Winter bird list update

Please excuse the formatting in the email - when I emailed it to myself it all looked good, but when I sent it to the listserv it was all f-ed up...don't know what's wrong with ONTbirds! Anyways, here is the latest installment of the Ontario winter bird list. We are on a pretty good pace, but a bunch of rarities have to be found on the Christmas counts to even come close to last year's total!

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ONTbirds subscribers,

After two weeks we are at 178 total bird species reported in Ontario this winter so far. With the Christmas Bird Counts starting this weekend we can hopefully fill in the few remaining gaps and add some rarities to the list. I have sent the list to Blake Maybank and he will post the results on his website soon. A link to the webpage: http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/maybank/other/onwinter.htm.

Since the first update, the following species have been added, bringing the total to 179 species:

Western/Clark's Grebe Aechmophorus sp. (December 15)
Ring-necked Pheasant (December 3)
Spruce Grouse (December 1)
Sharp-tailed Grouse (December 7)
Greater Yellowlegs (December 10)
Red-headed Woodpecker (December 8)
Eastern Phoebe (first week of December)
Gray Jay (December 9)
Barn Swallow (December 12)
Northern Rough-winged Swallow (December 13)
Nashville Warbler (December 11)
Pine Warbler (December 14)
Savannah Sparrow (December 4)
Eastern Meadowlark (December 3)

Some of the more notable misses so far include Brant, Gray Partridge, Wilson's Snipe, California Gull, Slaty-backed Gull, Pomarine Jaeger, Boreal Owl, Barn Owl, American Three-toed Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Blue-headed Vireo, House Wren, Gray Catbird, Vesper Sparrow, and Brewer's Blackbird. Send me an email if you know of any sightings of the missing species, or anything else that would be new to the list.