Since 1970, North America has lost 3 billion birds. Pelee Island Bird Observatory monitors bird migration at the vital confluence of two major hemispheric flyways, in order to track numbers and better understand the threats to migrating birds. Every morning, for twenty years, spring and fall, our census-takers have been getting up before dawn and walking the island, noting the number and species of birds. We can’t do anything about the black flies and chiggers, the icy winds and sweltering heat, but we dearly want to lift our research staff and volunteers up out of the mud!

This “Build a Boardwalk for Bird Research” Capital Campaign will raise money to build a boardwalk through the island swamps that are a challenge for humans but ideal places for birds to feed and breed—birds such as the endangered Prothonotary warbler, which PIBO monitors through its Marsh Monitoring Program and Migration Monitoring Program. There are fewer than 30 Prothonotary warblers in Ontario, and since PIBO installed Prothonotary nesting boxes, we have at least one breeding pair in the swamps of Pelee Island.

Help support PIBO’s work by and its “Build a Boardwalk for Bird Research” Capital Project by giving a one-time gift or spreading it over the next six months. Contact us for more information info@pibo.ca or 519-982-7426 and visit our website