My Birdathon and Big Day for 2016 is now in the record books – literally! We had 174 species of birds (I saw 173 of them) in the 24-hour period starting at 4:45 p.m. on Monday and ending on Tuesday at the same time. This was a personal new high for me (previous high was 172 species two years ago).
Peter Hogenbirk joined me as he has so many years in the past and his great companionship, tireless searching and great birding skill made it a huge success. We started in Algonquin on the Mizzy Lake trail and then did Spruce Bog, Opeongo Road, the Hwy 60 corridor and Km 8 area. Leaving the park after dark, we drove to Carden Alvar and birded through much of the night searching for sparrows, rails, bitterns and owls, etc. By dawn we had exhausted the spots we wanted to visit and now headed to Darlington P.P. where we would begin the daytime portion of the trip. From here we visited Oshawa Second Marsh, Cranberry Marsh, Thickson Woods, Westney Road, and Nonquon lagoons until about 1:30 p.m. then we went back to Carden to finish our day there. Tired but pleased we saw many great thing today, including 3 Spruce Grouse, Gray Jays, N. Saw-whet Owl (I missed this one), 3 more species of owls, Acadian Flycatcher, Piping Plover & Whimbrel (plus 13 other species), Sedge Wren, 23 species of warblers including Hooded and a killer Golden-winged male, 12 species of sparrows and many Pine Siskins. All in all a great day. I’ll be sending out a more fulsome report to anyone who sponsored me so stay tuned .. and oh yeah, it’s not too late – if you’d like to donate to my Birdathon here’s my prate link for the Bird Studies Canada website. http://birdscanada.kintera.org/birdathon/geoffcarpentier Btw within minutes either side of the 24 hours we saw Olive-sided Flycatcher, Green Heron, Sharp-shinned Hawk and Boreal Chickadee but all were missed during the official count period! Sigh – that’s the peril and the fun of a day like this! Thanks to all who helped plan and deliver this wonderful annual event. I think this is about the 33rd year I’ve done this! Gottta rest up for next year now! Geoff Carpentier AVOCET NATURE SERVICES Contact me at: 905-852-2011 or [email protected] Visit my website: www.avocetnatureservices.com Specializing in Environmental & Natural History Surveys and Expedition & Personalized Guiding Services _______________________________________________ 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
