Hey Everyone, December 1st will be the first day of winter listing for the season, running until February 28th. There have been about 354 species of birds recorded in Ontario during the winter period. Last winter 218 species were recorded which is well above average. The average is 205 species looking at data for the last 14 years. Some of the highlights from last year included Glaucous-winged Gull, Rock Wren, Black-throated Green Warbler, and Black-head Grosbeak. For more information on the Ontario Winter List I wrote an article for the OFO News on it which can be found here <http://www.ofo.ca/library/serve/on-39-1/index.html?page=9>.
Last year the OFO organized a winter birding challenge. To my knowledge they will not be running that again this year. If you are looking for a way to spice up your birding hobby this winter consider a winter list. This list could motivate you to get out in winter and enjoy nature. Just post your sightings to Ontbirds (if sufficiently rare), ebird.org, Ontario Birds Discord group (https://discord.gg/jhvUadmg) or send me an email, and I will update the list accordingly and provide an update to Ontbirds every couple of weeks. When using the Discord group, use the Ontario-wide channel for all birds rare to Ontario and the Winter-listers group for birds that are common to Ontario but rare in the winter. Once the winter season begins, you can check the list and inform me of any species that have been seen but are not present on the list. The list can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/myyulvs. I will 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 any additions or have any other corrections to the spreadsheet. I am excited to see what this winter will bring, Todd Hagedorn ReplyForward -- 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 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.
