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Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Ontario
After five years of intensive research and collaboration by Ontario’s leading bird conservation organizations and provincial and federal governments, the Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Ontario, 2001-2005 has been published and reveals some surprising changes in bird populations and ranges in recent decades.
Over 3,000 volunteers collected 1.2 million individual bird records, in a systematic grid stretching from the islands of Lake Erie to the shores of Hudson Bay. There was unprecedented coverage of remote areas of northern Ontario and the boreal forest. The comprehensive, 728-page atlas includes over 900 coloured maps and 400 photographs of Ontario’s 286 breeding bird species. This atlas expands on the first atlas project of 1981-1985, published in 1987, allowing the comparison between the two datasets to show changes in distribution and abundance of Ontario’s breeding birds. The trends from this research are compelling.
Additional highlights from the atlas:
- Tree planting, conifer plantations, and natural forest regeneration are helping to increase forest cover and provide needed habitat for forest birds in southern Ontario.
- Evident importance highlighted for the Niagara Escarpment, Oak Ridges Moraine and “The Land Between.”
- As a result of extensive data collection using new methods, maps of relative abundance were created for the first time for many species, showing which parts of the province are most important to each, and allowing for better conservation planning.
- Climate change results for southern Ontario are equivocal. Although the range edge of 15 species expanded northward in southern Ontario, consistent with climate change predictions, the range edge of 29 species expanded southward. The birds expanding to the south are mostly forest birds, likely taking advantage of increasing forest cover south of the Canadian Shield in southern Ontario.
Top 10 increasing species in the province as a whole:
Canada Goose
House Finch
Blue-headed Vireo
Turkey Vulture
Wild Turkey
Merlin
Eastern Bluebird
Pine Warbler
Bald Eagle
Sandhill Crane
Top 10 decreasing species in the province as a whole:
Common Nighthawk
Chimney Swift
Bank Swallow
Blue-winged Teal
Red-headed Woodpecker
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Brown-headed Cowbird
Spotted Sandpiper
Killdeer
The extensive coverage provided by the atlas allows the best provincial population estimates ever available for many species, though they are rough approximations. The ten most abundant species in Ontario are listed below. All but two of these species are concentrated primarily in the Boreal Forest and the Hudson Bay Lowlands of northern Ontario. The American Robin and Red-eyed Vireo are concentrated farther south.
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Species
Nashville Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Magnolia Warbler
White-throated Sparrow
Yellow-rumped Warbler
American Robin
Red-eyed Vireo
Swainson’s Thrush
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Population estimate
15,000,000
12,000,000
12,000,000
12,000,000
12,000,000
12,000,000
12,000,000
10,000,000
9,000,000
8,000,000
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More information about the Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Ontario is available at www.birdsontario.org. Copies of the book can be purchased by calling 416-444-8419 or 1-800-440-2366 ($92.50 plus GST; price includes shipping); for online sales follow the links from www.ontarionature.org/shop.
The Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Ontario is a collaborative project of Bird Studies Canada,
Environment Canada, Ontario Field Ornithologists, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and Ontario Nature.
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