Winter bird list update #3

A few days ago, I posted to ONTbirds again about the Ontario winter bird list. Since then, I have received word of several new species to the list which I will mention first. These 3 species bring the winter list up to 203. I have also removed Willow Ptarmigan from the list since the last confirmed sighting of the Darlington bird was November 30. There were rumours of a sighting in December and someone is looking into this.

Gray Partridge: 3 birds seen on the Woodhouse CBC (December 18)
Townsend's Solitaire: 2 birds. One on the Manitoulin CBC (December 17) and one on the Aurora CBC (December 17)
Brewer's Blackbird: seen on the Port Burwell CBC (December 18)


And, the email I sent to the listserv:

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In the past week an additional 12 species have been seen in Ontario and brought to my attention, bringing the 2011-2012 winter list up to an even 200. I am not sure what the all time high for one winter was, but last year's 201 will almost certainly be passed! How high will the winter list get? Undoubtedly the highlight from last week came from Bayfront Park in Hamilton where up to 5 species of warblers have been seen along with several Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and a Blue-headed Vireo. I will send the list to Blake Maybank and hopefully he will post the results on the website soon. A link to the webpage: http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/maybank/other/onwinter.htm

The new species to the 2011-2012 Ontario winter list are as follows:
Blue-winged Teal
American Woodcock
Boreal Owl
White-eyed Vireo
House Wren
Yellow Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Palm Warbler
Baltimore Oriole

Out of the missing species to the winter list, the most likely to be added include:

Eurasian Wigeon
Gray Partridge
Gyrfalcon
Virginia Rail
Barn Owl
Townsend's Solitaire
Pine Warbler
Vesper Sparrow
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird

If anyone has heard of sightings of the missing species, just shoot me an email.