Second edition of the “CWHC – Quebec Birding Festival”

On June 1st the CWHC – Quebec organised an early morning bird watching walk as part of the second edition of the “CWHC – Quebec Birding Festival”.

Some of the participants in the second edition of the 2019 CWHC – Quebec Birding Festival. Can you tell the species of the bird present in this picture?

We took advantage of the fact that the CWHC Annual general meeting was hosted by the Faculté de médecine vétérinaire in St. Hyacinthe to invite members of the other CWHC nodes to this activity. During this short excursion, done from 6:55 to 8:45 at the Réserve naturelle du Boisé-des-Douze, 82 birds from 32 different species were either observed or heard by participants.

 

List of the observed birds during the visit of the Réserve naturelle du Boisé-des-Douze (on June 1, 2019).

 

Species Count
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) 2
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 3
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) (Columba livia) 1
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) 2
Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica) 1
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) 1
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) 1
Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) 1
Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus) 1
Warbling Vireo (Vireo gilvus) 3
Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus) 2
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) 1
Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) 5
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) 3
White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) 2
House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) 2
Gray-cheeked Thrush (Catharus minimus) 1
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 4
Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) 3
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 2
Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) 10
American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) 5
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 2
Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula) 1
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) 4
Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) 5
Tennessee Warbler (Oreothlypis peregrina) 2
Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) 3
American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) 3
Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia) 4
Blackpoll Warbler (Setophaga striata) 1
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) 1

The Réserve naturelle du Boisé-des-Douze (http://boisedesdouze.org/) was created as a result of the site owner’s desire to develop this wooded area which is landlocked between farmland and an industrial sector in the town of St. Hyacinthe. The brook “Décharge des Douze”[1] that flows through this woodland is in fact one of the few in the region whose natural layout has not been altered. This reserve was created following the constitution of a non-profit organization that acquired the land owned by the Lussier family. Mrs. Beauregard-Lussier and her family decided to bequeath this woodlot in 2007 to promote its conservation. The woodlot obtained the status of “private nature reserve” in 2010. This territory of 3.8 hectares will be protected in perpetuity. The reserve has grown over the years thanks to the support of the city of St. Hyacinthe and some landowners. The establishment of this reserve is a model of involving citizens and a municipality in promoting the conservation of biodiversity in a region.

In addition to Provincial or National parks, initiatives of citizens, municipalities and the private sector can contribute to the protection of natural environments in areas heavily affected by human activities, such as the St. Lawrence Lowlands. One of the issues that should not be overlooked is the interconnectivity between these often isolated natural habitats in order to favor movements of wildlife through migration corridors and to minimize the effect of habitats fragmentation which is often a consequence of urban sprawl and commercial development.

The observations made during this “festival” were entered in the eBird database (https://ebird.org/about). This database, compiled by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, lists observations made by birdwatchers around the world. This database, which is a very good example of participatory citizen science, is used by many researchers to monitor the evolution of the abundance and geographical distribution of bird species in the wild. Since its launch in 2002, more than 29 million birding lists have been entered by more than 400,000 birders. Wildlife health researchers can use species abundance indices generated from eBird to help better understand variations in bird species mortalities or to explore potential links between the emergence of a new disease and the decrease in the abundance of an avian population.

Be there in the spring of 2020 for the third edition of the “CWHC – Quebec Birding Festival”!

 

Stéphane Lair

CWHC – Quebec

[1] This brook was name “décharge des Douze” (Outlet of the twelve) because it is located 12 arpents from the main road (road 137).

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