This post has been approved by Ontbird Moderators. Hello Ontario Birders,
Hope everyone is enjoying the winter listing season. I wanted to give an update on the Ontario Winter List for 2020-2021. The current list total sits at a high 216. To give some perspective, the final 2019-2020 list was 202, the 2018-2019 list was 203, and the 2017-2018 list was 200. The average number of species for the last 13 years is 204. This means the Ontario Winter Bird List is much higher than average. The highest species number in a year is 220 from 2015-2016. Given there is almost another month left a few more species could be added. Additions since my last update on Dec. 29, 2020, include two exceptional and new birds to the winter bird list: Scott's Oriole found by Linda Kaufman in Grey County, and Rock Wren found by Carmell Hagen in a workshop in Glen Roberston. Other rare winter birds found since the last update include Spotted Towhee, found by Erin Nixon in Algoma District (8/13, found in 8 of the last 13 winters), Golden-Crowned Sparrow in Sioux Lookout (2/13), and Dicksesel, coming to a feeder in Port Rowan (2/13). Due to the current high species count and how late we are into the winter season, not many common birds are left to be added. We are missing some of the uncommon winter birds seen in previous years. Some of these uncommon birds missing from the list include Brant (13/13), Eared Grebe (7/13), Osprey (10/13), Sora (4/13), Blue-headed Vireo (8/13) and Vesper Sparrow (12/13). The list can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/myyulvs . I try to update the spreadsheet every couple of days or whenever I hear of a new addition. Please let me know if you hear of a new addition or any other correction to the spreadsheet. Thank you to everyone who has notified me of omissions. Good birding, Todd Hagedorn -- Ontbirds and Birdnews are moderated email Listservs provided by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) as a service to all birders in Ontario. Birdnews is reserved for announcements, location summaries, first of year reports, etc. To post a message on Birdnews, send an email to: [email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns, contact the Birdnews Moderators by email at [email protected]. Please review posting rules and guidelines at http://ofo.ca/site/content/listserv-guidelines To edit your membership settings visit the Birdnews setup page at: http://ontbirds.ca/mailman/listinfo/birdnews_ontbirds.ca. During the COVID-19 pandemic, all Ontario birders should be taking extra precautions and following local, provincial, and federal regulations regarding physical distancing and non-essential travel. To find out more about OFO, please visit our website at ofo.ca or Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists.
