Birders,
Through the 2015-2016 winter birding season, a period running from December 1 through February 29, a total of 221 bird species were reported throughout the province of Ontario. This is our second highest total ever, following the 224 species seen during the winter of 2011-2012. Of course the mild December certainly played a role in this. A long list of provincial rarities were observed during the winter period, including Pink-footed Goose (1st winter record) "Bewick's" Tundra Swan (1st winter record, as far as I know), Smew, Great Cormorant, Northern Fulmar, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Rufous Hummingbird, Cave Swallow, Mountain Bluebird, "Audubon's" Yellow-rumped Warbler, Spotted Towhee, Summer Tanager, putative Bullock's Oriole, Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch and Eurasian Tree Sparrow. Other winter rarities included Sora, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (1st winter record for Ontario, and one of very few for North America), Wood Thrush, Black-throated Green Warbler, and Yellow-breasted Chat, to nam e a few. It truly was an exceptional winter birding period. Some of the misses from this past winter included Blue-winged Teal (found in 6 of last 8 winters), Slaty-backed Gull (found in 6 of last 8 winters), Pomarine Jaeger (found in 5 of last 8 winters), and "Hornemann's" Hoary Redpoll (found in 5 of last 8 winters). The list can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/myyulvs . I have also provided a link on my blog, located at http://joshvandermeulen.blogspot.ca/p/ontario-winter-bird-list.html . As always, please send me an email if you know of a sighting of one of the missing species observed between December 1, 2015 and February 29, 2016, or if you see any errors in the spreadsheet either from this winter or from winters past. Good birding, Josh Vandermeulen joshvandermeulen.blogspot.com _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide
