Ottawa Bird Count What have we learned so far? www.ottawabirds.ca
At a random location within the Ottawa Bird Count study area, you are more likely to encounter a common species like the Red-winged Blackbird (about 50% of all locations in our database) than a less common species like the Indigo Bunting (about 3% of locations in our database). Red-winged Blackbird Indigo Bunting More common species Less common species
American Robin Savannah Sparrow At a random location, you are more likely to encounter an American Robin, than any other species. The next most likely is the Song Sparrow.
Rock Pigeon Song Sparrow The native Song Sparrow is much more commonly encountered than the Rock Pigeon.
House Sparrow Northern Cardinal Northern Cardinals are almost as commonly encountered as House Sparrows
Density maps and population estimates + With the bird observations, habitat maps, and some statistical models, the Ottawa Bird Count has mapped the density of many species across the city and estimated their population sizes
Population Estimates American Robins, Song Sparrows, and European Starlings are the most common species in the Ottawa Bird Count study area.
Northern Cardinals are most dense (1.5-2 singing birds / hectare) in neighbourhoods with good tree and shrub cover and very rare in more open areas (areas with lightest colour)
Blue Jays are common almost everywhere (no areas of very light colour) and reach very high density in forested areas of the city
American Robins are very common everywhere in the city (dark colours in almost all areas), and they are most common in residential neighbourhoods (3-5 singing birds/hectare)
House Finches are almost entirely absent outside of residential neighbourhoods (large areas of lightest colour), but they reach very high density in many residential neighbourhoods (1-2 singing bird/hectare)
The Yellow Warbler density map inside the greenbelt, closely matches the distribution of power-line corridors, walking paths, and waterways. They reach their highest densities (> 3 singing birds / hectare) along the Ottawa river.
Imagining Ottawa s Future By combining our species density maps and the bird-habitat relationships, with the development projections for the city, we can predict the likely changes to bird populations that will result from the city s planned urban residential development.
Ottawa Bird Count Study Area We have predicted the changes in bird populations inside our study area the green border here
Ottawa s official plan We took information from the current (2013 update) version of Ottawa s official plan.
Urban Designated Land From the plan, we identified all of the areas designated as urban area that are currently undeveloped, then within our computer models, we simulated development in all of these areas. Finally, we then re-estimated bird populations based on this simulated development and compared the predicted populations to current estimates.
Number of birds gained or lost with projected development Predicted changes due to planned urban residential development Inside the Ottawa Bird Count Study Area And here are the estimated changes (number of birds) in bird populations from this development simulation Note: this is a work in progress and not all species are represented here yet.
Percent of the current population gained or lost with projected development Predicted changes due to planned urban residential development Grassland birds will suffer the greatest decreases in population (approximately 4-5%)
Change in bird population Predicted changes due to planned urban residential development American Robin +2% (+2800 birds) Graham Smith
Change in bird population Predicted changes due to planned urban residential development Northern Cardinal +7% (+1900 birds) Graham Smith
Change in bird population Predicted changes due to planned urban residential development Black-capped Chickadee +2% (+1200 birds)
Change in bird population Predicted changes due to planned urban residential development Bobolink -4% (-2000 birds) Graham Smith
Change in bird population Predicted changes due to planned urban residential development Savannah Sparrow -4.5% (-3500 birds) Graham Smith
Change in bird population Predicted changes due to planned urban residential development Cleber Ferreira Eastern Meadowlark -4.5% (-450 birds)
Change in bird population Predicted changes due to planned urban residential development Vesper Sparrow -4.5% (-250 birds) Kurt Kirchmeier
Thank You If you would like to know more about these results, please contact the Ottawa Bird Count ottawabirds@sympatico.ca These results are made possible by the skills and dedication of Volunteers with the Ottawa Bird Count If you are a birder, please consider donating a few hours of your time to conduct one of our surveys. www.ottawabirds.ca