Greetings birders, Yesterday (May 17) Mark Wiercinski, John Haselmayer and I completed our annual Bruce Peninsula birdathon. We affectionately dubbed this "Birders Gone Wild on the Bruce!" and fueled our enthusiasm with more junk-food calories than I would like to admit.
Our tally for the day was 168 species, the second best result we've had since setting a record of 174 species in 2004. We were treated to stunningly beautiful weather, a healthy wave of migrants in the region, and many resident breeding birds already well-established on their territories. Here are the details and some highlights: Date: Monday, May 17, 2010 Time: 2:05am - 9:30pm Mileage: 576km Total Species: 168 Weather: cool clear night, warm sunny day with low to moderate winds First Bird: Great Horned Owl Last Bird: American Woodcock Basic Route: Tobermory to Port Elgin and back. Noteworthy birds: Yellow-billed Cuckoo (1) - MacGregor Point Prov Park (Ducks Unlimited pond) Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (1) - Cabot Head Provincial Nature Reserve Clay-coloured Sparrow (1) - Cabot Head Provincial Nature Reserve (at lighthouse) Long-tailed Duck (rafts at Dyers Bay and Colpoys Bay) White-winged Scoter (40+) - Dyers Bay Piping Plover Peregrine Falcon (1) - Black Creek Provincial Nature Reserve (near Stokes Bay) Happy birding! Ethan Meleg Tobermory, ON [email protected] _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
