2025 Field Crew Summary
The final field season of Atlas-3 has finally come and gone, and this year’s Atlas staff crews did an outstanding job filling in coverage gaps in the remaining hard-to-access areas of the province. Three crews of four people spread out throughout Ontario, covering the North Bay, Sudbury, and Nipissing regions in the southern Shield, and almost all regions in the “roaded” portion of the north, including Rainy River, Kenora, Thunder Bay, Marathon, Algoma, Blind River, and Cochrane. All together, the staff completed an incredible 1,663 peak hours of coverage and 1,379 point counts.
Scroll down to read each crew’s story from the summer!
2025 Central Crew Summary - by Scott Da Rocha
Central Crew: Scott Da Rocha, Max Segler, Shannon Neville, Senia Theriault
The Atlas’ 2025 Central Crew had an absolute blast this summer and are extremely grateful for the opportunity to contribute to a meaningful conservation project like the Atlas. Like with all Atlas crews, Ontario Parks staff provided us with campsites throughout the province, in campgrounds near our survey sites. We stayed as far south as Ferris Provincial Park in Campbellford and as far north as Fushimi Lake Provincial Park in Hearst. Thanks to the incredible distance we travelled, we were able to atlas in 59 different squares spanning 12 regions!
The Central Crew was keen to complete as many squares as possible this summer, clocking in 553 peak hours, 1,558 checklists, and 18,699 records in the process! All these hours spent surveying allowed us to observe 185 different species, with the most notable being a Ruddy Duck and Eared Grebe in a sewage lagoon in Hearst, and an array of boreal species like Canada Jay, Boreal Chickadee, American Three-toed Woodpecker, Rusty Blackbird, and Connecticut Warbler. Birds weren’t the only animals we had the fortune to observe. Our memorable sightings also include moose, wolves, a fisher, a star-nosed mole, and many bears, including one notable male nicknamed “Satan” that became infamous among the northern provincial parks for terrorizing the campers and park staff at Fushimi Lake.
Considering this was the final field season of Atlas-3, many of the squares left to survey were those located in difficult to access areas, which meant we had to get creative with our access methods. Thanks to a very helpful management biologist at the MNR who water taxied us one morning, we were able to survey three different squares in the Elliot Lake area that were (mostly) only accessible by water. This day was a treat, as we got to observe a Peregrine Falcon in suitable nesting habitat on a stunning lakeside cliff. The Atlas’ Central Crew also got to collaborate with a mining company, BHP, to access another square in Elliot Lake that’s only road access was via their decommissioned mine site. We were pleased to find a decent diversity of bird species in this square as well as a large American Herring Gull colony.
The summer was full of breeding evidence, with the Central Crew confirming breeding for 50 different species. A few of these confirmed species sightings were quite notable, as we got good looks at some Great Horned Owl fledglings and observed Trumpeter Swan fledglings north of their usual breeding range. The crew also had their fair share of nests during the field season, observing 58 in total from species such as Cape May Warbler, Great Crested Flycatcher, and Least Flycatcher. The most frequently encountered nest was that of the White-throated Sparrow, with seven recorded nests.
We had so much fun this summer and appreciate that we had the opportunity to explore Ontario and its bird species. Although there were some days we missed our beds and wished the bugs were on holiday, there’s nothing that replaces the excitement of atlassing. Until next time – see you in Atlas-4!
2025 Northwest Crew Summary - by Ruby Schweighardt
Northwest Crew: Ruby Schweighardt, Dana Latour, Eric Boerboom, Rowan Keunen
Our crew went on a big road trip of Ontario this season, starting our atlassing in eastern Ontario, going as far north as Pickle Lake, heading west to Pakwash and Ojibway Provincial Park, then ending near Sudbury with many stops in between. Watching the habitats and species lists transition as we traveled was something the whole crew truly enjoyed.
Over the season, our crew observed 164 species! Many of our highlights were the boreal species that we had the opportunity to see in northern ON, including black-backed woodpecker, three-toed woodpecker, bonaparte’s gull, spruce grouse, Canada jay, and boreal owl. We also managed to spot some rarities along our travels, seeing a Western kingbird and a lark sparrow on a stop in Rossport during one of our driving days. Aside from many incredible bird sightings, we also saw many bears, moose, a lynx, American marten and many exciting new species of dragonflies, moths and plants!
Our crew found 75 nests and documented lots of exciting breeding evidence. Some highlights included black-backed woodpecker young, spruce grouse young, a Wilson’s snipe nest, winter wren young, and one of our crew members finding an American kestrel and northern flicker nesting in the same hydro pole! Our crews favourite spot along our travels was Pickle Lake, which was our most northern survey location and actually happened to be a last minute survey change. Despite facing wildfire smoke and a bear attack on our kitchen tent, we were camping along a beautiful lake where we watched common terns and common nighthawks foraging, and listened to boreal owls calling into the night. Another highlight for our crew was when we visited an old tailings pond around Red Lake after our survey day, and saw so many marsh birds and waterfowl and a colony of yellow-headed blackbirds!
We had such a blast atlassing across northwestern Ontario and feel so lucky to have seen the incredible landscapes and breeding birds that Ontario has to offer!
2025 South Crew Summary - by Megan Stickle
South Crew: Megan Stickle, Erik Van Den Kieboom, Baylana Hiebert, Jason Smyrlis
The south crew was tasked with targeting those remaining areas in the 100% coverage zone that were not yet completed. This took us from Arrowhead to Marten River Provincial Park, covering a lot of ground as we visited seven regions and surveyed 63 squares, all while taking in the stunning sights and diverse landscapes along the way. Throughout the field season, we submitted 1,333 checklists and 20,086 records, and completed 328 point counts, 43 marsh bird surveys, and 630 hours of Atlassing during the peak season. None of this would have been possible without our reliable field vehicles, which carried us everywhere from highways to remote, overgrown logging roads—though we did draw the line at crossing a few makeshift bridges left behind by adventurous ATVers.
Our crew had several exciting finds during our last Atlas field season, observing 168 species during the field season. We started strong with Erik and Baylana photographing a Prairie Warbler in Parry Sound, on their way to Killbear Provincial Park for our yearly training week. Jason also found several Eastern Yellow Palm Warblers, west of their typical range, seen in the same bog the year prior by Atlas crew members. He was later able to confirm a pair upon another visit. We also encountered a few exciting species during the breeding season such as Black-backed Woodpeckers, Canada Jays, Golden-winged Warblers, Upland Sandpipers, and a Blackpoll Warbler. In our free time, our team spent more time travelling to interesting habitats, where Erik and Baylana were able to observe a Great Grey Owl perched in a bog, a Greater Yellowlegs perched in a tree, and a Three-toed Woodpecker.
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- Crocus Geometer Moth on Marten River Provincial Park Comfort Station. Photo by Jason Smyrlis
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- Eastern Yellow Palm Warbler Found in Bog in Parry Sound .Photo by Jason Smyrlis
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- Hermit Thrush nest found tucked into a balsam fir seedling. Photo by Megan Stickle
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- Makeshift bridge made by ATVers across washed out culvert. Photo by Jason Smyrlis
We were able to confirm 81 species this season. We saw plenty of fledged young from species such as Black-backed Woodpecker, Common Goldeneye, Virginia Rail, Sandhill Crane, and Savanna Sparrow. We also encountered many nests as we wrapped up Atlas-3 fieldwork, totaling 143, with some of the most numerous nests per species being American Robin (14) and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (9; NY). Some exciting nests included a Brown Creeper (NY), Ruffed Grouse (NE), all five thrush nests (NY, NE, and NB), and a notable Black-and-white Warbler Nest sighting (AE), found by Erik, who managed to catch her entering an incredibly cryptic little gapped hole at the base of some maple saplings. We were able to confirm many species carrying food, including a secretive Lincoln’s Sparrow seen carrying food in Parry Sound District. One of the most memorable bits of breeding evidence collected was a Ruffed Grouse agitatedly chasing away one of our field vehicles as we drove by.
While birds were our primary focus, our crew encountered a variety of other wildlife from large mammals such as bear and moose, to tiny insects, with over 1500 recorded in iNaturalist by our team this season. We were especially enthused by the diversity of moths drawn to the comfort stations at the provincial parks by the glow of the lights, with approximately 218 moth species recorded on iNaturalist. We also took an interest in searching for snakes (Eastern Garter, Watersnake, Milksnake, Red-bellied, Ringneck, Smooth Green, and Massasauga) and encountered other interesting reptiles such as Five-lined Skinks and Blanding’s Turtles.
Our fieldwork was made possible by the four provincial parks that accommodated us free of charge throughout the season: Arrowhead, Fairbank, Grundy Lake, and Marten River. We also did some crown-land camping, which came with its fair share of ups and downs — from the nighttime calling of Barred and Great Horned Owls, booming nighthawks, and singing Whip-poor-wills, to dealing with a scorching heatwave, thunderstorms, and relentless swarms of black flies. Nevertheless, we had some amazing and unique experiences conducting fieldwork this season and are super grateful to have gotten to participate in the last year collecting data for the Atlas-3 project.
