July 11 2026 (Saturday) Durham lakefront
Leader: Dave Milsom, Cathy Douglas, Brian Wales.
A dedicated OFO group enjoyed a beautiful day's birding along the Whitby lakefront on July 11. Best sightings were 7 Green Herons at Thickson's Point, including two fledged juveniles in a Pine tree, a singing male Orchard Oriole, at least 2 Willow flycatchers, a sub-adult Lesser Black-backed Gull in Whitby harbour, plus 10 Bonaparte's gulls, Common and Caspian terns, and 3 Gadwall. Cranberry disappointed but we still found an adult Bald Eagle, Merlin, Osprey, Marsh wrens, Spotted Sandpiper, and a close-by Virginia Rail. Once again,many thanks to a great group of participants, and co-leaders Cathy Douglas and Brian Wales.
Species Observed : 53 4 Checklists 4 Species with Photos Species Observed Show all details Native or Naturalized 196 Canada Goose Checklists 3 26 Mute Swan Checklists 2 3 Gadwall Media 2Checklists 2 14 Mallard Checklists 3 6 Mourning Dove Checklists1 1 Virginia Rail Checklists1 1 Spotted Sandpiper Checklists1 10 Bonaparte's Gull Checklists1 46 Ring-billed Gull Checklists2 3 American Herring Gull Checklists1 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull Checklists1 13 Caspian Tern Checklists3 5 Common Tern Checklists1 89 Double-crested Cormorant Checklists3 7 Green Heron Media1Checklists2 5 Turkey Vulture Checklists3 1 Osprey Checklists1 1 Bald Eagle Checklists1 2 Belted Kingfisher Checklists2 2 Downy Woodpecker Checklists2 1 Merlin Checklists1 2 Willow Flycatcher Checklists1 1 Eastern Phoebe Checklists1 3 Eastern Kingbird Checklists1 4 Eastern Warbling Vireo Checklists1 1 Red-eyed Vireo Checklists1 1 Blue Jay Checklists1 1 Common Raven Checklists1 3 Black-capped Chickadee Checklists1 80 Bank Swallow Checklists1 5 Tree Swallow Checklists2 1 Northern Rough-winged Swallow Checklists1 2 Barn Swallow Checklists1 1 Northern House Wren Checklists1 2 Marsh Wren Checklists1 28 European Starling Checklists1 2 Gray Catbird Checklists1 5 American Robin Checklists3 4 Cedar Waxwing Checklists2 2 House Sparrow Checklists1 10 American Goldfinch Checklists3 12 Song Sparrow Checklists4 5 Swamp Sparrow Checklists2 4 Orchard Oriole Media1Checklists1 1 Baltimore Oriole Checklists1 27 Red-winged Blackbird Checklists3 8 Brown-headed Cowbird Media1Checklists1 7 Common Grackle Checklists1 1 Common Yellowthroat Checklists1 2 American Redstart Checklists1 12 Northern Yellow Warbler Checklists2 5 Northern Cardinal
July 4 2026 (Saturday) Rosetta McClain Gardens
Leader: John Nishikawa, Rose Petrich, Jack Alvo.
TRIP REPORT
Rosetta McClain Gardens
Disability Pride Month
July 4, 2026
Co-leaders: Rose Petrich, John Nishikawa and Jack Alvo
Trip report by Jack Alvo
After a week of stifling temperatures, we all woke up on Saturday morning to pouring rain. Would the outing happen? But the rain subsided and nine participants met up with the three co-leaders. Two participants had visible mobility challenges, so we went at our usual slow pace for this outing. And with most participants being new birders, we focused on some of the common bird songs and visual I.D. markings.
A male Cardinal sang from an open perch for a couple of minutes providing good views while in the background, we heard Robins, Song Sparrows and Downy Woodpecker. Then, an Orchard Oriole sang once, an unexpected but welcome surprise.
From the Southwest corner of the park, we viewed a large dead tree. It was visited on and off by two Northern Flickers, a Downy woodpecker, a Blue Jay and a young Merlin.
Then we turned the corner and one participant found the Orchard Oriole high in a tree. With patience and good directions, eventually everyone had a good look at this beautiful male.
Overhead and also while looking over the bluff, we saw a number of Bank Swallows. However, visibility over the lake was very poor.
We took a time out when the rain started up again. After it let up and just before saying our goodbyes, Rose pointed out the nest hole where Northern Flickers were nesting, high up on the trunk. The almost full-size chick poked its head out as you can see from the attached photo. That was a great way to end our outing!
In total, the group found 24 species. Click here to see the ebird list, which includes some additional photos: https://ebird.org/checklist/S367626185
As usual, this was a joint outing by OFO and TOC in our continuing effort to make birding accessible to all.
June 14 2026 (Sunday) Limestone Islands
Leader: Mark Calhoun, Colleen Reilly.
Limestone Islands Provincial Park
Leaders: Mark Calhoun and Colleen Reilly
The two Limestone Islands trips in mid June joined together members from OFO, the Pipits, and Into the Wild for a day on beautiful Georgian Bay. The trip provided respectful viewing opportunities for nesting colonies of American Herring Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Common Tern, and Caspian Tern. Highlights included a huge Bald Eagle nest, as well as twelve Black-crowned night herons with two chicks, a species that is difficult to find in the Parry Sound area.
June 5 2026 (Friday) Rainy River
Leader: Angie Williams, Ken Williams.
OFO?s 2026 Rainy River trip took place on June 5 and 6. The weather was far from rainy, with perfectly sunny, warm, slightly breezy conditions. Nine birders participated, led by Angie and Ken Williams, with much assistance from Phil Waggett.
The weekend?s birding included a variety of locations and habitats: some roadside birding along agricultural land and also along a stretch of boreal forest; a short hike on a trail that went through a mixed forest and ended at Lake of the Woods; the sewage lagoons at Rainy River and Emo; a small riverside park; and the town of Rainy River itself.
Some of the ?target birds? that were seen include: Sharp-tailed Grouse, Sedge Wren, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Brewer?s Blackbird, Black-billed Magpie, and Western Meadowlark. Everyone was eager to find Connecticut Warblers and, although we didn?t manage to see them, we did hear a couple singing on territory. A pair of Marbled Godwits were a big hit, as they flew out from a grassland, calling vigorously. American White Pelicans flew overhead frequently, but nobody ever got tired of watching them. An Olive-sided Flycatcher gave great views. Another highlight was Golden-winged Warblers.
The birders from southern Ontario enjoyed sightings of Black-backed Woodpecker, American Three-toed Woodpecker, Lincoln?s Sparrow and Spruce Grouse. The northern birders were treated to Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Baltimore Oriole, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak.
As always, there were unexpected surprises: 21 Wilson?s Phalaropes and a half dozen White-rumped Sandpipers at the Rainy River Lagoons; a pair of Canvasbacks at the Emo lagoons; a small flock of Northern Rough-winged Swallows using burrows in a sandbank. And there are always some misses: a Boreal Chickadee that was singing at a known location earlier in the week; an American Avocet that was at the Emo lagoons on June 4, but not seen later; Eastern Whip-poor-wills that should have been singing at a park recommended by a local enthusiast, but they weren?t. Oh well, there?s always next year.
All in all, we listed 121 species of birds during our two days together. The eBird trip report can be found here: https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Febird.org%2Ftripreport%2F532787&data=05%7C02%7C%7C7a90f73584fb42c6a62b08deca5ad734%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C639170688670033720%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=8dKngkvAFAIP7Da0KFBrXhT0qnFBvlliMHB1GKmFur4%3D&reserved=0. It was a wonderful weekend of birding and hanging out with new friends! I hope this annual trip will take place for many more years.
Angie Williams
May 24 2026 (Sunday) Lakefield
Leader: Megan Heft, Dave Milsom, Brian Wales.
Date: May 24th, 2026 Trip Leaders: Megan Heft, Dave Milsom, Brian Wales
We had a successful but rainy start to our day, with 13 resilient birders sticking it out through the rain. We started the day at Lakefield Sewage Lagoons, with great views of some shorebirds foraging on the algae mats including Dunlin, Least Sandpiper, and Spotted Sandpiper. Swallows- including Tree, Barn, Bank, Cliff, and Northern Rough-winged- were foraging over the lagoons, taking advantage of a large insect emergence. We took a break at Tim?s after trying a local field (we had hope for Black-bellied Plover, but missed it and saw Caspian Terns). Afterwards, we headed to Sawyer Creek Marsh where we had excellent view of Virginia Rail along with a few notable flyovers including a Green Heron, Red-tailed Hawk, and winnowing Wilson?s Snipe. We continued onto our next stop, a grassy field where we observed territorial disputes amongst breeding Bobolink. We enjoyed a brief view of a Grasshopper Sparrow along with a couple of Savannah Sparrows before we moved on for our final stop. We ended the day at May?s Creek Marsh with Sora, Virginia Rail, Sandhills Cranes, and a pair of Willow Flycatchers. Overall, we had a productive day with a total of 75 species.
May 23 2026 (Saturday) Porcupine Lake
Leader: Roxane Filion, Pierre Noel.
OFO Field Trip - Porcupine Lake and Area - 23 May 2026 (South Porcupine/Timmins) Leaders: Roxane Filion, Pierre Noel
Under a sunny sky at 7am, 18 participants met us at White Waterfront where we began a great day by looking at Least Sandpipers feeding along the shoreline. We walked around the waterfront looking at waterfowl in the scope and watching Bonaparte's Gulls and a Great Blue Heron fly over the lake to the sound of a pair of loons. We then moved on to walk the south side trail along Porcupine creek. We were greeted by the "kick kick kiddick kiddick kiddick" call of the Virginia Rail, the "kerwee" call of the Sora and the "meowing" and unique varied song of the Gray Catbird. American Redstarts were singing every few meters as well as other species of warblers. We put our binoculars to good use on many lovely bird species like Lincoln's Sparrow, our first Mourning Warbler and Philadelphia Vireo of spring, and a good variety of other songbirds and woodpeckers (and even a black bear from a distance). We stopped at Dead Man Point's rock overlooking the lake and watched Lesser Scaups, Red-necked Grebes and Bald Eagles. The wind gusts became very strong, blowing dusts in our eyes, so we headed to a more sheltered location, a water treatment pond near the Porcupine River. We were treated to a flock of newly arrived warblers feeding; one small patch of deciduous shrubs sheltered from the wind gave us great views of Cape May, Chestnut Sided, Nashville, Northern Parula, Common Yellowthroat, Black-and-white, Blackburnian, Wilson's Warblers. We were all mesmerized by the warbler action when the youngest participant spotted a Merlin flying overhead. We finished the day having watched and listened to 67 different species of birds; a wonderful day spent in nature with wonderful people, many locals and some who came from Hearst, Smooth Rock Falls and Cochrane.
Thank you to everyone who joined us and made this day special and thank you to Ontario Field Ornithologists for hosting this public field trip.
Photos by Pierre Noel, Lina Comeau, Roxane Filion For a full lists of species and location: https://ebird.org/tripreport/527719
May 23 2026 (Saturday) McCoy Bay Road
Leader: Carly Davenport.
Two minor fieldtrips this Spring :
The Uxbridge one, only 4 people showed up to but we still had fun despite the cold. No photos of this, but we managed to see 16 species. https://ebird.org/checklist/S336390478
The McCoy Rd trip, we had 1 person from OFO and 2 from PFN. This time I got a group photo! But no one had cameras for any bird photos, unfortunately. We had good conditions and got 29 species. Some great views of common loons on the lake, which some participants had never seen or heard before. Also, a great view of a male Scarlet Tanager, which I think was also a first for some. https://ebird.org/checklist/S345315975
Carly Davenport
May 23 2026 (Saturday) Leslie Street Spit
Leader: John Carley, Lynne Freeman, Howard Shapiro.
This rainy morning, 10 intrepid OFO members and their guests joined Lynne Freeman, Howard Shapiro, and John Carley for the annual OFO Walk at The Spit (parts of which are known as Tommy Thompson Park) in Toronto.
In light rain at 8 am, to torrential rain and wind at 10 am, the group continued birding until 10:40. In that time, 38 species were recorded, a low total, but satisfactory in light of the poor viewing conditions! The highlight was a flock of approximately 45 Hudsonian Whimbrel that flew past. Other highlights were a male Canvasback, male Hooded Merganser, male Green-winged Teal, and a singing Willow Flycatcher. In addition to the five species of swallow spotted, approximately 100 Chimney Swifts were observed.
For those who cherish The Spit as a wonderful place to bird, please make your thoughts known to the City and the TRCA, who have now embarked on a "Visitor Experience Plan". The plan's scope seems very limited, but please voice your thoughts about any and all aspects of The Spit. If you wish, you may convey them to Friends of the Spit, who will relay them to the consultants. Our email address is newsletter.friendsofthespit@gmail.com newsletter.friendsoftghespit@gmail.com . We need your voices, and now is the time!
