Breeding Bird Atlas of Ontario Project

(1981- 1985): The Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Ontarioprovides an up-to-date picture of the distribution of the province's nearly 300 species of nesting birds, at a level of detail that has never before been feasible. This degree of precision was possible because of the 180,000 hours of field work undertaken by over 1,300 volunteers from 1981 through 1985. Working on foot, by car and bicycle, from boats and canoes, by plane and helicopter, the province's naturalists combed every corner of Ontario to provide the 400,000 records upon which the Atlas is based. A great many KFN members' names are listed among the atlassers who contributed to the field work. Ron Weir was the author of most of the species accounts on hawks and owls. Among the literature cited in the Atlas are Helen Quilliam's History of the Birds of Kingston, Ontario, Ron Weir's and Helen Quilliam's Supplement to the History of the Birds of Kingston, Ontario, and several articles written by Ron Weir and published in American Birds or the KFN's Blue Bill.

The Atlas is filled with maps and information about the birds of Ontario. The maps and data show where the birds occur and indicate whether or not a species is widespread or local, common or rare. As such, the Atlas is a useful tool for seeing which birds nest in your area or near your favourite birdwatching, hiking or camping spots. The informative text accompanying each map tells you more about the bird, including an explanation of why it occurs where it does, why it is absent in some areas, or perhaps why it is rare or common in the province. The Atlas is a useful tool for conservationists. By showing the current pattern of bird distributions in Ontario, the Atlas makes it possible to assess which species are declining or spreading, which are the rarest birds and which are likely to be threatened by human activity.

The Atlas may be updated after the year 2000, giving KFN members another opportunity to contribute their efforts to an immense project.

KFN contact: Ron Weir

Tree Atlas of Ontario Project:

See Blue Bill Volume 43, No.2, June 1996, page 98 for information on this project.

KFN contact: Winnie Smith

Plant Inventories:

The Fowler Herbarium of the Department of Biology, Queen's University, recently published Plants of the Kingston Region: 1996 by Adele Crowder, Karen Topping and John Topping. The book is a checklist designed for field use in the Kingston area and is intended for use by botanists, naturalists, ecologists and others. The sources of information for the book were: labels from specimens in the Fowler Herbarium; checklists, theses, reports and publications; and comments from field botanists. Several KFN members contributed to this major project by proof-reading the text or assisting with the collection and identification of specimens for the herbarium.

KFN contact: Adele Crowder