500 days ago I set myself the daily challenge of identifying and then sharing at least one different species of bird, insect, plant etc that I could find locally. Yesterday the number reached the 500 mark. My intention is to double that and reach at least 1000 species but no longer will I be doing so at the rate of one a day … time for a change of pace.

Although I was always going to concentrate on the biodiversity of the Montreal West Island, the declaration of the covid pandemic and the ensuing lockdown and restricted travelling less than a week after I started this journey really forced me to concentrate on what is almost literally on the doorstep. There was no option to do otherwise as travelling was, and still is to an extent, restricted. Starting in my garden in Baie-D’Urfé and then working outwards to places within a reasonable walk or cycle ride became my self-imposed patch — at most perhaps a 4 or 5 km radius.

What soon became evident was that although I live in a big city suburb, the wealth of wildlife and plants that is still around us, despite the best efforts of modern society to make life hard for them, is quite remarkable. All you have to do is pay attention and you will see the neighbours.

I am taking a pause at this, the half-way point in my journey, and will for a while continue to publish new species as they appear rather than one a day. To be honest, five-hundred species rather impresses me – all the more so because a high proportion of them have been seen in or from our moderate sized garden. The biodiversity of cities is much richer than perhaps most people suspect.

I intend to take some time now to go back over the species I have already shared with you and start to analyze what’s been observed. Maybe there’s a book in it somewhere down the line ?? I am still progressing towards the thousand mark, just at a more measured pace than hitherto.

The remarkable thing really is just how easy it has been to find all these many species in a “peri-urban” environment. I thought 250 or 300 would be fairly easy and then it would take more effort but that has not been the case. Thus far, I have shared some fairly basic details of:

  • 149 species of birds
  • 11 mammals
  • 132 insects
  • 12 spiders
  • 4 “other” arthropods (millipedes for example)
  • 2 amphibians
  • 1 reptile
  • 135 flowering plants (annuals and perennials)
  • 21 trees/shrubs/bushes
  • 16 fungi
  • 6 grasses
  • 2 mosses
  • 5 lichens
  • … and a single slime mould … the gloriously and appositely named dog vomit slime mould no less

All of which I think is pretty impressive for a suburban garden and a few nearby parks … OK, there is also Canada’s largest Arboretum within a short bike ride, but it’s nevertheless good to discover how many species I see in the forest there that can also be found living just down the road and in my garden. In your garden too, I’ll be bound.

You can keep up with the next 500 species at:

Website – https://1000species.sparroworks.ca

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/1000speciesoneaday

The 1000 Species project will be continuing at least until the target is reached. In the meantime, if you find something that I have not catalogued then might I ask you to post a picture and details on the Nature Baie-D’Urfé Facebook group or send me the details to share by emailing me at [greenbirding@gmail.com].

Now – onwards to that second 500.