Canada funds citizen science effort to help researchers monitor birds

The government of Canada has pledged $3 million in funding to Birds Canada over five years to support citizen science programs, opening up hundreds of millions of records to help researchers study the population trends of birds in the country.

The funding is intended to aid the nonprofit organization in expanding its efforts gather data and monitor migratory birds, including species at risk. The funding will support Birds Canada’s NatureCounts platform, a citizen science program that collects information on wild birds throughout the country.

Those citizen science efforts “yield meaningful, accessible data to support conservation, thus contributing to halting and reversing biodiversity loss and protecting our beloved birds,” Patrick Nadeau, president and CEO of Birds Canada, said in a press release.

Read more from Canada’s National Observer.