At the beginning of 2007 a total of 113 people from all across Quebec signed up as participants in the Big Year of Birding. We expected the large majority of participants to come from the Montreal/Laval/South Shore areas but we’re very pleased to say that almost half of those who registered came from more distant parts of Quebec including Quebec City, Trois-Rivières, Sherbrooke, and some from as far as Ville-Marie (on the Ontario border near Rouyn-Noranda) and St-Fulgence and Dolbeau-Mistassini, both in the Lac Saint-Jean area.
It is well worth reporting that a total of 382 different species of birds were seen by our participants, an amazing achievement serving to underline the richness of birdlife in Quebec, even in a year which, by most accounts, was quite ‘ordinary’.
With a good variety of contests nicely spread out over the year, it was easy to find something for every taste. Some elected to participate in almost every one while others concentrated their efforts on a single event. During the year we awarded some of the prizes, namely to the winners in the Big Month and Big Sit categories. We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and congratulate, once again, these winners.
Category Big Year
Most species seen in Quebec in 2007
Winners:
1st prize Mark Dennis with 266 species
2nd prize Olivier Barden with 265 species
3rd prize Sylvie Vanier with 216 species
Nine other birders submitted their lists to us with very respectable numbers ranging from 142 to 199 species observed.
Category Big Year (17 and under)
Most species seen in Quebec in 2007
Winner: Jeremy Pauzé with 76 species
Five young birders under the age of 17 registered but, in the end, only two final entries were submitted. We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank Krystina Maltais for her participation. Krystina submitted a very respectable list of 46 species.
Category: Big Month
Most species seen in a month
| Winners: | January | Réal Ste-Marie | 77 |
| February | Martin Bowman | 66 | |
| March | Sébastien Rioux | 67 | |
| April | Team of Jean Demers and Clémence Soulard | 92 | |
| May | Olivier Barden | 210 | |
| June | Jean-François Rousseau | 148 | |
| July | Lance Laviolette | 134 | |
| August | Wayne Grubert | 113 | |
| September | Darlene Harvey | 85 | |
| October | Tom Long | 83 | |
| November | Sylvie Vanier | 66 | |
| December | Zofia Laubitz | 32 |
Category Big Sit
Most species seen in a static location during a period of one hour
(held on the weekend of May 19-21, 2007)
Winners: Team of Claudette Cormier and Germain Savard
Claudette and Germain picked the St-Fulgence cemetery overlooking the Ducks Unlimited marsh and the Saguenay River, an exceptionally “birdy” spot, for their hour of observation and came up with 62 species.
It is important to acknowledge that our winners, along with the following handful of other participants, were all successful in breaking the previous Quebec record of 46 species.
| Claudette Cormier/Germain Savard | May 20 in St-Fulgence from 10:15 to 11:15 | 62 |
| Olivier Barden | May 19 in Cap Tourmente from 11:29 to 12:29 | 51 |
| Wayne Grubert | May 20 in Hudson from 06:40 to 07:40 | 49 |
| Mark Dennis | May 19 in St-Lazare from 07:00-08:00 | 47 |
Category Backyard List
Most species seen in a backyard in 2007
Winners: Team of Claudette Cormier and Germain Savard with 170 species
Inevitably, birders who resided adjacent to exceptional habitats were off to a huge advantage in this category. Such is the case for our winners from St-Fulgence who remarked that one of their most pleasurable moments, numerous as they were, was observing two American White Pelicans on May 12th and a male Harlequin Duck on May 25th from the comfort of their living room!
We appreciate how unfair this type of advantage may have been to those with traditional suburban backyards so we’ve decided to also recognise (in a small way) the top “lister” who meets the criteria for a traditional backyard …the name in this category will be revealed at Bird Protection Quebec’s monthly meeting/Big Year closing event on March 3, 2008.
Category Big Day
Most species seen in a consecutive 24-hour period in 2007
Winner: Olivier Barden with 174 species
Now, not only did Olivier win this category hands down, but he was also successful in breaking the previous, long-standing Quebec record of 166 species.
The runner-up in this category was the team of Martin Bowman/Jeff Harrison/Lance Laviolette with 130 species.
Category Most Lifers
Most new, never-before observed, species in 2007
Winner: Sophie Cauchon with 53 species
Interestingly enough, her husband, André Pelletier, came in second with 52 species despite the fact that they birded together throughout the contest ... clearly an officer and a gentleman!
Category Photographer of the Year
| Winners: | 1st prize
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2nd prize
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| 3rd prize Mona Wizenberg |
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Commentary and some interesting facts
The Quebec checklist cites +/- 453 species observable within the boundaries of the province. Big Year of Birding participants spotted a total of 382 of them during 2007 (a surprising 84% of the total number of possible species) and given that many of those not seen are serious rarities, this is quite a marvellous outcome.
Of all the contests held throughout the year, it is of course the Big Year that carried the most clout. We organizers occasionally got wind during the year of the close race developing between Mark Dennis and Olivier Barden but we never imagined that a single species would separate the two in the end of it all.
Mark Dennis reports having spent 217 days in the field in pursuit of this 266 species and covering 26,958 kms in the process (an average of 101 kms per bird!). On the big year blog that he kept throughout the year, Mark notes that his favourite sighting is a tie between the Connecticut Warbler and Sabine’s Gull, the former because he had to work for it and it had been a long time coming, and the latter because he likes gulls and thinks that there are few better looking ones. He acknowledges owing a debt of gratitude to Louise Simard and her Oiseaux rare du Québec site which provided him with excellent leads as well as to those Quebec birders who took the time to share their sightings with him.
Rarities recorded on the various lists submitted to us included the following:
| Black-throated Gray Warbler | Île Ste-Hélène |
| Eurasian Collared Dove | |
| Eurasian Teal | St-Joseph de Beauce |
| Eurasian Wigeon | Contrecoeur |
| Glossy Ibis | St-Joseph de Beauce / Saint-Blaise |
| Greater White-fronted Goose | Chambly |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | |
| Loggerhead Shrike | St-Lazare (near Les Cedres) |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker | Chateauguay |
| Sabine’s Gull | Beauharnois Dam |
| Western Sandpiper | Vaudreuil |
| White-winged Dove | |
| Yellow-headed Blackbird | Ste-Martine |
Because of the organization’s contributions to the long-term re-introduction programme in Quebec, the Loggerhead Shrike seen by Mark Dennis near Les Cèdres was of particular interest to Bird Protection Quebec.
Of the warblers, none of the contestants recorded the Cerulean which had been sighted in Southern Quebec in the spring but Mark Dennis did report a Golden-winged Warbler while several people reported Orange-crowned Warblers. Overall, virtually all the probable songbirds were spotted somewhere or another.
At least seven birders reported seeing Carolina Wrens, a species that just two or three years ago was considered exceptionally rare in Quebec but is now being seen in all sorts of odd corners …doubtless due to climate change.
It was nice to see several birders under the age of 17 taking part in the Big Year and to know that the future of birding is in good hands. Of course, a young birder without a willing parent is not going to put in the 101 kms per bird that our grand prize winner managed, but Jeremy’s 76 species were hard won and Krystina’s 46 was equally commendable. We know where the winners of our centenary Big Year might come from!
A major category was the Big Day. If you’ve never done one, you cannot imagine the weeks and months of preparation that go into it and the constant high pressure on the actual day. When doing a Big Year, one usually gets second, third or maybe even fourth chances at specific birds that you need, but on a Big Day you have to be in the right place at the right time with no room for error …and you generally spend a lot of time and energy behind the wheel evading cops and speeding tickets! The Quebec record stood at 166 species for many years despite valiant attempts to beat it, and to have the record fall, not just by one or two species but by so many, is a staggering feat by Olivier Barden. And, for we Big Year organizers, doubly gratifying that it happened on our watch.
The Big Sit is a curiosity but one with a long history in the birding world. Yes, luck enters into it but you have to really know your territory and pick your spot carefully to get a good number of species. The fact that so many people actually beat the old record, and so resoundingly, speaks to the skills of those birders who had a go.
The most popular category with registrants proved to be the Big Month contests with a handful of faithful registrants participating every month.
The Most Lifers category was introduced to encourage new birders. Obviously no one in the ‘elite’ class could ever hope to win this and clearly everyone who entered had a great time extending their personal lists. Excellent achievements and some solid foundations were built on which to develop their skills and enjoyment of our ‘sport’.
Finally, we come to the Backyard List. Defining a backyard in the context of this contest proved very difficult and we agonized over it more than any other category. There were apartment dwellers to consider, urban and suburban backyards, country homes, farms, etc. And what to do about homes located in extraordinary habitats …homes with the St-Lawrence as a backdrop or surrounded by a marsh? And then what to count? All birds? Only those that actually land in the backyard? And what about birds that fly directly over the backyard, should they be counted? Admittedly, this category of the contest could have been thought out a little bit better - hindsight is a wonderful thing - and we can only hope that we haven’t vexed too many of you.
Photography contests are always popular and ours was no different. Over the contest period, our judges, whose names we may now reveal, ended up sorting through 400 images throughout the year in an effort to narrow the numbers down to their twelve favourite ones. Our selection committee was made up of Pierre Bannon, Régis Fortin, and Bogdan Karasek, all excellent and respected photographers themselves. We thank them profusely for their time.
To sum up, the Big Year of Birding turned out to be quite a success, involving not only members of Bird Protection Quebec but non-member Quebecers from clear across the province who decided to celebrate our 90th anniversary with us in the most fitting of ways – by getting out there and birding. Organizing the event has been a lot of hard work and we are sincerely glad that it is a decade before we may have to do this again. But, it has also been a lot of fun and you have all, contestants and supporters, made it all worthwhile and for that we thank you.
Richard Gregson, Sheldon Harvey and Barbara Szabo
Big Year of Birding Organizers
P.S. Please join us at our last Big Year ‘hurrah’ on March 3rd at 8 p.m. at the Knox Crescent Kensington and First Presbytarian Church (6225 Godfrey Avenue in NDG) where we hope to crown most of our winners.