Breeding Bird Atlas

What’s a Breeding Bird Atlas? 

It’s an enormous community science initiative that aims to survey all the province’s breeding birds to measure where each species is nesting and their overall abundance.  

You can support it too!  

Shop our greeting cards this holiday season—100% of proceeds support Ontario’s Breeding Bird Atlas. 

 

How it works  

Birds are ecological indicators. They are easier to survey than some other species, so we use the information we collect on them to help measure the health of other species in the area.  

For instance, a big decline in a bird’s population or breeding range means that the species is encountering a problem. That problem could include: 

• habitat fragmentation
• climate change
• loss of food sources
• decline in nesting habitat

Ontario Parks plays a special role in the Atlas because parks protect examples of healthy forest, grassland, dunes, and wetland habitats.  

In many cases, parks protect much of the last remaining habitat for species at risk. 

 

Looking for more ways to get involved? 

On top of shopping the Breeding Bird Atlas greeting cards, you can get involved in Ontario’s third Atlas by surveying birds between now and 2025.  

Find out more about the current Atlas.