Hey, Last evening, I heard and saw a male Bobwhite along the Thames River, west of Woodstock. I know, most of us tend to dismiss any record of Bobwhite these days, as it would seem that the original population was extirpated years ago, especially in any area away from Walpole Island or other final Bobwhite refuges - but this is my 4th record in the past ten years in the same location.
The site is an extensive natural area, stretching from Woodstock to Beachville [over 6 km] and is a wide river valley, with broad expanses of floodplain grassland / meadow, thicket, agriculture and cedar swamp. This same area did have a healthy population of Bobwhite in the 70's, but at that time much of the valley was lightly pastured. At any rate, this population does seem to be persistent - that is unless someone is just continually dumping Bobwhite in the same location! Maybe with the milder winters, Oxford can once again have a self-sustaining Bobwhite population, even if it is sourced from released stock birds....... Cheers, James Holdsworth, Biological Consulting Services 14 Marian St, RR#1 Woodstock, On, N4S-7V6 [519]537-2027 226-228-1428 [cell] - note - NEW [email protected] _______________________________________________ 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
