39th Woodhouse Christmas Bird Count Report

Photo: Common Raven, photo by Sue Drotos Article by Adam Timpf, Woodhouse CBC Count Organizer These are the results of the 39th Woodhouse Christmas Bird Count (CBC) held on Sunday December 14th, 2025. The Woodhouse CBC is centred 7 km east of Simcoe, at the crossroads of Highway 3 and Cockshutt Road at Renton, and roughly covers from Port Ryerse and Port Dover to Waterford and from west of Simcoe to east of Jarvis. This year there were 34 field birders covering the count area plus 12 feeder watchers. Conditions were bitterly cold to start the day with temperatures of -15, light west winds (0-15 km/h), plenty of snow cover, and barely any open water away from Lake Erie or moving streams. It "warmed up" to about -7 by the afternoon, but the sun felt nice when it was poking out from the clouds. The cold temperatures leading up to…
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Naturefest

Friday, May 21st to Sunday, May 23rd, 2027 A celebration of Norfolk's nature with a gala dinner and local entertainment, followed by a weekend of birding, nature walks, night hikes, mountain biking, kayak and canoe trips, wildlife shows, family-oriented activities, displays, and workshops throughout Norfolk County. For more details please contact us at info@norfolkfieldnaturalists.org.
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Long Point Butterfly Count 2025

Image, above: Appalacian Brown, by Len Grincevicius Article by Adam Timpf, NFN Member and Organizer The 34th annual Long Point Butterfly Count was held on Saturday July 5th, 2025. It was a beautifully sunny and calm day to be out hunting for butterflies, although it was a bit sweltering and staying hydrated and cool was a challenge. In total, we had 30 people spread amongst 11 parties, logging 53 party hours and 60 party kms. Most groups commented on the lack of butterflies, but the data tells a different story. Collectively, we turned up an excellent 57 species which is above the 10-year average of 54, and just 2 below the all-time high of 59. As for individual butterflies, our total of 2742 is higher than the totals from the past 3 years, and above the all-time and 10-year averages…
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2025 Birdathon–George Pond’s Report

Photo, above: Great Crested Flycatcher Contributed by George Pond Three of us, my son and daughter-in-law David and Heather started “Birdathon 2025” just before 7 a.m. on May 16, an hour or so later than planned because of an early morning storm. Birds in the St Williams forest were mostly back on territory and were actively singing. We had soon identified a number of warblers including Chestnut-sided, yellow, common yellow-throat, hooded, ovenbird, blue-winged, magnolia, yellow-rumped and pine. Rose-breasted grosbeaks, scarlet tanagers, Indigo buntings, eastern towhees, chipping sparrows, a red-breasted nuthatch, wood thrush, catbird, chickadees, red-eyed vireos, great-crested and least flycatchers and a surprise black-billed cuckoo were all found. A field in the Backus woods complex netted field, song, and grasshopper sparrows but no vesper sparrow sang. We walked into the pond in the Backus woods and flushed a pair of…
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Long Point Christmas Bird Count 2024

Photo (above): Sandhill cranes in flight (photo by Larry Monczka) Report by Stu Mackenzie The 64th Long Point Christmas Bird Count (CBC) was held on Saturday December 14. This count includes the Long Point Family Winter Bird Count and the traditional formalized count. The count covers a ~24-kilometre circle centered on the lighthouse south of St. Williams. Over 120 participants surveyed sixteen territories in the count circle, dedicating 154 hours in the field, covering 400 km by car and more than 140 km on foot. Together we counted an astounding 40,556 birds of 112 species tying the fourth highest species count ever! Counts were on par with the most recent 10-year average of ~42,000 birds of 107 species, and well above the long-term average of 29,543 of 102 species. Highlights are summarized below which include a number of record high…
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Results of the 2024 Fisherville Christmas Bird Count

Photo (above): Northern Shrike (photo by Sarah Sharp) Report by the Haldimand Bird Observatory (Sarah Sharp) The 24th Fisherville Christmas Bird Count was held on Saturday, December 28th, 2024. Every year there are fluctuating high counts and low counts with a varying species composition, and this year was no different! Last year the Haldimand Bird Observatory took over the coordination and compilation of the count and we were happy to do so again this year! Without further ado, here is a summary of this year’s count… Participants: First and foremost a big thank you to our dedicated returning and new volunteers who collected this valuable data! Cody Bassindale Diane Salter Duane Brown Greg Salter Audrey Heagy Bill Smith Anne Marie Henry Tom Thomas Elizabeth Kirchin Adam Timpf Micheal Kirchin Matthew Timpf Dave Maida Jacob Wever Hugh McArthur Julia Wever George…
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Woodhouse Christmas Bird Count Report

Featured Photo (above): Horned Lark (photo by Sue Drotos) Article contributed by Adam Timpf The 38th Woodhouse Christmas Bird Count was held on Sunday, December 15th, 2024. The Woodhouse CBC is centred seven kilometres east of Simcoe, at the crossroads of Highway 3 and Cockshutt Road at Renton, and roughly covers from Port Dover to Waterford and just west of Simcoe to east of Jarvis. Thirty-seven field birders covered the count area. Eleven feeder watchers also contributed data. Conditions were comfortable to start the day with temperatures above 0, light southeast winds (11-16 km/h), zero snow on the ground, and plenty of open water with little ice cover. Some light rain after lunch made for a quiet afternoon, but didn't affect the count to a huge degree. The mild temperatures leading up to the count meant waterfowl diversity and numbers…
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Book Review: The Red-winged Blackbird

The Red-winged Blackbird: The Biology of a Strongly Polygynous Songbird, by Les Beletsky Reviewed by Jeff Hiebert An excellent overview of the biology of a much studied and common bird. The book focuses on Red-winged Blackbirds' breeding biology and the studies most focused on are for a particular population in Washington state which the author has studied for years. One of the interesting points the book puts across is that Red-winged blackbirds are common across the United States, southern Canada, and Mexico but they exhibit different behaviours in different populations/regions. This is sort of a rule across animal species, but it was interesting to see it demonstrated and explored with this familiar bird. Lots of interesting discussions of how animal behaviour research is done and how we know so much about a species because we've studied them for so long…
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Results of the 2024 Long Point Butterfly Count

Photo: Monarch butterfly. Photo by Ginette Pieper. Article by Adam Timpf, NFN Member and Butterfly Count Organizer Saturday July 6th, the date of the 2024 Long Point Butterfly Count, was a beautiful day to be out. In total, 32 people spread amongst 12 parties scoured the countryside for winged jewels, logging about 65.5 party hours and 70.5 party kms. Most groups commented on the lack of butterflies, but remarkably the Long Point count still turned up an excellent 57 species which is above the 10-year average of 54, and just two below the all-time high of 59. As for individual butterflies, our total of 2153 is an increase from last year's dismal 1764, but below the all-time and 10-year averages of 2607 and 2572. Of course, these numbers aren't corrected for the number of participants, amount of effort, and weather…
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Book Review: Bicycling with Butterflies, by Sara Dykman

Reviewed by NFN member Stephanie Sinden Science, nature, and adventure come together in this riveting account of a solo bike trip along the migratory path of the monarch butterfly. Sara Dykman made history as the first person to bicycle alongside monarch butterflies during their renowned annual migration, a journey spanning three countries and over 10,000 miles. From March to December 2017, biologist Sara followed the monarchs from their overwintering grounds in central Mexico to Canada and back. Her adventure combined elements of a travelogue, a cycling expedition, and a focus on conservation. Ron and I visited the El Rosario Reserve in the Mexican mountains in our RV. It’s not an easy place to reach, but it’s magical! Cycling 10,201 miles solo on a basic bike with a $10-a-day budget is a significant achievement. Will Norfolk County be part of her route?…
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