People who know us know that we like to spend time with birds. This video (NOT made by me note) is the first in a series intended to educate Elementary School children from grades 3 to 6 about the important work that is done at the McGill Bird Observatory (MBO) in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec. The video series is funded through a grant from Environment Canada.

The MBO has been in operation for 15 years now. Our personal involvement is two-fold. We have supported them with personal donations and when I was President of Bird Protection Quebec and later chaired the BPQ Grants Committee I was able to ensure that significant grants went their way … since I left the BPQ board, that support has continued and more than somewhat increased in value.

More importantly, for us, is the chance we have throughout the three months of deep winter when bird banding is not happening, to make regular visits to the MBO. Wading though the deep snow we check on the arrays of bird feeders – there are many resident and winter visitor birds, not all migrate – and we have a couple of hours, or as long as we want, to strap on snow shoes and walk around the site observing and counting and recording the birds we see … sometimes in temperatures below -20C !! Much as we love birding at any time of the year, it is this quiet and solitary winter three months that we most enjoy of all the birding seasons of the year. I know, sounds weird to many of you who cannot wait for winter to be over, but that’s just the way we are wired.

Have look at the video – it’s truly splendid and informative.