You can use it for research or reference. To access the current information, please visit NatureCounts - The State of Canada’s Birds (external link).
We extracted the majority of landbird population estimates from the 2019 Partners in Flight (PIF) Population Assessment Database (PIFa 2019), and the Avian Conservation and Assessment Database (PIFb 2019), which were generated by the PIF Species Assessment Process and were companions to PIF’s Landbird Conservation Plan (Rosenberg et al. 2016) and the State of North America’s Birds report (NABCI 2016). We placed them into the broad categories seen above to account for uncertainty in these estimates. We sourced a small number of population estimates from species at risk assessments, expert opinion, and other documentation. See the complete Species Assessment Database to learn more about the methods used to calculate the population estimates.
Environment and Climate Change Canada experts derived the population size estimates based on Andres et al. (2012), and updated with published or unpublished information where available. For each species, the estimates include all populations breeding within Canada as well as numbers estimated to pass through Canada on migration if the breeding grounds lie outside Canada, i.e., the total number of that species estimated to use Canada. For breeding populations, these continental estimates were then converted to population estimates for Canada using relative abundances estimates when available, estimated proportion of the range in Canada or expert opinion.
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) staff revised the population estimates of regional seabird and waterbird populations in 2018 using published and unpublished information. These regional estimates were summed to determine the population estimate for Canada. Final estimates were reviewed by ECCC’s Waterbird Technical Committee. For colonial-nesting species, population estimates were derived from colony counts of nests or breeding pairs conducted during the nesting season. For other waterbirds, population estimates were derived from information obtained through dedicated monitoring protocols (e.g., acoustic sampling for elusive marsh birds and counts at migratory staging areas).
We extracted the waterfowl population estimates from the 2017 Population Status of Migratory Game Birds in Canada report (Canadian Wildlife Service Waterfowl Committee 2017) whenever possible. These estimates were obtained during waterfowl aerial surveys conducted mostly during the breeding season and on the staging and wintering areas. We extracted global population estimates from the North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP Committee 2018). View the Population Status of Migratory Game Birds in Canada reports for more information.