. As and when I find birds of the day, I’ll let you know.