Percy Algernon Taverner - Bird Conservation Efforts

Percy Algernon Taverner 

Section 50, Lot 63 NE 

Born Percy Algernon Fowler in Guelph, Ontario in 1875 to Ida Van Cortland and her first husband, Taverner changed his name as a young man, taking a surname slightly altered from that of his stepfather, Albert Tavernier. 

Taverner was keenly interested in birds from an early age. He first earned a living as an architectural draughtsman while studying birds in his spare time, and became such an authority on Canadian birds that in 1910 he was appointed to the staff of the National Museum in Ottawa as an ornithologist. 

In that position, he developed a unique system of distributional maps linked to card indexes on individual species containing up-to-date information on bird distribution in Canada. In 1917, he was elected a fellow of the American Ornithologists’ Union, and in 1935 he became a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. 

Taverner, a self-taught naturalist, was the first ornithologist at the National Museum of Canada, now the Canadian Museum of Nature, from 1912 to 1942. Taverner was in correspondence with Alberta's first female naturalist and 'keen observer' of birdlife Elsie Cassels.
 Taverner was one of a handful of federal bureaucrats who convinced the Canadian Government to sign the 1916 Canada-U.S. Migratory Birds Convention. He helped establish Point Pelee National Park in 1918 and a number of bird sanctuaries across Canada, including Bonaventure Island in 1919.

A pillar of the Ottawa naturalist community, he was president of the Ottawa Field Naturalists’ Club in the 1930s and was substantially responsible for the survival of this organization and its journal, The Canadian Field-Naturalist, which he founded.

On his retirement in 1942, he was made honorary curator of birds at the museum. He wrote Birds of Eastern Canada (Ottawa, 1919), Birds of Western Canada (Ottawa, 1926), Birds of Canada (Ottawa, 1934) and Canadian Water Birds (Toronto, 1939).

He passed away on May 9, 1947.

The Taverner Cup, a 24-hour competitive birdathon held in eastern Ontario and western Quebec, is named after him.

The timberline sparrow (Spizella breweri taverneri), considered to be a subspecies of Brewer's sparrow, and a subspecies of Canada goose (Branta canadensis taverneri) carry the last part in his honour. In turn, he named the Fleming's grouse (Dendragapus obscurus flemingi) after Canadian ornithologist James Henry Fleming.

In 2015, in recognition of his contributions, the City of Ottawa named a new park at 130 Woodbine Place “Percy Taverner Park.”