By Teena Monteleone

Bird research team seeks ‘citizen scientists’

Apr 17, 2017 | 12:00 PM

An ambitious multi-year project is looking for ‘citizen scientists’ to help track breeding bird populations across the province.

Harold Fischer with the Saskatchewan Breeding Bird Atlas said information collected will be an invaluable tool for wildlife conservation, education and research.

“The project consists of five years of birding…or going to virtually every part of the province and determining which birds are breeding there and whether they are common or scarce,” said Fisher. 

The data is then put together and the process is repeated every 20 years to track the bird population over time. Fisher said birds are good indicators of environmental change, including climate change.

“Disruption of landscape caused by forestry for example, can greatly affect bird life. So, it’s good for us to identify how we as a human species could be causing certain bird species to decline,” he said.

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Volunteers for the project will be needed the first week of May through to the first week of July, a period during which most birds breed. Fisher said volunteers don’t have to be experts in order to participate.

“We just ask that you are confident in the identification of the birds that you report,” he explained.

Fisher is hosting a free bird identification workshop on Tuesday, April 18 at 7:30 p.m. at Sask Polytech in room 249 of the Academic building.

teena.monteleone@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @TeenaMonteleone