Birding

2020 Christmas Bird Count – Fisherville

(Feature photo, above: Tundra Swans, photo by Diane Salter) Report by Linda Thrower, Compiler As a compiler I was lucky enough to have a Christmas Bird Count this year. A lot of people had to do double duty and cover more than one square to say this count was covered. So, with a lot of co-operation from the birders and the weather the Fisherville CBC was held on December 28th, 2020. It had snowed for Christmas which a lot of parents and Santa were glad to see. The luck continued with enough warmer temperatures and rain to take away all of that snow by the 28th. But luck can only go so far and once again the winds picked up just enough to send all of the smaller species of birds and even some of the larger ones into hiding.…
continue reading

Berries Are For the Birds

Article and photos by Inga Hinnerichsen The last of the fall flowers have withered. Only dry brown stems remain of their former glory... but not all is lost yet. There are still lots of protein rich seed packets left at the ends of many stems. They not only insure the new plants germinating in the spring, but also provide nutrition for many over-wintering birds and small mammals in our area. By now most of the insect eating migratory birds have left on their annual trek south. A few hardy (foolhardy?) individuals are sticking it out for the winter. A handful of Robins always ignore the call of the south, but their normal ground foraging will be rudely interrupted by frost and a blanket of the white stuff. What to do? The smaller seed-eaters will soon polish off the remaining plant…
continue reading

2020 Long Point Butterfly Count Results

By Adam Timpf (NFN member and event organizer) The heat and humidity were a challenge to the comfort and energy of observers, but the weather was far better than the rains we had last year. Some people (author included) found the butterflies to be in short supply, while others reported good numbers and diversity. It was feast or famine depending where you were looking. We had great coverage with 35 observers in 15 parties spending 67.5 hours in the field, covering approximately 85.5 km. 3997 individuals of 54 species were recorded. This is our fifth highest individual total (average 2615), and just shy of our record species total of 56. We set several record highs and even managed to add a new species to the count! Highlights New to the count: Mulberry Wing (3). Amazingly, three groups photographed three individual Mulberry…
continue reading

Fisherville Christmas Bird Count (December 2019)

Report by Linda Thrower, Compiler December 28th, 2019 certainly didn’t bring the weather of 2017, but who needs wind chills of -30 C while trying to count birds? Instead it was on the plus side with the temperature of +2 C at midnight and no winds to speak of until later in the day. And who could complain about having open water—not the waterfowl. But even with the weather co-operating, the birds were well hidden. Did they know all of us were looking for them? Thankfully, there were a bunch of keen eyes out there and some really good species popped out here and there. So, the new high and low numbers look like this: Horned Grebes were found in their lowest numbers since 2001 when 197 were counted. This year, 76 were seen. American Wigeons are back on the…
continue reading

Woodhouse Christmas Bird Count (December 2019)

Report by Adam Timpf   These are the results of the 33rd Woodhouse CBC held on Sunday, December 15th, 2019. The Woodhouse CBC is centred seven kilometres east of Simcoe, at the crossroads of Highway 3 and Cockshutt Road at Renton in Norfolk County and roughly covers from Port Dover to Waterford and just west of Simcoe to east of Jarvis. First of all, let me thank all 45 participants for spending their time and energy and contributing important data to this count. It wouldn’t be possible without you and I hope I can count on you all again next December. Also, let me thank the NFN for sponsoring the count and to my mom Tresa for putting on a delicious wrap-up dinner at her house. Nourishment is always needed after a full day in the field! Weather: The weather…
continue reading

Christmas Bird Count: Fisherville

Report by Linda Thrower, Compiler The Fisherville Christmas Bird Count was held on Friday December 28th, 2018. Thanks so much for all the effort that was put out that day to count birds. Fisherville CBC has seven new records. Unfortunately, these records are all for the lowest number since the count began—but that’s what the day held. The weather was not what might be expected for late December, but it was a nice day for a walk. The temperature was +11C with no snow and open water visibility of about 10 km. As the afternoon arrived, so did the clouds and light drizzle. The winds picked up to about 20 to 25 km/hour from the south. Even then the birds hid. Highlights: So first, a new high number record Sandhill Cranes. First time seen in Square 8 and in their largest…
continue reading

Woodhouse Christmas Bird Count Report

Report by Adam Timpf The 32nd Woodhouse Christmas Bird Count (CBC) took place Sunday, December 16, 2018. The Woodhouse CBC is centred seven kilometers east of Simcoe, at the crossroads of Highway 3 and Cockshutt Road at Renton in Norfolk County and roughly covers from Port Dover to Waterford and just west of Simcoe to east of Jarvis. Weather: The weather this year was relatively warm, being on the plus side of 0. The lack of precipitation made for comfortable birding conditions, but the lack of snow cover made it tricky to find the birds since they were not concentrated. The wind was mostly calm or light from the northeast. Total Species: 82 with 1 additional Count Week species (average for the last 31 years = 80; average for the last 10 years = 86) Total Individuals: 16,635 (average for the last…
continue reading

Great Canadian Birdathon 2018: Mike McMillan’s Report

Story by Mike McMillan, photos by George Pond At 5:10 a.m. I arrived at George Pond's to join George, Peggy McArthur, Allan McEwan and Shelia Smith for our eventful day. During a quick stop at a grassy area on Luscombe Drive across from Turkstra Lumber we heard the buzzing-insect-like sound of a Grasshopper Sparrow and the musical sound of a Song Sparrow. As we continued on our way to Bird Studies Canada to meet with Betty Chanyi, Diane Salter and Anne Wynia we stopped on Charlotteville Road 5 near Young's Creek where a pair of Mallards flew over head and a singing Swamp Sparrow made its presence known. Further on, after crossing the Turkey Point Road, about 100 yards ahead of us a coyote trotted nonchalantly across the road. After travelling south and crossing Highway 24 we turned west onto…
continue reading

Great Canadian Birdathon 2018

By George Pond All Photos by the Author Well, another Great Canadian Birdathon is over. As usual, it was another fun, but tiring time. As a group we identified 132 species of birds and ate a cooler filled with chicken and other wraps, courtesy of the Blue Elephant in Simcoe. For over a quarter of a century I have been doing the Birdathon with Bruce and Ann Falls from Toronto and Steve Wilcox from Port Rowan. This year Bruce and Ann had decided that it was time to retire and Steve was busy with his daughter’s wedding. Fortunately, Ricky Dunn and her son Jeremy Hussel, who had joined us a few years ago were keen to go, and I was able to recruit my friend Rick Dowson from Simcoe to join us. We were delighted when the “birding bug” caught…
continue reading

Fisherville Christmas Bird Count

Compiled by Linda Thrower Thursday, December 28th, 2017. Wind chill around midnight was -30oC with a N.E wind of 15 km. By around 9:00 am, the temperature had risen to -19oC, but if you were dressed right, it was a nice day for looking for birds. But, you had to look for them, which gives this count a few more new lows than new highs. The day looked like this: Sandhill Cranes are back on the count but seem to be losing in numbers — 2011 – 10; 2017 – 2 (number the same as 2016). Lowest number of Canada Geese since 1999 when there were 1,967; now their number is 2,246. Lowest number of Tundra Swans since 1999 when 1 was also found. Last year’s number was 79, 2015 – 172, 2014 – 260. Gadwalls also have their lowest…
continue reading