Rimouski Birds Observatory

The OOR is a research, training and education organization in ornithology. Birds are privileged witnesses of the health of our ecosystems. Monitoring tools such as observatories allow us to study the health of their populations that are still limited in number.However, the information collected is a key indicator of the erosion of biodiversity and the decline of many species. The objective of the Rimouski Bird Observatory, which is the third of its kind in Quebec, is to set up and perpetuate the monitoring of bird populations living or transiting on the south shore of the St. Lawrence maritime estuary.

Rimouski and its region have the advantage of a geographical location that is conducive to the concentration of various groups of birds, particularly in the spring. Rimouski and its region have the advantage of a geographical location that is conducive to the concentration of various groups of birds, particularly in the spring. Thus, the observatory allows to coordinate simultaneously 1) a banding station to follow mainly the spring migration of passerines, 2) the follow-up of the migration of seabirds from the end of the Quai de Pointe-au-Père , and 3) the follow-up of the migration of raptors in spring from the Raoul-Roy Observatory in the Bic National Park. The creation of this observatory aims for scientific purposes, an educational component for the training of biologists, and the sensitization of the general public to nature, and in particular to winged fauna. These activities are all open to the public, and the visual follow-ups (birds of prey in the Bic Park and marine birds at the Quai de Pointe-au-Père) start from mid-March until the end of May, while the banding station is open at Rocher-Blanc (Rimouski-Ouest) from April 20 to June 10.

For more details, go to the Observatory’s Facebook page.