Bird Protection Quebec's Monthly Meeting

Monday December 6, 2010
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Knox Crescent, Kensington and First Presbyterian Church, 6225 Godfrey Avenue, NDG

Citizen Scientists of BPQ

Focusing on our main goals of education, conservation and observation, we have asked three McGill University ornithology researchers to present their areas of study to us. Their oral presentations will be followed by a poster session — a format that is widely used at scientific conferences to communicate the names and work of the researchers, to link up with others and to exchange with citizen scientists. You will have the opportunity to circulate among the various visual displays and talk one to one with all the researchers bringing their posters.

As part of our education dossier BPQ gives research grants to students. It is important for members to be aware of trends and current areas of interest as well as for students to know more about BPQ.

Our speakers and their subjects are:

DEVELOPMENT OF APPLICATIONS FOR SMALL UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS (UAS) IN WILDLIFE RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT - Dominique Chabot.

We have been using Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) since 2007 to investigate potential applications with our current focus on surveying bird aggregations and habitat studies. This technology has the advantage of low disturbance levels, convenient access to remote and secluded areas as well as rapid collection of large amounts of precise data which can be processed with the aid of image-analysis software at low cost. A newly released UAS platform is now being used to survey migrating Snow Geese (Cap Tourmente) , Common Tern breeding colonies (Kouchibouguac NB) and in a study of the breeding habitat of the threatened Least Bittern (Baie-du-Febvre). Future applications involve the detection and census of bird nests in perilous locations (cliffs, canopies, tall buildings etc.)


Dominique Chabot is a PhD. student in Wildlife Biology working with David Bird at McGill. He received his B.Sc. at the Université Sainte -Anne, Nova Scotia and his M.Sc. at McGill. He is one of the first students in North America to study the use of UAS in wildlife research and management.

EFFECTS OF TOXINS ON THE BREEDING SUCCESS OF TREE SWALLOWS - Tiffany Gilchrist

The presentation will discuss the occurrence of emerging and current-use brominated flame retardant chemicals in the eggs of free-ranging Tree Swallows exposed wastewater treatment effluent and the possible related effects that this exposure may be having on their reproductive success.


Tiffany is working on her second MSc at McGill following research at the University of Kent in the UK on the effects of recreational kitesurfing on migrating and overwintering wading birds.

BEHAVIOUR OF RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS IN NEW BRUNSWICK. - David Fishman
David?s project concerns aspects of the nesting ecology of a colony of Redbreasted Mergansers (Mergus serrator) situated in Kouchibouguac National Park, NB. Using genetic information obtained from these birds, his team looked at whether there were any patterns of association or cooperation between related individuals. It was found that under dense nesting areas, relatives nested closer to one another than expected by chance. They also found that neighbouring females, regardless of their degree of kinship, began incubation in a synchronized fashion.


David was born and raised in Montreal. From a young age he has had an infatuation with birds, nature and anything to do with the outdoors. Currently, under the supervision of Dr. Rodger Titman and Dr. David Zadworny, he is completing his final semester as a Master’s student at McGill University.