By Alexandre Terrigeol
Early November, the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network (CMMN) held a meeting at Birds Canada’s headquarters, near Long Point, Ontario. The goal? To bring together more than 30 Canadian observatories to review progress on various research projects, several of which began more than 30 years ago. It was also an opportunity to discuss the challenges encountered and the adaptations implemented to maintain these essential monitoring efforts.
A network of Observatories
Founded in 1998, the CMMN is a large collaborative network made up of more than 30 bird observatories and research stations across Canada, including the Tadoussac Bird Observatory. It is the result of a pan-Canadian collaboration between independently operated bird observatories, Birds Canada, and Environment and Climate Change Canada. These observatories collect long-term information on the health, numbers, and population trends of more than 200 bird species, creating a wealth of scientific data that advances our understanding of birds and their migrations.
The Network pursues two main objectives:
- To produce high-quality research and monitoring data on population trends, bird origins, migratory flyways, migration and dispersal timing, stopover sites, and other aspects of migration ecology.
- To support bird conservation by making the data easily accessible to member observatories, the scientific community, wildlife managers, regulatory authorities, and the general public.
Strength in numbers
If you have visited one of our research stations, you may have wondered how the data is used. At the scale of a single station, we can observe declines or increases in a given species or to carry out specific projects within a standardized framework. However, many factors can influence these numbers, and the sample studied reflects only a portion of the boreal forest.
By pooling data from all stations and accounting for monitoring effort, it becomes possible to conduct analyses that are representative of the national scale. These kinds of data are particularly important because they focus on one of the least-known yet critical periods in the annual cycle of birds, migration. Information collected by observatories has led to more than 200 scientific publications, primarily on avian migration. These studies cover a wide range of topics, including migratory connectivity, the effects of climate change, contaminant loads, and the timing and scale of irruptive migrations.
Projects ahead
Recently, significant effort has been invested in bringing together and standardizing research protocols wherever possible, enabling reliable large-scale trend analyses. These protocols, available online through the NatureCounts platform, along with observatory data, provide access to high-quality information resulting from the combined efforts of biologists, volunteers, and dedicated enthusiasts. These freely available databases open the door to numerous large-scale projects that can address a wide range of questions, such as the effects of wildfires or drought on bird communities.
However, funding remains one of the main challenges for observatories. The meeting in early-November provided an opportunity to share best practices, adaptations, and strategies among observatories to ensure the long-term sustainability of these essential monitoring programs. Because education is also central to the mission of many observatories, the discussions generated many ideas for public-facing activities.
Acknowledgements
We would like to express our sincere thanks to Birds Canada and the Long Point Bird Observatory for their warm welcome and for organizing this meeting, as well as to the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network committee. We also extend our deep gratitude to the thousands of volunteers, donors, and partner organizations whose ongoing support makes it possible for the observatories to operate and for the Network’s mission to continue.