2025 recounted and revisited

 Well, Ebird has sent out its annual year in review on this cold Polar Vortex day in January!  I have been successful in my 'checklist a day' challenge, with 783 checklists, 237 species and 37 life birds!  I counted 116584 birds, with the most numbered species Canada Goose and most frequent species the Northern Cardinal ( they are everywhere!)  I have spent 508.4 hours birding with my biggest day being in October!  I've submitted 764 photos of 168 species and 20 sound recordings of 7 species, with 187 checklist media uploaded (habitat and other animals). My most visited location is  about 2 kilometres from my home, I traveled 1418.3 km and birded in 196 locations total.  I shared 43 checklists and my birding bestie was Sean Bates, a fellow from Hamilton that I went on a couple of OFO trips with.  It is interesting when you put it in perspective a practice that you do daily as part of your routine.  It is a fun and interesting hobby and I love all aspects of it, from going out to my front yard and taking photos, to going out with groups to far flung places to get life birds.  Today I will summarize the highlights.  

January had  the ice out on the bay for the most part.  The usual suspects of Canada Goose, Red breasted and Common Mergansers, Long tailed Ducks(my spark bird), Scaup species and Trumpeter Swans, Redhead, Mallards, Black Duck, Goldeneye.  American Herring and Ring Billed gulls were present as well as Iceland and Great Black Backed Gulls.  Of course the resident Bald Eagles and I saw Rough Legged and Short eared Owl near the Former Sarnia Landfill.  We had a polar vortex near the end of the month and the water was warmer than the air making visibility difficult because of the steam.  I mostly birded the St. Clair River shoreline at Sarnia Bay, Harbour and the Bridge.  I also watched the birds at my feeder, which had the usual suspects of Dark eyed Juncos, House Finch and House sparrow, Starlings, Downy Woodpecker, Mourning Doves, White Crowned Sparrow,  Tree Sparrow, White and Red Breasted Nuthatch, Cardinals and Blue Jays. 

February I observed my FOY Peregrine Falcon at the Bluewater Bridge. A pair nest under the bridge.  Blackwell Trails Park in Sarnia was pretty busy early Feb with open water.  Observed a pair of American Coot, Mallard, Cackling and Canada Goose, Redhead and a Greater Scaup.  White breasted Nuthatch and Carolina Wren were present in the bush.  An interesting sighting at Suncor Nature Way was a male Wood Duck hanging out with the Mallards in the open waterway.   At the bay the Canvasbacks made an appearance, as well as Hooded Merganser.   Usually Lambton Wildlife have a Downriver ducks outing which I greatly enjoy, significant as that was when I saw my first Long Tailed duck (spark bird) but this year they didn't have an official outing, but there was a pop up event that saw 5 of us out.  We headed from Sarnia Government Docks to Sombra and Corunna Guthrie Park where we saw 18 species including a Belted Kingfisher and a Horned Grebe along with Mute and Trumpeter Swans.  At my feeders I finally got American Goldfinch and my FOY White crowned sparrow!  I do get the occasional Cooper's Hawk come to my feeder, they gotta eat too!  One super cold -29 day I had a Red Bellied Woodpecker come to my feeder!   At the end of the month a Swan Goose joined the group of Canada Geese at the river. An interesting domestic goose some people call Chinese Goose.  I have been seeing the resident Merlin at work lately, still unsuccessful at photographing him/her.  A pair have nested here the past few years and I think at least 1 overwinters.  I also saw my FOY Snow buntings, one of my favourite snow birds!

March came in like a lion with my lifer bird Northern Shrike at Sarnia Suncor!  The Woodie is still there with his Mallard girlfriend, and some early American Robins.  My patch close to home had some Horned Lark and Snow Buntings, and that is also where I observe a Rough Legged Hawk.  Early March was mild and rainy and I observed my FOY Red winged blackbirds,  spring is coming!  Sarnia Blackwell trails was very birdy with the Grackles and Cowbirds back.  My 1st OFO trip of the year was March 8 to the Long point and area in Nortfolk county with Sam and Emma  It's also great to gather, we birded the HQ at Port Rowan with many Sandhill Cranes flying over!  The Pt. Rowan Bay had a rare Red Throated Loon, as well as over 1000 Tundra Swans!  On the way to see my sister in St. Thomas I spotted about a hundred more in a field by Alymer.  I would return to this area in the fall for a fabulous outing with Liam Thorne.  The Song Sparrows are back in my little patch, alway one of my favourite signs of spring, though some overwinter (Pinery).  There is a stormwater pond by my house where the new subdivision is.  It is starting to become visited by waterfowl with CAGO present  Killdeer, Robin, RWBB and TV's are back!   One of my favourite places to bird is Wawanosh Wetlands and it is becoming more and more birdy by the day.  The weather is very mild with rain and it is melting the ice and snow.  I also enjoy Canatara Park in Sarnia and heard my first Eastern Bluebird and saw a Great Blue Heron!  Pinery Provincial Park is another favourite destination and on the way I stopped to look in the rainshadow fields off of Hwy 21 where I observed  Tundra Swans,, Gadwall, Wigeon, Wood duck, Norther Shoveler, Black Duck, Green Winged Teal and Killdeer,  this place is awesome for shorebirds in the fall.  On the way back I observed a lone Trumpeter Swan at Forest Sewage Lagoons, a lovely young couple who were birding let me know of it.  Lots of waterfowl!  Yellow rumped Warbler are becoming present at Canatara!

April started out lovely.  I participated in 2 OFO trips this month.  The 1st was Pelee and area with Jeremy and Cam.  This trip is always very interesting as early spring birding in this southernmost part of Ontario can lead to early spring migrants.  Saw my lifer Vesper Sparrow!  The tip is just so interesting this time of year as you can walk out quite far.  Saw early Bonapartes gulls and lots of waterfowl.  I would also participate in the fall outing which was amazing as well.  Another OFO trip was Hullett Marsh with Dana Latour.  This was a very birdy trip with many flying over the parking lot!  The shorebirds are starting to come.  There have been a group of 4 Common Loons at the bay!  Very interesting.  They stayed a few weeks.  Some warblers and gnatcatchers are making their way back to Canatara and Wawanosh.  I've started to explore closer to home with Marthaville, Discovery Park and Lorne C. Henderson becoming  more and more active.  This year I have been more conscious of where the birds are.  Last year I would stop my car if I saw any bird action, which sometimes came with traffic and property issues.  I rejoined the Ontario Field Ornithologists last fall and have continued to enjoy their outings and of course the Convention.

I participated in the Rondeau trip this year with Stewart.   It was amazing and he said it was one of the best tours he's led for birds (and birders of course!)  Saw many lifers at Rondeau.  I would return in the fall with Peter and my first visit to the Keith McLean Conservation lands for many shorebirds.

I attended the Huron Fringe birding Festival for the 1st time this year.  It was wonderful.  It is based our of McGregor Point P.P.  I signed up for Paul Riss' early morning walk/drive around the 'fringe'.  Spotted a glorious Golden winged warbler, lifer for me.  Saw some of the amazing botany of the region and saw some bird banding.  I was quite entertained and educated by Marshall and his Birding Murder Mystery tour at his home in Tiverton!  I had been thinking about our provincial parks and how many I could travel to in one day!  It seems the answer is 5 (Point Farms, Inverhuron, MacGregor Point, Sauble Falls and Pinery!)  I also would do something similar in the fall with our Conservation Areas, I only did about half of Lambton's C.A. I am also cognizant of the carbon footprint of all that driving!  

I did also go a a couple of field trips to the Sydenham River Nature Reserve with ON and Dave Fergusons farm with LWI.  This part of Lambton county and the Sydenham river is what drew me here years ago when I moved from York Region.  It has very special bird, insect and plant species and I look forward to exploring it more.

I decided to put my hand up to participate in the last year of the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas.  My square was one that noone had taken over, it was the last square before you hit Chatham, bordering Pretty Rd. Kent Line, Mandaumin and Bentpath.  It was very interesting.  A very rural area with many grassland birds.  I learned alot about atlassing in rural areas, the one woodlot that I had for an off road point count, I finally did get permision, but the shrub was so thick that I couldn't get access, I got better data offroad.  

In June I heard about the group of Ameriscan Pelicans that were at Fanshawe CA in London.  I had to go to London 4 Tuesdays in June so I thought I'd try and see them, they would be lifers for me.  I went 3 times to the Fanshawe CA, paying my $13 entrance fee and saw nothing.  I remembered someone somewhere said they could be best viewed from the Golf Course parking lot, so I headed there, and low and behold they were there!  Another pair of birders were there and shared in my excitement!

Some rare birds made their way to our area, this summer, I saw Dickcissel, American Avocet, Lark Bunting, as well as an Upland Sandpiper,was reported,  which I did not manage to see, not without trying!

Autumn is my favourite time of year, especially for birding. Another OFO tour, closer to home, that I attend every year is the Lambton Shores tour with Dana L.  It was very very wet, with cold rain continuing, but we got some decent species, especially at Kettle Point.  Anita and I went on to Forest Sewage Lagoons not knowing that the rest of the group returned to Pinery, but I am glad we did because we got some good views of Lesser Black Backed Gulls and other gulls in the fields on either side of Brush line.    This year the OFO convention was held in Lambton County and it was nice to show off our wonderful region!  I picked areas that I had not been to before, Walpole Island was one.  It was spectacular, not just for the locale, but for the botany and butterflies!  We were led by 2 lovely Indigenous people, who were so knowledgeable and told us of the culture and natural history of the area.  We heard of the sensitivity of the area and to not post location on inaturalist.  The highlight was a flock of Sandhill Cranes flying over us near the causeway as well as a gorgeous Northern Harrier hunting over us.  This area was known in the past for Northern Bobwhite, but haven't been seen for years.  Many of the group lingered in hopes of seeing the elusive King Rail, I did not as I wanted to make it to the next trip, no King Rail showed up.  The sewage lagoons were a challenge this weekend, as most of the permissions where for weekdays only, so we could make it (thank you to Eloise for helping me get over the fence) to the Sombra sewage lagoon where we saw many shorebirds. The Lambton Heritage Forest was also wonderful, I don't know why I had not visited this place before, but it is well worth going.  Other places of note where the St. Clair National Wildlife area which was awesome and great people to hang out with.  Thank you to Jeremy H, Jeremy B, Dave M, and Jean I. for leading the trips.  I have written a separate post about the convention.

One of my all time favourite places to bird is Hawk Cliff!  I usually go on the OFO trip every fall and the Migration festival.  This year it was led by Pete R. and was very well attended.  We saw all the usual suspects and significantly a sweet little Saw Whet Owl in the woods, discovered by a visitor that was photographing the kinglets that were very active because of the Owl!  We were all very respectful and didn't linger as one by one we got a good look and a photo.  It was awesome and the weather was spectacular!!

2025 was seen as an irruption year for winter finches so we were all very excited to see and hear northern species that we would not normally have come visit.  I participated in 2  tours of Pinery and area with a group of birders.  It was nice and the camaraderie was great.  We saw Bohemian Waxwings (of course I didn't bring my camera), Pine Sisken, Redpoll, Evening Grosbeak and lots of Red breasted Nuthatch which were also irrupting because of a lack of food up north.  I got to experience the wonderment of handfeeding chickadees at Beach 9 for the first time.  Shortly after that they would close most trails at Pinery for the winter season.  I would still visit weekly as Beach 9 and the Visitor Centre and area were open. Ipperwash MNR parking lot was host to many birders late fall as Pine Grosbeak were spotted in the Winterberry Holly patches.  I got to see them twice (I went about 6 times!) but they didn't sit still enough for photos.  The Winterberry Holly is beautiful and a source of winter food for birds, later I would bring a friend and we would see a Robin feasting on them.  Thanks to Matt and James for encouraging me in this area, its not always a guaranteed that you will see a bird on a given day.  I met Matt one day and a small flock of 7 Pine Grosbeaks flew over out heads, we followed them to where they were headed, but they were hiding pretty well!  There is a Hermit Thrush that is overwintering there!  There was a rarity at Canatara park in early winter, a poor lost Yellow throated warbler.  Hordes of birders and photographers came to see this gorgeous adult male try and survive off of dead insects and spiders webs.  I found it pretty quickly high up in a deciduous tree, it stayed a few weeks.  I really hope it survived, its is far off course, coming from very far south and west of here, not one of our breeding birds.  There was one sighted in New York a few weeks after it left, maybe the same one but likely not.  My heart breaks everytime there is a sighting of a wayward bird, especially in the depths of winter.  

As winter is coming the Sarnia bay and surrounding area is the place to go.  A Harlequin duck was spotted at the Point Edward Lighthouse so many of us got good looks for a few weeks as it went back and forth from the bridge to the lighthouse.  The winter has started cold and snowy and that has brought the ducks into the bay.  Got some good looks at Glaucous Gull and Great Black Backed Gull, along with Iceland and Lesser Black backed.  Herring gulls are the more dominant species, next to Ring billed Gulls. 

I made a visit to Canatara on the last day of the year and spotted the resident Eastern Screech Owl roosting in a wood duck box.  Owls are very sensitive species and I do not chase them or stay long when I spot one.  I feel privileged to be in the same world as them.  

Hope you enjoyed my year in review!  I have enjoyed writing this blog that I started in April!  Thank you to everyone that I have bumped into on the trail, whether by chance or by invitation, and especially thank you to the adults and children who share my enthusiasm and excitement about birds and the natural world! And especially thank you to those that read my blog...I really do appreciate you.  Drop me a comment if you'd like, I'd love to hear from you.  If you are out and about in SW Ontario, shoot me a text or better yet call me at 226 236 3674, let's go birding!   Now on to 2026!  My goal is to participate in different OFO trips, farther afield, as well as focus more on Lambton's hidden gems!