*This message has been approved by the Birdnews moderator.* Hi everyone,
As the year winds down and the holiday season approaches, the Ontario Bird Records Committee (OBRC) welcomes and encourages everyone to send in rare bird reports! This is a reminder for those who haven't done so already to submit your reports documenting rare bird sightings from this year *before* *January 10th, 2024. * Submitting a report is easy, at a minimum requiring the date, location and circumstances of your observation with a description of the bird. Reports may be submitted through the online submission form <http://www.ofo.ca/site/obrcreport>, with any accompanying media (photo, video, audio, drawings) sent directly to the secretary at *[email protected] <[email protected]>*. The review lists for the three reporting regions as well as guidelines for reporting can be found here <http://www.ofo.ca/site/Obrc>. Additional guidelines for documenting rare birds can be found here <http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/obrc.guidelines>. Whether you were the single observer or standing amongst a crowd of dozens we would love to receive a report from you: multiple reports for any rare bird sighting strengthens the record and increases the quality of documentation overall! If you have already submitted a checklist to eBird containing all relevant and complete details (i.e., all fields marked with an asterisk* on the online report form), we would be happy to accept a copy of this checklist as your submission. If you would like to submit your eBird checklist to us, please print the checklist from your browser as a .pdf file and simply attach it to an email to the secretary along with any media for the report. At this time, the OBRC is not in a position to exhaustively retrieve materials for rare bird reports directly from eBird and we really appreciate observers taking the time to send these to us! The following is a list of rare birds reported to various bird alerts or other platforms for which the OBRC has *received no documentation**:* Barrow's Goldeneye -- Kesagami Provincial Park, 09-Jun-23 Black-chinned Hummingbird -- Presqu'ile Provincial Park, 15-Oct-23 Black-crowned Night-Heron -- Mission Island Marsh, Thunder Bay 21-May-23 Black-headed Gull -- Long Point, 07-Apr-23 Black-headed Gull -- Toronto, 19-May-23 Black-headed Gull -- Point Pelee, NP 22-May-23 Bullock's Oriole -- Waterloo, 15-Nov-23 California Gull -- Hamilton, 04-Apr-23 Cinnamon Teal -- Rainy River, 18-May-23 Common Gallinule -- New Liskeard Sewage Lagoons, 04-Jun-23 Common Ringed Plover -- New Tecumseth, Simcoe, 27-Jul-23 Common Snipe -- Mission Island, Thunder Bay, 19-May-23 Dovekie -- Ipperwash Beach, Lambton, 09-Nov-23 Eurasian Tree Sparrow -- Warner Bay, Bruce Peninsula, 22-May-23 Eurasian Tree Sparrow -- Rainy River, 07-Nov-23 Ferruginous Hawk -- Erieau, Chatham-Kent, 24-May-23 Forster's Tern -- Hurkett Cove CA, Thunder Bay, 28-May-23 Glaucous-winged Gull -- Cockshutt Rd, Brant, 24-Mar-23 Glaucous-winged Gull -- Leamington, Essex, 26-Nov-23 Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch -- Aylmer, 13-Nov-23 Great Egret -- Esker Lakes Provincial Park, Cochrane, 25-Jul-23 Great Egret -- Highway 566, Timiskaming, 09-Aug-23 Green Heron -- Rainy River, 01-Jun-23 Green Heron -- Quetico Provincial Park, Rainy River, 06-Aug-23 Least Bittern -- Hilliardton Marsh, Timiskaming, 04-Jun-23 Little Blue Heron -- Amherstburg, Essex, 10-Aug-23 Little Gull -- Hurkett Cove CA, Thunder Bay, 16-May-23 MacGillivray’s Warbler -- Thunder Cape Bird Observatory, 28-Aug-23 Northern Wheatear -- Fort Hope, Kenora, 07-Sep-23 Painted Bunting -- Dyers Bay Rd, Bruce, 06-May-23 Pink-footed Goose -- Westley Point, Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, 06-Apr-23 Pink-footed Goose -- Port Rowan, Norfolk, 05-Nov-23 Piping Plover -- Thunder Bay, 16-May-23 Short-billed Gull -- Cobden boat launch, Renfrew, 26-Oct-23 Smith's Longspur -- Melbourne, Middlesex, 16-Apr-23 Swainson's Hawk -- Cabot Head Provincial Nature Reserve, Bruce, 13-Sep-23 Swainson's Hawk -- Frontenac, 23-Oct-23 Swainson's Hawk -- Holiday Beach CA, Essex, 14-Nov-23 Swallow-tailed Kite -- Scarborough, Toronto, 14-Sep-23 Townsend's Warbler -- Claireville CA, Peel, 12-Jun-23 Tufted Duck -- Brighton, Northumberland, 02-Apr-23 Western Flycatcher -- Rondeau Provincial Park, Chatham-Kent, 26-Nov-23 Western Kingbird -- Terrace Bay Golf Course, Thunder Bay, 16-Sep-23 Willet -- Hurkett Dock, Thunder Bay, 18-May-23 Yellow-crowned Night Heron -- Penetanguishene, Simcoe, 05-Oct-23 A huge thanks to everyone for taking the time to submit reports to the OBRC! Your contributions to scientific knowledge and our understanding of the occurrence and distribution of Ontario's avifauna are greatly appreciated. Happy birding! Nicole Richardson OBRC Chair -- 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.
