Gregor Beck
Research Associate

Gregor has a life-long interest in nature and conservation, and since childhood has enjoyed hiking, canoeing and birdwatching. His passion for wildlife and the outdoors was nurtured from an early age through explorations on the Toronto Islands, the city's river valleys, and along the shores of Georgian Bay.
Gregor was introduced to more formal birding with summers spent banding at the "Tip" with the Long Point Bird Observatory, studying Ross' Gulls in Churchill, Manitoba, atlassing in Algonquin Provincial Park and travels across Canada. Gregor has an undergraduate biology degree from the University of Guelph and a bachelor of education degree (science specialist) from St. Francis Xavier University. He obtained his Master of Science degree from McGill University, with his thesis on diet and condition of harp seals in the Atlantic region and eastern Arctic.
Throughout his career, Gregor has been actively involved in research, education and conservation. He has worked with Fisheries and Oceans Canada on marine mammals on all three sea coasts, focusing on diet, condition, contaminants and population ecology. For many years, he led conservation, environmental leadership and bird research projects for QLF/ Atlantic Centre for the Environment. Through this work, Gregor worked across the Atlantic region, and developed a particular fondness for the rugged terrain, welcoming fishing communities and rich seabird colonies of the Quebec Lower North Shore and Labrador coast. Gregor has taught biology, ecology and water pollution courses at Ryerson Polytechnic University and Seneca College, and is author and editor of two books on watershed ecology and the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River region. From 2000 to 2005, he was as Director, Conservation and Science, for Ontario Nature - Federation of Ontario Naturalists, where he was a close partner with BSC on many projects, including the second Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas and the Important Bird Areas program.
Gregor Beck joined the staff of Bird Studies Canada in March 2005 and is currently affiliated as Research Associate.