Hello and Happy New Year!
This edition of Call Notes has some important end of year information for you. *2020 Trips and Workshops* The 2020 trip brochure will be in your mailbox by mid-January enclosed with the December issue of *Ontario Birds*. This year we have lined up several new workshops and events which we hope you will enjoy. The calendar of events will be available on our website in a week. In the meantime, please plan to start 2020 birding with friends at one of these trips. *January 1 (Wednesday) Peterborough Area* Leaders: Dave Milsom, Matthew Tobey. Meet 8:30 a.m. at parking lot of Peterborough Zoo on Water Street just south of Trent University. Bring good hiking shoes, warm gear. Possible owls, hawks, falcons, ducks, gulls, possible winter finches. *January 4 (Saturday) Leslie Street Spit, Toronto *Leaders: Dan and Garth Riley. Meet 9:00 a.m. at the base of the Leslie Street Spit (a.k.a. Tommy Thompson Park). The parking lot can be accessed from Unwin Avenue, about 30 metres west of the intersection of Leslie Street and Unwin Ave. Walk the spit for winter birds including Snowy Owls, Snow Buntings, Northern Shrike, sparrows, waterfowl and gulls. *January 12 (Sunday) Detroit River* Leaders: Kory Renaud, Jeremy Hatt. Meet 9am at Lakeview Park Marina - 9200 Riverside Drive East in Windsor. Winter is an excellent time of year to observe waterfowl, gulls, and birds of prey using the open water of the Detroit River. We will start the day at the marina, make a visit to Little River Corridor, continue down river to check a few spots, and finally end at Ojibway Park. Be sure to dress for the weather, pack some snacks, and bring a scope if you have one. Due to the duration of the outing (9am-3pm), we will make a brief stop for lunch along the way. *Membership Renewal and Donation Drive* OFO memberships expire December 31st unless you have a Life or multi-year membership. Please renew now to make sure that you don’t miss access to OFO’s trips, OFO News, Ontario Birds, the annual convention and other events. Your membership supports OFO’s activities in support of Ontario’s birding community and bird research including young birder education, Ontbirds and the Ontario Rare Birds Committee. This year we are asking for donations for the annual young birders camp in Algonquin Park which cannot continue without your support. Please go to *ofo.ca <http://ofo.ca>* to renew your membership and/or donate. If you prefer you can join and donate by sending a cheque to OFO’s treasurer, Brian Gibbon at… *Paperless Initiative and Emails* OFO has launched a paperless initiative to reduce the amount of paper we use, streamline administration and reduce costs. To that end, we will be making OFO News available electronically (please select the electronic version when you renew) and we urge you to join, renew, donate and register for events online. We rely on email to communicate with you. If your email address is not up to date, please login at ofo.ca with your old email address and update your email or you can also email us at [email protected] so we can update our records. Lastly, all of us on the Board wish you a wonderful bird-filled year! Lynne Freeman OFO President [email protected] -- Lynne Freeman [email protected] "Be bold, be brave, be amazing...." Simon de Pury, Work of Art _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) - 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 Visit the OFO Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists
