Dear Atlasser,

This edition of the Atlas-3 newsletter will cover: ​

• Year 2 kick-off event
• New discussion board (Discord)
• Owl surveys
• Atlas clothing
• Stickers
• Atlassing in North-eastern Ontario
• Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) and the Atlas
• Early Season Atlassing – April targets
• Updates from Significant Species Committee

Tuning up for 2022

Spring is in the air, the birds are pouring back in and nesting behaviour is accelerating, for some species at least. It’s time to start gearing up for the coming season. Don’t forget to be studying Dendroica to tune up your ears for the building chorus and help you find those elusive birds. For tips on how to make the best use of Dendroica, check out this YouTube video.

2022 Atlassing Kick-off event – April 23 and 24

On the Earth Day Weekend, we are officially kicking off the atlassing season with webinars and (finally!) field events to help you get into atlassing mode and prepare you for the season ahead. Hoping you can join us.

The event will be somewhat similar to last year’s Launch weekend, but this time you get to meet fellow atlassers, do some first hand learning from experts, perhaps connect with an atlassing mentor or mentee, and contribute to the atlassing conversation face-to-face. 

In the afternoon of Saturday, April 23, there will be a series of webinars covering topics such as:

• Intro to atlassing (for those new to the project)
• Early season atlassing (Safe dates and Breeding evidence)
• Special surveys (Owls and Marsh birds)
• The new NatureCounts app, including how to pin significant records
• How to use Zoom H2n recorders

Although we will have a webinar session introducing the Atlas, if you’re new to atlassing, you might want to check out the many resources on the Atlas YouTube channel prior to the event.

On Sunday morning, April 24, some Regional Coordinators are organizing local events across the province. These will give you a chance to meet your fellow atlassers, get some first-hand training on various aspects of atlassing and help with your planning for the season ahead. Bring your questions. Check with your RC for details of these events and the challenges mentioned below.

We are putting out three inter-regional challenges – where we will compare results among regions to determine which region wins.  The first is to see which region can do the most standardized owl surveys during March and April (up to April 22) – there will be prizes for each survey type, so one for the Eastern Screech-Owl survey, one for the Barred Owl and Northern Saw-Whet Owls survey, etc.  The second challenge is to see which region can confirm breeding for the most species during the period April 16-24, 2022 (Hint: Used nests from 2021 can be very useful here). And the third challenge is to see which region can provide the most pictures of atlassers in the field. To enter this one, tag @ONBirdAtlas on Instagram or @ONBreedingBirdAtlas on Facebook in your post or story, and make sure to include hashtags of both #ONBirdAtlas2022 and #RegionNUMBER (e.g. #Region08 or #Region37) with the photo so we can tally the results per region!

For each challenge, we’ll be doing some calibrations (e.g. based on the size and population densities of regions) to make these as fair as possible.  We want to be sure all regions are able to compete equally in the challenge! 

On Sunday afternoon, we’ll have a short session looking at the results of the various challenges, and providing a chance to ask your questions arising from the morning’s activities. There will also be a dastardly quiz of the kind that only Sarah Rupert can devise. Keep an eye on your inbox – we’ll be sending out more information in the coming weeks!

Atlas-3 discussion board gets a makeover: an Atlas-3 Discord server

After limited uptake in year one, the Atlas has changed direction on the discussion board and replaced it with a space on Discord. A free online service, Discord lets people form their own “servers” as a place where their members can talk and share information. The main benefit of using Discord is that it has a dedicated mobile app so it’s easy to quickly open it up and ask a short question, even when you’re in the field. We hope this is a good tool for atlassers to ask questions, share stories, stay up to date on announcements, learn from and connect with each other.

We considered Discord before year one but wanted something where anyone could go and view the discussion on the Atlas-3 webpage without needing another login or app. Thanks to Kaelyn’s hard work, we now have that option with Discord.

If you want to just read the Discord discussion, then you can continue viewing it all on  the Atlas-3 website. The new discussion board is found under the “Get Involved” menu or by direct link at www.birdsontario.org/discussion

If you’d like to participate, then you’ll have to first create an account with Discord, then you can join the Atlas-3 server using this invite link: https://discord.gg/JCfgfr3egG

We have structured the discussion board with basically the same major subjects (or channels, as they are called in Discord) as we had on “the original” Atlas-3 discussion board, and done our best to copy the  discussion board content over to Discord.

For a tutorial on joining the discord server see: https://youtu.be/YPWgY0pXfSs

Standard owl surveys

March and April are key months for the standardized owl surveys, with 4 different surveys underway during that time period. We hope you’ll give an owl survey a try – you don’t have to be an expert birder to do these surveys and everyone knows how cool owls are! For additional incentive, we’re having a challenge, with results to be announced at the Kick-off event on April 23-24, to see which region can get the most owl surveys done (see above for details). 

View the protocols and watch a recent Sappy Hour on completing the owl surveys. Contact your RC prior to completing the survey to discuss survey location!

Atlassing with Mark and Emily – the Halfway Lake Square-bash

Spruce Grouse photo: Mark Peck

Mark Peck of the Royal Ontario Museum, renowned for his work on the Ontario Nest Records Scheme, and Emily Rondel of Environment and Climate Change Canada, who MC’s the Atlas Sappy Hour webinars, are leading a square-bash at Halfway Lake Provincial Park for the period June 10-15, 2022. Halfway Lake is a lovely area an hour north of Sudbury with great big glacial erratics and plenty of boreal habitat, including the potential for species such as the Connecticut Warbler, which reaches the southern edge of its breeding range in this area, and Spruce Grouse pictured above. The park has generously set aside 5 campsites for that period for atlassers to use free of charge. If you can join Mark and Emily for all or part of that period, please drop them a line at toronto[at]birdsontario.org, telling them what dates work for you, how many people are in your party and whether or not you can do point counts. Thanks to Ontario Parks for their support.

Response has been fantastic for the Grundy Lake Square-bash (also June 10-15) and it is now full – thanks to everyone for your enthusiasm. There is still room at the Mikisew Square-bash (June 17-22), where Ontario Parks is also providing free camping for atlassers for the event. Sudbury RC Darryl Edwards and Atlas Coordinator Mike Cadman will be leading the Grundy Lake event. Parry Sound RC Alex Mills, Manitoulin RC Anna Sheppard, and Atlas Assistant Coordinator Kaelyn Bumelis, will be leading the Mikisew event. Hoping you can join us for some enjoyable atlassing, and filling in some key gaps in Atlas coverage. Please e-mail atlas[at]birdsontario.org

Atlas Swag ​You can now purchase almost anything (T-shirts, caps, mugs, tote bags, etc.) with an Atlas logo on it. To view the merchandise and make your purchases, click here. Looking forward to seeing you stylishly sporting your Atlas gear!

Atlas stickers Is your windshield in need of some beautification? Is your travel mug or laptop looking too plain? Well, you can help spruce up these items, identify yourself as an atlasser, and provide some low-key promotion for the Atlas by using Atlas stickers in prominent places such as these. The clear plastic stickers with the Atlas logo, see example to the right, are being printed out and distributed to Regional Coordinators in time for the 2022 Kick-off event on April 23-24. Another great reason to make sure you attend in person.

Atlassing in northeastern Ontario

Ken Burrell

The bugs are what I refer to as “boreal bad”, but the birds are what really takes the cake. Every year since 2013 my Dad, Jim, and I have spent our Canada Day long weekend running our three annual Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) routes: Lower Tweed Lake, Pearce Lake, and Hilliardton.

Ken and Jim Burrell making dinner and setting up camp in 2014 before a morning of the Kabika Lake BBS route east of Cochrane. Photo: Mike Burrell.

In 2021 we were able to join forces, so to speak, and not only did we complete our three BBS routes (which will be included in Atlas-3’s data), but we also atlassed along the way. We’ve carefully planned our effort over the five years that Atlas-3 will be running, and are planning to take on three squares, with the goal of providing 20 hours of coverage and completing 25 point counts in each square over the duration of Atlas-3. In 2021, in addition to these three squares we also provided some coverage to over 40 atlas squares over our Canada Day long weekend.

Our Canada Day long weekend trip starts with us driving north from Kitchener-Waterloo, past Cochrane to Hwy 652 – the road servicing the Detour Lake gold mine – where we camp at our favourite spot on crown land. Usually we’re pretty tired after the long drive, but we try to fit in some time driving the logging roads that criss-cross the landscape at dusk and hope that we’ll luck into a Solitary Sandpiper or American Three-toed Woodpecker or two, along with the ubiquitous Common Nighthawks that are usually barrelling overhead. Our first morning starts at the crack of dawn (around 4:30), dashing to the car from our tent (because of the bugs!), where we scarf down some breakfast before starting our first BBS route – Lower Tweed Lake. Running this route gives us a great overview of the true boreal species of northeastern Ontario: Fox Sparrow, Orange-crowned and Wilson’s Warblers, Bonaparte’s Gulls, and Boreal Chickadee to name a few, along with the ever incessantly calling Greater Yellowlegs not far away! In 2021 we were lucky enough to come across both Long-eared and Northern Hawk Owls while running our route, but not every year is so lucky.

Once we finish our route in the morning, we take down our camp, before making the 2.5 hour drive to Kapuskasing, where a welcomed hot shower is awaiting us. The next morning we are up well before dawn, where we drive 35 km north of town to start our second BBS route – Pearce Lake. This route is quite interesting, starting with aspen and mixed forest, before transitioning into some old growth Black Spruce bogs, where Connecticut Warblers and Great Gray Owls beckon us to the next point count! Species like Spruce Grouse, Tennessee Warbler, and Olive-sided Flycatchers are usually seen over the course of the morning, while more unusual species that we’ve lucked into include Pine Grosbeak and Sharp-tailed Grouse. After finishing up our Pearce Lake BBS route, we travel north to a series of Ontario Power Generating hydro-electric dams, where we take logging roads to the east and drive into Fraserdale, before making our way south to New Liskeard, close to 4 hours away.

Our last full day “up north” has us running the Hilliardton BBS route, which basically covers from Englehart south to Hilliardton Marsh. This route is quite a bit different from our previous two BBS routes, and species like Bobolink, Savannah Sparrow, and Tree Swallow dot the landscape, while closer to Hilliardton Marsh species like Wilson’s Snipe and Black Tern are typically encountered. Finishing up this route has us on the road for Kitchener-Waterloo by late morning, and arriving home by dinner time, if we’re lucky.

All in all, our Canada Day long weekend trip is something both my Dad and I look forward to every year (despite the bugs!), and contributing our data to both the BBS and Atlas-3 makes it that much more enjoyable! Like last year, we’re eagerly looking forward to this coming Canada Day long weekend where we hope to continue carefully plugging away at our three atlas squares.

There are lots of opportunities for interested volunteers to help fill Atlas-3’s data and effort gaps, particularly in northern Ontario. Reach out to our expert Regional Coordinators or watch for upcoming information about northern Ontario square bashing events, including the Block Party in block 17UNR, which incorporates part of our Lower Tweed Lake BBS route mentioned above. 

Breeding Bird Survey and the Atlas

Natasha Barlow

The North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) and Atlas-3 are two complementary programs dedicated to collecting data on the distribution and abundance of breeding birds. As Ken notes in his experience collecting Atlas data and running BBS routes in northern Ontario, pairing a BBS route with Atlassing can double your impact in providing valuable data on Ontario’s breeding birds. 

One day a year, during the peak of the breeding season and for as many years as possible, skilled BBS observers run their assigned roadside route(s). Routes consist of 50 stops spaced 0.8 km apart along a 39.4-km route. Participants record the total number of individual bird species heard from any distance or seen within 0.4 km of each stop during a three-minute observation (i.e. point counts). In Canada, the acceptable dates for running routes are between 28 May and 7 July. These data are carefully analyzed on a yearly basis to provide information on bird population trends, relative abundance and species composition and richness at the local, regional and continental scale. BBS data are freely available, and are used by scientists, wildlife managers, educators, and students, as well as by the general public, and will be added to the Atlas database.

If you’re already Atlassing in Ontario, especially in the central and northern parts of the province, and are interested in adopting a BBS route to increase your impact, please reach out to Natasha Barlow (nbarlow[at]birdscanada.org) by mid-April to see how you can get involved, and/or visit the BBS website to view vacant routes near you. 

The Atlas will provide an unprecedented understanding of the status, distribution and abundance of Ontario’s birds, and together with the BBS, we can simultaneously collect data to help protect and conserve Canada’s birds for years to come. 

Early Season Atlassing – April targets

As we inch toward the peak breeding season more and more species are arriving back and beginning their own unique breeding season. While April is still early, many species have already begun their breeding season.

Reminders for early season atlassing

Don’t forget to refer to the breeding charts at www.birdsontario.org/safe-dates whenever you’re atlassing outside of peak atlassing season (May 24 to July 10). Exercise caution when using “lower” breeding codes during this time, especially outside of a species’ safe dates (when migrants/non-breeders may display similar behaviours).

April targets

Stick nesters: Before the trees leaf out is a good time to watch for stick nesters. Bald Eagle, Osprey, Red-tailed Hawk, Great Horned Owl, Great Blue Heron, and American Crow are prime targets. This is likely the last chance to confirm Common Ravens as they finish nesting early.

Accipiters: In addition to looking for their stick nests, all three species should be regularly doing their display flights over their territories, especially early in the morning. Watch for males to flap with slow, steady, and deep wingbeats with undertail coverts flared. This flight is much different than the typical direct flight these birds are known for. 

Owls: We are into safe dates for most owl species now so most observations can be atlassed. We are also into the period for standard surveys for Eastern Screech, Barred, Great Gray, Northern Saw-whet, Boreal, and Northern Hawk Owls. 

Other early season nesters: Many other species are beginning to establish territories. Until we are in the safe dates, remember to wait until you can apply a higher level breeding evidence code (e.g. wait for them to be maintaining a territory for at least a week). These include many resident and short-distance migrants common in backyards and urban areas such as various woodpeckers, Ruffed Grouse, American Woodcock, White-breasted Nuthatch. Many of these species will become more difficult to detect later in the year. Don’t forget that the drumming of woodpeckers and Ruffed Grouse and the display flight of American Woodcock counts as “singing” (S).

Updates from Significant Species Committee

Of the ~650,000 records submitted during year one to the Atlas, approximately 3% were flagged as Significant Species. All of those flagged records get reviewed first by Regional Coordinators and then a secondary review by the significant species committee.

In general, we encourage atlassers to focus on increasing the quality of details provided (and especially on pinning locations) for significant species records.

Don’t forget that depending on the flag, we’re looking for different information:

Symbol	Name	Explanation	Details requested
[rare]	eBird flag	If a species is rare for the date and location according to the eBird filter, you will be required to add details.	Details about how you identified the species.
†	Provincially rare	Provincially rare breeding species. Will be flagged if you enter breeding evidence.	How did you identify the species? Explanation of breeding evidence. “Pin” the exact location(s).
‡	Regionally rare	Regionally rare breeding species. Will be flagged if you enter breeding evidence.	How did you identify the species? Explanation of breeding evidence. “Pin” the exact location(s).
§	Species of interest	Species of interest. Widespread species at risk or colonial species. Will be flagged if you enter confirmed-level breeding evidence.	“Pin” the exact location(s) and for colonial species, details about the size and status of the colony.

Happy Atlassing!

– The Atlas-3 Team

Dear Atlasser,

This edition of the Atlas-3 newsletter will cover: ​

• Free access and camping in Provincial Parks
• Block Parties and Square Bashes 
• Owl Surveying (which begins for some species March 1)
• Sappy Hour – Owling and early season atlassing
• Summer job opportunities with the Atlas
• Year-1 highlights submitted by Atlassers

Free Access and Camping for Atlassers

We encourage you to go atlassing in Provincial Parks. Parks can be home to species uncommon in the rest of the landscape, and data provided from parks will contribute not only to the Atlas but to an understanding of how well Parks protect our birds. Parks may also have trail systems well suited to doing off-road point counts and atlassing.

Thanks to Ontario Parks, atlassers may be able to access and/or camp free of charge while collecting atlas data in many provincial parks. It must be noted, however, that complimentary access and/or camping at operating parks is at the discretion of the Park Superintendent. Complimentary access, camping, campsite availability and quality are not guaranteed.

 If you are interested in camping, it is best to act asap. The parks book campsites 5 months ahead, so will soon be filling up for atlassing season, and you are most likely to be successful if you can get your arrangements in place before the campsites are full. Please note that Algonquin and Killarney Provincial Parks are being handled separately, see details below.

Please do not contact the park about this yourself. You should contact the Atlas Regional Coordinator for the region containing the Park and let them know which park you are interested in and provide dates that you would like to be camping and atlassing. Eligible dates for free camping are in the period May 24 through July 10. Usually no more than 5 days of free camping will be provided. You should also indicate which square(s) in and around the park you would like to cover and whether or not you will be doing point counts, either in-person or digital* using Zoom H2n units – priority will go to atlassers doing point counts. The RC will check with the park and let you know if and when free camping can be provided.

If you want to go atlassing in a Provincial Park, but do not require camping, you may be eligible for free access for atlassing purposes, but don’t need to act as early. Let the RC know at least 2 weeks ahead of your first planned visit, and the RC will approach the park on your behalf to request free entrance to the park for atlassing purposes. If permission is granted, you will be provided with a letter that you can present at the park gate. The eligible period for complimentary access for atlassing is January 1 through July 29.

For Algonquin and Killarney Provincial Parks

We’re keen to recruit experienced campers to do atlassing in backcountry squares in these parks that so far have few hours logged during the core period (i.e., <10 hours). If you have a backcountry trip in mind where you can complete at least 20 hours of atlassing in squares that still need hours or you can complete at least 25 in-person or digital point counts* in squares that still need them, then we would very much like to hear from you.

If your proposed canoeing or backpacking atlas trip is approved by the Regional Coordinators and Park staff, then your backcountry camping permits will be provided free of charge. Please submit a proposed trip plan for review and potential approval using the application form on the Atlas web site at: https://www.birdsontario.org/camping-application. Please be prepared to provide the number of hours and the number of in-person or digital point counts*, if any, you expect to complete in each square you plan to visit during the core period.

 *Digital point counts are suited to birders who don’t know birds well by song. They involve standing at a prescribed location and using a Zoom H2n recording device supplied by the atlas to record birds for 5 minutes. Recordings are later downloaded to the computer and “interpreted” by expert birders. A video explaining how to use the recorders can be found on the Atlas YouTube channel.

It is important that these privileges only be used for the stated purpose of collecting Atlas data. Abuse of the system could result in removing this privilege for all atlassers.

“Block Party” in the near North

Much atlassing remains to be done in the road-accessible parts of the north, from Temagami to the Manitoba border. We encourage everyone to consider helping out in this region – COVID-permitting, of course – and enjoy the different suite of birds that make this area home. Although work anywhere in the area is of great value, the Coverage Map on the Atlas-3 website shows our priority squares. Please check with the appropriate Regional Coordinator (RC) listed on the website if you plan on doing any atlassing in this area.

One new Atlas activity, open to all, will take place at the northeastern limit of the province’s road system. Angie Williams is organizing a special event — our first-ever “Block Party” — to help cover the priority squares along Highway 652 in Block 17UNR, northeast of Cochrane. Angie will organize a base camp in mid-to-late June for any other birders who want to come up and join her and her husband, Ken Williams.

Angie and Ken can also help with equipment for camping or getting around the area if that kind of support is needed. It’s an exciting opportunity to experience the boreal forest up-close and see and hear some very cool northern species in their breeding habitat. Among possibilities are Black-backed Woodpecker, Fox Sparrow and Northern Hawk Owl. For more information, contact Angie by email ([email protected])

Square bashes

We are delighted to announce our first “Square Bashes” for Atlas-3 (COVID safety precautions and restrictions permitting). Both are planned for beautiful provincial parks on the Canadian Shield in June. Both parks are rich with warblers, thrushes and other central Ontario species. At each location, five campsites (maximum six people per site) have been set aside for atlassers, with no camping charge. At least some sites will offer electrical hookups.

The first event will be at Grundy Provincial Park, north of Parry Sound, from Friday, June 10, to Wednesday, June 15. The second is at Mikisew Provincial Park, near South River, from Friday, June 17, to Wednesday, June 22. You could come for the entire five days in each case or just part of that time. Our goal is to provide adequate coverage for as many squares as possible in and around each park.

If you are interested in participating in these events, email Kaelyn Bumelis ([email protected]), telling her which location and dates work for you, how many people are in your party, and whether or not you can do traditional point counts. Please do not contact the parks as we are making the arrangements through the Atlas-3 office.

Standard Owl Survey season begins March 1

Standardized Owl surveys are a great way for us to learn about the distribution and abundance of owls and how they’ve changed since previous atlases. They are also a lot of fun and well suited to both experienced and inexperienced birders. There’s something about the sound of an owl calling from the darkness, or a Northern Hawk Owl perched atop a spindly spruce.

Here is the what, when and where:

Sappy Hour 7pm February 23

The next Sappy Hour is devoted to the standard surveys of the Eastern Screech-Owl and Northern Hawk Owl and to early season atlassing. Migrant birds are trickling back into the province and some residents are starting their breeding behaviours. We’ll discuss what breeding evidence you should be recording over the next month. 

 

The event will take place on Zoom webinar (register using the link – here) and will also be streamed to Facebook Live (www.facebook.com/ONBreedingBirdAtlas/live). The event will be recorded for those who cannot attend either on Facebook or Zoom and will be available on our YouTube channel.

Summer job opportunities with the Atlas

The Atlas is hiring experienced field staff to conduct bird surveys in Central and Northern Ontario beginning in May 2022. For more information click here.

Atlassing highlights

My winter days were spent snowshoeing my Larose Forest Atlas Square (Region 24) in blissful solitude surrounded by both species of crossbills, and other finches, in good numbers.  I was even able to document courtship for Red Crossbills! Unfortunately, I had to move from the province in the fall, but I will never forget my time with those birds. In a fitting farewell, the last bird I Atlassed before I left was a single Red Crossbill flyover, heading in the direction of that same forest tract. I’ll miss Atlassing, and that forest, dearly! Thank you for the memories. – Bree Tucker

My most memorable Atlas moment was not a single point in time.  It was all those moments while out on small waterways in a small rowboat.  Pied-billed Grebes, while often heard, seeing them is difficult at the best of times.  And while numerous, Red-winged Blackbirds generally keep their young well hidden until they have lost their down and fledged. So seeing these up close and personal made for a very special summer. – Janet McCullough

Until next time!

– The Atlas-3 Team

Dear Atlasser,

In 2022 and beyond, if COVID protocols and restrictions permit it, we will be focusing a lot of effort on getting atlassers back into northern Ontario, especially into remote areas. Given the lack of data collection in the remote north in 2021, we have some catching up to do.

One of our main priorities is to repeat atlas work done in Atlas-2, from 2001-05, covering the same squares and even a lot of the same point counts. This will primarily involve teams of four people canoeing northern rivers, especially those that pass through the Hudson Bay Lowlands. We are working to subsidize the cost of these trips.

The table below and the map provided here both show nine of the trips we are hoping to run in 2022 and beyond. A more comprehensive list will be available on the Atlas-3 website later this fall. All of the 100-kilometre blocks in northern Ontario must be adequately covered by the end of 2025.

For the nine trips listed here, at least two people in each team of four need to be expert birders capable of doing point counts in remote northern Ontario. And all four need to be experienced campers and canoeists able to work safely in remote wilderness conditions. The trips vary in length from 10 to 17 days on the river, plus time getting to and from the north. Trips will run between mid-June and early July to be at the peak of breeding bird activity.

If you are interested in participating in any of these trips for Atlas-3 — or you have other remote atlassing trips in mind — please visit our website and complete a remote northern atlassing application form providing information about yourself and a trip you would like to do. We will get back in touch with you with the goal of getting as many trips as possible going for 2022 and beyond. We will soon be posting a Northern Atlassing Manual to give you a more complete idea of what northern atlassing entails.

These trips provide a rare opportunity to experience and contribute to the conservation of Ontario’s amazing wilderness. We hope that folks with the right skills will join us for an extraordinary experience and make a valuable contribution to the Atlas project.

Remote Northern Canoe trips

Nine suggested trips are shown on the map and in the table below. If you are interested, please fill out an application form on the website asap.

Sappy Hour, November 23, 2021: Atlassing in the remote north

Mark your calendar now. To help get you in the mood for northern adventure, we are devoting the November 23 Sappy Hour to Atlassing in the remote north.  Special guest Michael Runtz will provide a 20 minute presentation about his atlassing trip down the Muketei River in the Hudson Bay Lowlands during Atlas-2; Mike Cadman, Mike Burrell and Adam Timpf will provide general information and answer questions about our plans for northern atlassing; Emily Rondel will keep us all in line; and  Kaelyn will keep the broadcast running smoothly.

The event will take place on Zoom webinar (register using the link – here) and will also be streamed to Facebook Live (www.facebook.com/ONBreedingBirdAtlas/live). The event will be recorded for those who cannot attend either on Facebook or Zoom and will be available on our YouTube channel.

Square-bashing coming soon!

We are delighted to announce that plans are underway for our first “square-bash” events for Atlas-3 (Covid safety precautions/restrictions permitting). Square-bashes are fun and productive activities focused on filling gaps in atlas coverage. Both are planned for beautiful provincial parks on the Canadian Shield in June of 2022, in areas rich with warblers, thrushes and other “central” Ontario species. At each location, five campsites (maximum 6 people per site) have been set aside for atlassers with no charge for camping. At least some of the sites will be electrical.

The first is to be at Grundy Provincial Park, north of Parry Sound, from Friday, June 10^th to Wednesday, June 15^th, 2022. The second is at Mikisew Provincial Park, near South River, from Friday, June 17^th to Wednesday, June 22^nd, 2022. You could come for the whole 5 days or just part of that time. Our goal is to provide adequate coverage for as many squares as possible in and around each park.

If you are interested in taking in either of these events, please email Kaelyn at atlas@birdsontario.org, telling us which location, what dates work for you, how many people are in your party and whether or not you can do point counts. Please do not contact the parks about these square-bash events as all arrangements are being made through the atlas office.

Hoping you can join us! Thanks to Ontario Parks for making these opportunities available.

Backcountry atlassers wanted in Algonquin

Completing >20 hours of atlassing and >25 point counts during the core period (24 May to 5 July) for the many squares in the interior of Algonquin Provincial Park is very challenging. But for experienced atlassers who are avid canoe campers or backpackers, this area offers beautiful landscapes and excellent birding.

We’re keen to recruit experienced campers to do atlassing in backcountry squares in Algonquin Park that so far have few hours logged during the core period (i.e., <10 hours). If you have a backcountry trip in mind where you can complete at least 20 hours of atlassing in squares that still need hours or you can complete at least 25 in-person or digital point counts in squares that still need them, then we would very much like to hear from you.

If your proposed canoeing or backpacking atlas trip is approved by the Region 27 coordinators and Algonquin Park staff, then your backcountry camping permits will be provided free of charge. To submit a proposed trip plan for review and potential approval, please complete the application form. Please be prepared to provide the number of hours and the number of in-person or digital point counts, if any, you expect to complete in each square you plan to visit during the core period.

Owling in November

If you check the Safe Date charts, you will notice that it is safe to report breeding evidence for Eastern Screech-Owl in November and December, and for Great Horned Owl in December in southern Ontario. Both species are quite vocal at this time of year as they advertise their territories and seek mates. Although November is in the shoulder season for Great Horned Owls (when some are starting breeding behaviours and some are still dispersing), calling birds can be counted as “S” for singing and “T” for Territory. So, to clarify, calling Screech-Owls and Great Horned Owls in November and December can be counted as breeding evidence for the Atlas. Great Horned Owls in November that are not calling should not be given breeding evidence.

Atlasser chip notes

Atlassing Adventures in Wabakimi Summer 2021, by Mhairi McFarlane

Having taken up canoeing on, appropriately, Canada Day in just 2020, the next obvious step was to embark on an 18-day, 300-km wilderness trip in 2021. Although this sounds crazy, we’ve been privileged to have done plenty of wilderness hiking in various parts of the world, and had done two white water canoe training courses and a river rescue course, so we were more prepared than it sounds. It seemed obvious that this was a great opportunity to contribute to Atlas-3. With lots of unknowns around COVID-19 restrictions, there were unlikely to be any organized trips to the north in 2021. We gritted our teeth about feeding the bugs and arranged our dates to coincide with breeding bird season. Two days of driving later, we arrived at Armstrong and were dropped off by an outfitter at the roadside at the south end of Caribou Lake, on June 21, 2021. This was the start of a 300 km adventure that would take us across Wabakimi Provincial Park, down the Misehkow River and along the Albany River to Miminiska Lake, where our outfitter would pick us up in a float plane on July 8^th. We borrowed two Acoustic Recording Units (ARU) and a handheld recording device and I received a great training session from Rich Russell, a wildlife biologist at the Canadian Wildlife Service, over zoom before we left.

All packed up and ready to go: our put-in at the start of our 300 km, 18 day adventure. Caribou Lake Road, June 21, 2021 ©Mhairi McFarlane

I downloaded the Atlas squares we would paddle through to the Gaia GPS app, and attempted to collect data in as many as possible. We had some pretty tough conditions, including headwinds for the first week, which lost us some time, then some rather epic portage clearing, so we had a lot less time and energy to collect data than I’d hoped. It turns out that rolling into camp between 6 and 9 pm is not conducive to early morning starts, so I only managed 2 in-person point counts! We managed to get either one or both of the ARUs out on 13 nights, for a total of 19 recording sessions. Combined with around 135 daytime eBird checklists which I ported over to the atlas, it was pleasing to be able to add some data for quite a few pretty remote squares.

These figures show the general location of our canoe route, north of Lake Nipigon, and a more detailed view of the squares we passed through along the way.

Some species which dominated the soundscape throughout include Northern Waterthrush and White-throated Sparrows, while Tennessee Warblers split our ears along the shrubby banks of the Misehkow in particular. It was a new experience for me to be dive-bombed by Greater Yellowlegs – despite our best efforts to avoid disturbing the many pairs we encountered. The Misehkow area also proved to be quite the Common Goldeneye factory, with the occasional Mallard and American Black Duck too. We came across one probable and one confirmed breeding Trumpeter Swan. One highlight was a flock of 14 American White Pelicans on our very last morning on Miminiska Lake! We came across quite a few sets of Boreal Chickadees, and had several fun encounters with Canada Jays with young of the year in tow.

I always get a kick out of seeing shorebirds up trees! This was one of many very territorial Greater Yellowlegs we came across on the Albany River July 6, 2021 ©Mhairi McFarlane

We enjoyed some great non-bird experiences too of course: we almost lost count of how many American Black Bears and Moose we saw, but we were particularly excited to see Woodland Caribou on two occasions. Both were very distant groups of swimming adults with calves in tow.

In terms of gear, some items we were very grateful to have: “Eureka no-bug zone” bug shelter. Although the biting insects weren’t as bad as they can be, they certainly had their moments and this bug tarp provided some much needed relief during mealtimes. Although we relied on paper maps for navigation, having Gaia GPS app on our phones was very helpful for small-scale route finding, and making sure where the Atlas squares were. We also used our phones for eBird, iNaturalist, and photos, so we appreciated having a couple of battery packs and a “Big Blue” solar charger. Our canoe is an H2O Voyageur 17’, made of innegra-kevlar-epoxy (approximately 25 kg, 55 lbs). Despite low water levels and many associated knocks and scrapes, it performed extremely well on flatwater and rapids alike. It now has many, many battle scars, but no repairs required!

We did not see any other humans at all between day 2 and day 16, so it was a true wilderness experience. Despite the occasional hardships of this trip, I can’t wait to embark on another northern river adventure in 2022, building on what I learned this year and hopefully contributing more data from another part of Ontario’s stunning boreal landscape. You can read more technical details about our trip on the Friends of Wabakimi trip forum page here: https://www.wabakimi.org/trip-report-forum.html  (look for “Little Caribou to Miminiska, June/July 2021”).

If you have an interesting discovery or fun story to share from your atlassing that you’d like to share, please send it to atlas@birdsontario.org

Until next time,

– The Atlas-3 Team

Dear Atlasser,

We hope your summer has gone well and some normalcy is returning despite the continuing concerns around COVID-19. It’s been a very odd start to Atlas-3 with all the travel restrictions and absence of a social component to the project, which is usually so important. Despite this, you atlassers came through like the Canadian Women’s soccer team at the recent Olympic Games, as summarized in the table below.

Data submission deadline is August 31

The main goal for now is to make sure that you get your 2021 atlas data in by the end of August. Having the data in will be very useful so we can see exactly how things went in 2021 and so we can plan effectively for 2022 and beyond. After 2021, it’s all about filling gaps in coverage, so being able to identify and home in on those gaps is crucial.

If you need help with data entry, please contact your Regional Coordinator or Kaelyn at the Atlas “office” at atlas@birdsontario.org. You might also want to attend the August 26^th Sappy Hour which is devoted to atlas data entry.

Long-eared Owl survey data submission

We’re having some challenges getting the LEOW Survey data entry operational. Please hang on to the data for now and we’ll get word out once it’s working. As a result, you don’t have to worry about meeting the August 31 deadline for these data. Our apologies for any inconvenience this has caused.

Your efforts to date

We’re off to a great start and are very close to Atlas-2 levels of participation (see Table 1) – we may well exceed them once all the data are in. With a global pandemic underway, that’s a great credit to you and the Ontario birding community generally. Well done, folks!

Table 1. Comparison of effort in year 1 of Atlas-2 and -3. Note that the data shown for Atlas-3 are partial and yet to be reviewed.

Atlassers: This is the number of people who have submitted data which will probably increase as everyone gets their data in. You can help us to increase participation in 2022 by getting your birding friends to jump on-board. (A greater number of people have registered, but not entered data.)

Species: it’s not surprising that the species count is lower so far in Atlas-3. We had very little effort in the Hudson Bay Lowlands in 2021 due to COVID. Some Far North work was done but the data are yet to be entered. We are looking forward to filling out that list as we expand our coverage throughout the Lowlands in 2022 and beyond.

Squares: Amazingly, even with COVID-related travel restrictions, we got data for almost as many squares as in Atlas-2.

Records: The big jump here is because of the switch to a checklist approach. As you can see, it provides considerably more data, which will be very useful for understanding our breeding bird populations.

Point Counts: An excellent start and well ahead of Atlas-2 when point counts were novel and it took a year for the new concept to catch on. In Atlas-3, point counters were out of the blocks like Andre De Grasse! It’s quite feasible that there are a lot more point count data yet to be submitted – so if you don’t have yours in yet, please get them in ASAP. (This total also doesn’t include the recorded point counts, which won’t be added until the recordings are interpreted).

Hours: Wow!! We are already well ahead of Atlas-2, which is fantastic, especially given the pandemic. Three possible reasons: 1. You are wonderful!, 2. Checklisting encourages you to submit data from short atlassing outings, and 3. the app (and eBird) make it easy to do so. Now that the app is working well, we’re hoping for even more hours of atlassing in 2022!

Some kudos

A big shout out to Dianna Wolfe, whose record of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird nest in Parry Sound made her the 1,000^th atlasser to contribute data.

So far, 8,244 traditional Point Counts have been entered into the system. Seventeen people have done over 100 point counts each, with Krista Oswald (Gold medal), Bob Saunders (Silver) and Kurt Hennige (Bronze) topping the list with 224, 213 and 205 each respectively. Special thanks to them for an amazing effort.

So far this year, there have been 7 Monthly Challenge winners: Lyle Friesen, Luke Raso, Patricia Wray, Theresa McKenzie, Remy Poulin, Toby Rowland, and Luc Fazio. Congratulations to you all, and keep up the great work!

Thanks to everyone who submitted data so far to the atlas. You helped get the project off to a great start. If you still have data from 2021, please make sure you enter it by the end of August!

Quiz: What species is this?

Here is a screen grab from the Atlas web site species maps of one of the following species, based on 2021 data. Can you guess which? Answer is at the bottom of the newsletter.

• Green-winged Teal
• Red-eyed Vireo
• Yellow-throated Vireo
• Gray Catbird
• Magnolia Warbler

That’s all for now, folks!

– The Atlas-3 Team