June 14 2025 (Saturday) Happy Valley
Leader: Kevin Shackleton.
The Happy Valley Forest area is made up of two linked tracks managed by The Nature Conservancy of Canada and a third managed by York Region Forests. The field trip was attended by 21 of the 27 members and guests who registered for the outing. The weather was glorious with mid 20C temperatures and mainly sunny skies. Full leaf out had happened so it was in darkened woods where the group sought elusive forest birds. Only one attendee expressed a desire to tick the Hooded Warbler species breeding there since the last Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas. We heard two and one of the photographers snagged a photo. Views of Wood Thrush, Ovenbird, Blue-winged Warbler and Indigo Bunting were much appreciated by the group.
A coffee and washroom break in Schomberg at about 10 am gave some the energy to complete the outing. We walked a little over 6.5 kilometres in about four hours, allowing for the break and travel time. The feedback was generally positive. We identified 34 species on the day.
Kevin Shackleton
June 8 2025 (Sunday) Rose Point Trail
Leader: Mark Calhoun.
Rose Point Trail, Parry Sound.
Led by Mark Calhoun
On a beautiful sunny day a total of 10 OFO members participated in a morning on the Rose Point Trail. Breeding grounds birds were out in force and the Trail was filled with singing American Redstart and Chestnut Sided Warblers In total we saw and heard a total of 55 species in this 4km walk along the old Parry Sound Algonquin Park railway bed.
Highlights included a singing Mourning Warbler. We had some good views of a pair of Broad Winged Hawks. This trail was a good vireo day as we had many Red Eyed vireos but also a Blue Headed, Warbling and Yellow Throated Vireo as well.
After a washroom break we ventured to Rugged Trail in Parry Sound for a chance to see the endemic Prairie Warbler. Unfortunately we only had a few brief glimpses of one and heard just a few songs.
Terrific day of birding
Special thanks to Cynthia McAllister for tallying our E Bird list.
And thanks goes to John McAllister for all the terrific photos
June 7 2025 (Saturday) Limestone Islands
Leader: Mark Calhoun.
**Limestone Islands Provincial Park and the Georgian Bay Archipelago **
On June 7th Mark Calhoun led a group of 9 OFO on a boat birding tour of the Georgian Bay Archipelago and specifically the Limestone Islands Provincial Park Birding colonies.
We had chartered Georgian Bay Tours for the entire day departing Snugs Harbour at 10am. There was a report of a very rare Scissor Tailed Flycatcher on an island not far from where we started just 48 hours prior to our event. We traveled to the island but we did not see this rarity.
The Georgian Bay Archipelago is the largest freshwater Archipelago in the world. We traveled through the McCoy Island chain en route to the Limestone Islands which is the farthest west in the this island chain.
Limestone exceeded all expectations. Though we did not see a large number of species we did see species quite rare to Parry Sound District. The Islands contain large breeding flocks of Common Tern and Ring Billed Gull. As well nesting colonies of Black Crowned Night Heron, Caspian Tern and American Herring Gull are present in small numbers.
It must be said and pointed out that visiting the Limestone Islands is not permitted during breeding season. In order to organize this trip, I had to get special permission from the Park Superintendent which we did. Not only did we get permission he decided to join us and take our group onto the island. Thank you to Park Superintendent Kenton Otterbein for showing us around the Limestone Islands. We did see a pair of endangered species on the Island and we were asked not to disclose which species for their protection.
Notable species we did see included a Marbled Godwit which was a lifer for many. Dunlin, Least Sandpiper, Semi Palmated Sandpiper, Bald Eagle pair on nest with two visible young, Northern Pintail, Spotted Sandpiper were part of our sightings.
Special thanks goes to Aileen Cassels for all the photography shown here. Thanks to Georgian Bay Tours and to Kenton Otterbein. This day exceeded all expectations.
Mark Calhoun
May 24 2025 (Saturday) Timmins
Leader: Roxane Filion, Pierre Noel.
OFO Field Trip: Porcupine Lake and Area It was 4?C but felt like 0?C with the north-west wind and light rain when 14 of us started our morning at White Waterfront Conservation Area for the annual OFO Porcupine Lake Field Trip. We started the day by scanning the lake and shoreline; we were rewarded with great views of a Red-breasted Merganser pair, a Blue-winged Teal and a Northern Shoveler, along with a small flock of Bonaparte's Gulls on the beach. We later moved to a more sheltered trail along the south section of Porcupine Lake, where we started our walk watching 2 Black-capped Chickadees going in and out of a cavity where they were likely nesting. This was one of many instances of breeding evidence we found and added to the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas with the NatureCounts app during the day. Many species of songbirds were singing and actively feeding along the sheltered trail. With the unseasonably cold stretch leading up to this day, the leaves weren't fully out yet, making it possible for us to admire Cape May, Tennessee, Blackburnian, and Black-and-white Warblers, Northern Parula, and American Redstarts and some very cooperative Philadelphia Vireos. At one point, two beautiful Sandhill Cranes flew over us very low, calling. It eventually warmed up to 10?C by noon as we walked the Bart Thompson trail. We ended the day listening to Winter Wren, watching a few more warblers, some kinglets, an interaction between two cooperative Hermit Thrushes and a Red-breasted Nuthatch excavating a cavity.
The forecasted rain held off, and we were able to watch and listen to 69 species in total. It was a great spring morning in good company. A sincere thanks to Hart, Michael, Sarah, John, Helen, Vicki, Jim, Lina, Melanie, Jean, Gary, R?nald, Audrey and Christian for joining us. And a special thanks to Pierre Noel for co-leading this trip.
Trip Report on eBird: https://ebird.org/tripreport/376071
Roxane Filion South Porcupine
Photos: Pierre Noel, Melanie Palik, Gary Dowe, Lina Comeau
May 24 2025 (Saturday) Lakefield area
Leader: Megan Heft, Dave Milsom, Brian Wales.
16 dedicated birders braved the elements to attend the Lakefield area fieldtrip on May 24th led by Megan Heft. Despite a few fairly heavy showers, no-one's spirits were dampened and the group enjoyed a productive day seeing or hearing a total of 68 species. Our morning walk around the Lakefield Sewage Lagoons produced few ducks or shorebirds but an impressive list of aerial predators including Chimney Swifts, Tree, Barn, Bank, Northern Rough-winged and Cliff swallows, Red-tailed and Broad-winged hawks, Turkey Vulture, Bald Eagle and American Kestrel. After a 30-minute stop at Tims, we drove to Sawyer Creek Marsh where best finds were Alder Flycatcher in full song, Virginia Rail, Ring-necked ducks and Sandhill Cranes. Our third stop was May's Creek Marsh where we listened to the loud calls of 2 Least Bitterns as well as singing Marsh Wren and Virginia Rail. Just south of here we found an Upland Sandpiper feeding with Killdeer and Robins in a partly flooded field. Our final stop at Indian Line produced many Canada Geese goslings next to the pond, calling Bobolinks and Eastern Meadowlarks, and a hunting male Northern Harrier. Many thanks to Megan Heft for leading this very productive trip, and to our group as a whole for their enthusiasm, great spotting, and their good humour even when it was raining. Special thanks to Selwyn Township and their dedicated staff for ensuring our morning visit to the lagoons was a success.
May 24 2025 (Saturday) Tiny Marsh
Leader: Kevin Shackleton.
The weather forecast yesterday was not great and it was quite cool with high winds and occasional showers. There were 22 people registered and 8 showed up. Chris Dunn joined me and was a big help. The group were very keen birders and there were several who had done the trip with me in the past. The group met at Tim Hortons in Elmvale at 6:45 am and were headed to the Tiny Marsh Visitor Centre by 7 am. There are no washrooms at the site. We spent nearly 3 and half hours here and walked about 4 Km over the trails. Highlights were Bald Eagle, Osprey on nest, a Black Tern, a Common Nighthawk and a young Sandhill Crane. A non bird highlight was a fawn nursing from a doe within reasonable viewing distance. We had 59 species here. We made a pair of short stops on Tiny Flos Town Line for shorebirds and grassland species before moving to Tiny Concession 3 for forest birds where we had great views of a pair of Scarlet Tanagers and identified 18 species. There was a stop at Tim Hortons in Wasaga Beach at about noon before we moved to Beach One for Piping Plover. There was only one of that species and it took some time for all of the remaining group to see it, but it came very close before we headed to Collingwood. We made three short stops in Collingwood. The Cliff Swallow nesting sites on the elevators have been removed so it is not easy to see the species here. We did add the lingering Redhead at the boat launch, but did not see Chimney Swifts circling the town hall tower. A couple of stops near the Collingwood Airport did give us Upland Sandpiper, but it was not seen well by anybody but Chris Dunn. We had great looks at Bobolinks displaying. The last stop was the Stayner Eco Park and only three of the original group remained. We added Short-billed Dowitcher, Least and Semi-palmated Sandpiper as well as Green-winged Teal and Hooded Merganser to the day list. Chris Dunn was doing his birdathon and ended the day with 101 species. My eBird checklists, of the birds I saw or heard, was 94 species. A successful field trip in late migration with less than optimal weather conditions.
Kevin Shackleton
May 12 2025 (Monday) Chippewa and Mission Island
Leader: Nick Escott.
TBFN Field Trip May 12 2025 Chippewa and Mission Island
At 8 am under sunny skies, temperature 10oC, 10 birders met at the Chippewa beach parking lot for a leisurely stroll through the park and campground, and over the bridge to the berms around the wooded, grassy and open water cells of the old harbour dredging landfill site, now a popular hiking, dog-walking and birding area.
Our two guides recorded the birds seen and heard, and had scopes available for close-up viewing of waterbirds. After lunch a few members of the group proceeded on to the Mission Island Conservation Area where the temperature climbed to 18oC and a few more species were added to the list.
A total of 59 species were recorded, mostly at the Chippewa site. While most of the waterfowl had departed Thunder Bay for destinations further north, lingering waterfowl included 12 species of geese and ducks including 2 Gadwall, and one American Coot. A surprise was a group of 3 Sandhill Cranes flying over and calling. As expected, a few early warblers were tallied, 8 species including Orange-crowned, Pine and Cape May. The highlight was a Loggerhead Shrike hunting in the grassy north cell, a rare bird for Thunder Bay.
Nick Escott
May 11 2025 (Sunday) Rondeau
Leader: Stewart MacDonald.
SPRING BIRDING AT RONDEAU PROVINCIAL PARK
MAY 11, 2025
STEWART MACDONALD (leader)
On May 11, 2025, 11 birding enthusiasts joined Stewart for a lovely day of birding in Rondeau Provincial Park. We were greeted by sunny skies and moderate winds on the day.
!8 species of Warblers were observed and over 65 Species of birds in total were counted on the day. Many of the species of Warbler were quite numerous.
The group started at "Warbler Way" and walked to the "Pony Barn" where we observed active groups of Warblers and other songbirds along the way. Most notably, a pair of White-Eyed Vireos gave the group excellent views at eye level. There were Wood Thrushes actively vocalizing in this area, and Veery along with Swainson's Thrushes were quite numerous.
We then proceeded to the Park Visitor's Center where the Tulip Tree Trail is located. Just as we got started, a very vocal Yellow-Throated Vireo was located and the group got good views as the bird came down from the canopy for us.
Along the trail were other notable warblers such as Ovenbird and Northern Waterthrush. The group was rewarded on the trail by a vocalizing male Prothonotary Warbler in beautiful plumage!
To finish off a successful day of birding, the group picnicked back at the entrance to Warbler Way and we were entertained by an Eastern Bluebird! A Fantastic way to end a Mother's Day at Rondeau Provincial Park.
