George R. Richardson Award of Honour

Bruce is a dedicated and passionate conservationist whose contributions over the past four decades have significantly supported bird monitoring, habitat protection and public education across the Lake Simcoe watershed and beyond. As the Regional Coordinator for the 2021-2025 Ontario Breading Atlas – 3 (Region 45 – York), Bruce plays a vital role in assessing the status of breeding birds and monitoring long-term trends. Atlases like this are essential to conservation decision-making, as birds are highly effective indicators of environmental health. Bruce’s responsibilities include conducting regular point counts to collect valuable data on bird migration and nesting patterns as well as supervising and supporting other volunteers in making and reporting observations. This is Bruce’s third atlas, having also contributed to the 1981-1985 and 2001-2005 efforts.

Since 2011, Bruce has also been an active volunteer on the York Regional Forest Advisory Team (RFAT), a collaborative forum for York Region staff and representatives of York Regional Forest user groups to share technical information related to forest management and forest uses, learn about current and planned Forest initiatives, and to solicit feedback regarding management of the Forest. As the team’s advisor for breeding birds in York Regional Forests, his expert knowledge of migratory birds, their habitats and record keeping have contributed to the management of the Forest by ensuring forest managers are informed and aware of the common and unique species that call the Forest home. Bruce is a wealth of ecological knowledge and is always eager to present new information to the group or to have informal conversations about what new species he’s spotted on his most recent birding adventure. Bruce has also led many interpretive walks at Forestry special events.

Bruce’s commitment to endangered species is evident through his involvement as an Adopt-a-Site Survey Volunteer with the Eastern Loggerhead Shrike (ELS) Recovery Program. As a volunteer with Wildlife Preservation Canada, he monitors one of Canada’s most endangered songbirds on the Carden Alvar, one of only two places in Ontario where breeding pairs remain. In the past, they could be found from Manitoba to New Brunswick. Now, however, there are fewer than 25 breeding pairs, restricted to two small, isolated pockets in Ontario: the plains of Carden and Napanee.

Bruce has also supported the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority by contributing to education programs, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic when he supported the development of virtual programs and resources to maintain public engagement and help drive nature connection. In addition, he works with the Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust by conducting bird surveys, participating in the annual Battle of the Birders, and leading interpretive walks that help connect people with local natural heritage on the Oak Ridges Moraine.

For over 40 years, Bruce has participated in Christmas Bird Counts in York Region, a longstanding citizen science initiative. He began with the Toronto Field Naturalists and served as Secretary of the Richmond Hill Naturalists and a member of the West Humber Naturalists. Under the mentorship of the late Gerry Bennett, Bruce began recording bird sightings in York Region in the early 1980s. For the past 40 years, he and his team have organized an annual “Big Day” (starting at 3 am and finishing at dusk) birding ponds, woodlands, marshes and the Lake Simcoe shoreline during spring migration on a day in mid-May. They kept records of locations and numbers of species and monitored any changes from year to year. The annual “Big Day” birding event in York Region has now shifted to Simcoe County due to habitat loss from development and fewer birding locations in York Region as a whole. These dawn-to-dusk efforts during spring migration have helped track changes in bird populations and habitat availability over time. Bruce is also a graduate of the Ontario Master Naturalist Program offered through Lakehead University, which has further enriched his expertise and ability to contribute to environmental stewardship.

Bruce’s decades-long dedication to bird conservation, habitat monitoring, and environmental education has left a legacy across the Lake Simcoe watershed. Through his leadership, mentorship, and meticulous recordkeeping, he has inspired a new generation of naturalists and conservation volunteers. The data he has helped collect will continue to inform land management decisions and conservation strategies for years to come, ensuring that the rich biodiversity of the region is protected for future generations. His work stands as a model of how one individual’s commitment can have a profound and enduring impact on the health of the environment.