Hi Everyone, After the first week of December, the 2025-2026 Ontario winter bird list stands at 161 species. Last year at this time we had recorded 167 species.
Interesting birds seen so far include: Black-bellied Plover, Townsend's Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, and Black-throated Gray Warbler. The Black-bellied Plover was found at Amherst Island by Barb O'Neill. The Townsend's Warbler was found in Peel by David Reid. The Yellow-throated Warbler was found by Sharon Nethercott in Sarnia. Jean Farnan found a a Black-throated Gray Warbler in Niagara.. Like all years we are still missing some common species. Some of these missing species are Brant, King Eider, Wilson's Snipe, Black-legged Kittiwake, Townsend's Solitaire, and Varied Thrush. With the Christmas Bird Counts starting soon we will hopefully be filling in these gaps. Winter Listers can keep track of what's being seen in the Ontario Birds Discord <https://discord.com/invite/kdYPQBdQgy>or the OFO Discord <https://discord.com/invite/npbCzXVhZ2>. If you are interested in going out on an organized group trip or bird talk, the OFO is running these winter events: - Peterborough Area January 1, 2026 - Bruce's (Groovy) Big Year - Online Meeting January 7, 2026 - Winter Birds of the Detroit River: Windsor January 10, 2026 Make sure to register and note the dates on your calendars. You can register on the OFO website <http://www.ofo.ca/site/Tripsupcoming>. There are more events in 2026 that I have not listed above. The OFO also has tips on how to find winter birds here <http://www.ofo.ca/content/winter-birding/tips>. The winter list can be viewed here <https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1umLIsr70JMC85hbAq82tryI1Jz55M8oRGxapWBr7dIc/edit?gid=0#gid=0>. 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. Have a nice week, 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 find out more about OFO, please visit our website at ofo.ca or Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists.
