Hi Ontbirders, I had the honour of being OFO’s Guest Birder for the 2014 Birdathon and did my big day on May 27th within Northumberland County. Two long-time friends, Barb Charlton and Don Sutherland helped me out this year and were critical to our success. We struggled throughout the day to come up with an appropriate team name, and ended up with Barb’s suggestion of the Poison Ivy Leaguers - a fitting title given the dominance of this species in the sand hills of Northumberland.
We started on the Presqu’ile causeway ay 0230h with a calling Saw-whet Owl as the first bird and ended outside Warkworth with an Eastern Screech Owl at 2230h as the last bird. In between we had an incredible run of luck and saw a total of 163 species, which I think is a new one day record for the County. While we didn’t find any mind-blowing rarities we saw some great birds. Highlights included 2 Brant at Presqu’ile, a Ring-necked Duck at the Calnan Road Pond near Grafton, a Bufflehead at the Brighton Constructed Wetland, a Red-throated Loon flying west past the Presqu’ile Lighthouse, a lovely Goshawk in the extensive forests south of Rice Lake, 13 species of shorebirds included 2 Red Knot at Presqu’ile and 3 Whimbrel at Cobourg Harbour, Iceland Gull at Port Hope Harbour, an Olive-sided Flycatcher near Dundonald, a Carolina Wren on Paxton Dr. at Presqu’ile, a Northern Mockingbird at the back of Beach 2 that was scared up by a Merlin, at least 4 Blue-winged Warblers west of Codrington, and 2 Hooded Warblers near Dundonald. A full report and checklist will be produced for OFO shortly, but I want to thank all of you who sponsored me (and it’s not too late if you haven’t but would like to). The money raised helps OFO and Bird Studied Canada in their efforts to promote birding, research and the conservation of our birdlife. I would also like to thank Roger Frost of Port Hope who passed along some great tips and Andrea Kingsley and Bill Gilmour. These two were on the original team but had to pass this year because of other commitments but they helped develop and refine our route from their participation in previous years. Cheers, Doug McRae Doug McRae P.O. Box 3010 Brighton, Ontario K0K 1H0 613-475-5014 _______________________________________________ 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 Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide
