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We will not be running the

Bird Song - Point Count Course in 2012 - check back here in Spring 2013.

If you'd like to get involved, send us an email!

Where do we operate? Check out our study area.

We would like to make our site and information bilingual! If you can help with translating, let us know.

The Ottawa Breeding Bird Count

A Volunteer Based, Scientifically Rigorous Survey of Birds in an Expanding City

A message from the OBBC Coordinator - April 2012

The OBBC is evolving

The first 5 years of the OBBC have been a great success. We've learned a great deal about Ottawa's bird community. We have also learned a lot about how best to meet the OBBC's goals.

In the summer and fall of 2012, the OBBC coordinator (Adam Smith) will be presenting summaries of the first 5 years at numerous locations in and around Ottawa. Check back for dates and locations (to be posted soon).

 

For all of our fantastic volunteers. One of the things we (I) have learned over the first five years is that the current sampling strategy is spreading our efforts too thin. Essentially, the field program needs to be made more efficient (fewer locations, sampled more often). The data we've collected to date will be very useful in making sure that the continuity of the program is maintained, and that the program evolves to make better use of the effort we've all been making and still gives a representative sample of the city's bird community.

All this to say: take a break this year, you've earned it. If you'd really like to survey your plot or route again, by all means, there's certainly no harm. However I will not be assigning new plots or routes and will be putting all my energy into the program's evolution.

One part of that evolution will be establishing a formal Board of Directors. If you have any interest in being part of the board, let's talk (ottawabirds@sympatico.ca).

 

Let me be perfectly clear. The OBBC is not over. It will be back in 2013, and better than ever.

 

Sincerely,

Adam C. Smith

OBBC Coordinator

 

 

Nest-Monitoring Program:

 

Have you found a bird's nest? Tell us about it. Enter your nest observations online - it only takes 5 minutes. You can now register automatically online.

Census Plot Program:

 

The online database is filling up. We're working on a summary of the census plot program. Have a look at some of the results from the first season .

Point Count Program:

 

The spring 2009 issue of the Ottawa Field Naturalists Club newsletter (Trail and Landscape) contains a short summary and some preliminary maps for 2007 and 2008 are available here.

Enter your data here when you've finished your route. If you'd like to access the data you can dowload a text file here (.csv) that includes all of the observations in the point count database from 2007 - 2009. Warning! - the database has not been thoroughly checked for data entry errors and as such we give no guarantee on its accuracy.

NEW - for those with ArcGIS, here's a shapefile of the point count locations.

AND, here's a kmz file of the point count locations that can be imported into Google Earth (download the program Google Earth at earth.google.com)

 

 

 

Some of the results from the first few years

The recent article in Trail and Landscape summarized the point count program for 2007 and 2008. Contact the Ottawa Field Naturalists Club for copies of the Spring 2009 Issue.

 

If you missed the presentation at the Fletcher Wildlife Garden in May 2009, you can download the presentation slides here (Warning! this is a large pdf file ~20 Mb).

 

Read accounts and see photos from our fledgling season!

Listen to CBC radio interviews about the OBBC and about the Bird Song - Point Count Course

Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.
~Rachel Carson