Overview
Conservation and research are the primary reasons for conducting a breeding bird atlas, but education is an increasingly important component, especially as atlases go digital. This section describes the conservation, research, and education outcomes and opportunities from this Atlas.
The major primary or “raw” product from any Breeding Bird Atlas project is its database of bird records. This project has a database containing more than 600,000 individual records of about 320 species collected during the five breeding seasons of 2008-2012. All of these data are publicly available, free of charge, and downloadable as a single complete dataset, or by species/groups of species, or user-defined area(s) of interest, here.
Probably the most important “processed” products of breeding bird atlases are the maps, which inform conservation decisions and tell stand-alone stories. Distribution and Probability of Observation maps are presented within the species accounts section complete with interpretations in the texts by our team of authors, and in the Tools and Resources section under Bird Maps and Plots, where users can toggle quickly between species in taxonomic order. The maps include clickable overlays to enable users to see how a species distribution or abundance relates to ecologically-defined landscapes and conservation management units, latitude/longitude, major towns and roads, and Atlas grids and administrative units.
Since the Atlas began in 2008, more than 250 requests for project data have been processed for conservation or research purposes. Learn the breadth of these applications in the Conservation, Research and Education sections.
Five conservation research priorities are identified in the Research section, for which we are seeking funding and collaborators. Please contact us at bcbirdatlas@birdscanada.org if you are interested, or if you have suggestions for building new conservation tools, research collaborations and education opportunities using the Atlas platform.