Sixty-eight years of bird watching

Bird watching has gained popularity in recent years, a passion shared by thousands of Quebecers who are interested in ornithology. Among them, a veteran who has 68 years of “professional experience” and who still has the sacred fire at 81 years old.

Since the age of 13, Michel Bertrand has been passionate about birds, which he observes whenever he has the opportunity. Self-taught, he has built up an enviable expertise as a nature observer over the years. The Press met him at Parc de la Frayère in Boucherville, one of his favorite places to see birdlife on the South Shore of Montreal.

As we look for a table with a bit of shade to chat, Michel Bertrand identifies one after the other the birds that we hear singing in the Parc de la Frayère. While the journalist from The Press search for the application Merlin (to identify bird songs) on his phone, he immediately recognizes the song of a tree swallow, a yellow-rumped warbler, a marsh wren, etc.

It must be said that Michel Bertand began to take an interest in birds before there were applications to identify them on our cell phones, even before the existence of the Internet, when Dwight Eisenhower was President of the United States and Maurice Duplessis had been leading Quebec without interruption for 12 years.

In 1956, Michel Bertrand was 13 years old when he made an observation that would change his life.

Near the Rigaud River, where he lives, he regularly sees black ducks, a species that does not particularly attract his attention because of its rather monochrome plumage. One day, he observes a pair of mallards and notices the pretty, very colorful plumage of the male.

“It was a revelation for me to see so much beauty,” he recalls. He didn’t know it yet, but a long career as an amateur ornithologist had just begun…

Nests and passion

“I’ve always been interested in nature,” he says. “We didn’t have as much information at the time, but I read encyclopedias. I tried to identify flowers with the help of Larousse.” When he arrived at Bourget College in Rigaud, he joined the young naturalists’ circle, where he was able to borrow binoculars to observe birds.

He quickly asked his parents for binoculars, which he finally received as a birthday present. With his own equipment, he could now observe birds whenever he wanted. To identify the species, however, he had to use identification guides in English, such as the Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America.

After his classical course, he enrolled in biology at the University of Montreal. A course he abandoned after a year: his partner was pregnant and he had to work to support his new family. He taught natural sciences and biology for a few years, a job he had to give up, for lack of a university degree. He worked as a specialized editor and advisor in the communications department of Hydro-Québec for the rest of his career.

But his interest in nature is still there. He is interested in anything that is alive. Plants, fish, insects and, of course, birds. Unsurprisingly, his hobbies are therefore devoted to observing nature, particularly the descendants of dinosaurs, birds, which he has been studying for 68 years.

A feathered career

Over the years, his passion has taken him to all corners of Quebec to observe different species. “I’ve travelled back and forth just to see a bird, I’ve done that a lot in my life,” he says. Like the opportunity to see a Townsend’s solitaire on December 24, 1995 in the Quebec City region, he recalls.

He remembers his first red cardinals, “a species that we didn’t see often in Quebec before,” he says. A species that can now be seen regularly in southern Quebec. Conversely, he remembers that he identified the purple finch every year, “which we hardly see anymore these days.”

Like the short-eared owl, which he could see in marshy fields on the South Shore of Montreal, while there are now almost none left due to the destruction of its habitat for housing development.

In addition to giving lectures, participating in camps for young naturalists, and writing and editing numerous articles on bird identification, he wrote a column for several years in the magazine Quebec Birds.

In 2023, he won the volunteer award given by the Regroupement Québec Oiseaux for the promotion and development of ornithological leisure. Michel Bertrand says he has observed 400 species of birds in Quebec, not far behind Pierre Bannon and his record of 419 species.

At the age of 81, his passion is still intact, even if his legs no longer allow him to move as quickly. When asked what he remembers from all these years of bird watching, Michel Bertrand does not hesitate for a second: “It’s happiness. The happiness of seeing so many beautiful things, of understanding and sharing this happiness with others.”