T minus 22

In 22 days, the year 2012 begins and I start my big year, though I won't actually be in the province until January 6. With it being only 3 weeks away, I thought I would start to strategize on how I would spent the first month of the year.

Several people have offered advice so far. For instance, Russell Cannings advised me to clean up on any rarities that are in the province before trying for any winter specialties. Alan Wormington mentioned that I should clean up on all of the owls, finches, and other winter specialties before the end of February/March, so I don't have to worry about them the following winter. This would enable me to spend all of November and December chasing rarities, instead of getting caught up on trying to find a Boreal Owl or Red Crossbill or something.

And so that's exactly what I am planning on doing! There are several species of birds in the province right now that would great birds to start off the year. Several are even code 4 birds (remember the codes?). Unfortunately the Razorbill didn't make it. However, Niagara is still hopping with a Slaty-backed Gull, Kittiwake, Franklin's Gull, and the Black Vultures. The Franklin's Gull I'm not too worried about. However, I plan on being in Rainy River in late May when Franklin's may not have arrived yet. The birds that end up in Ontario usually breed across the border, and spend the summer in Rainy River and area. So if I can grab the bird in Niagara, it might save me the hassle of trying to wrangle one up later in the year, especially if I can't turn any up in Rainy River in late May.

Black-legged Kittiwake is the other one which I'm not too worried about, since I should pick this species up in the late fall doing a lakewatch somewhere. However, if I could get it at Niagara, where it currently is super easy at the whirlpool, it would save me a bit of effort later on in the fall.I have a feeling that both the Kittiwake and Franklin's will leave before the new year, as they usually travel with Bonaparte's Gulls (numbers of bonies at the Niagara River will drop off substantially by the new year).

juv Black-legged Kittiwake at Niagara Falls

The Slaty-backed Gull, originally found my Kevin McLaughlin on December 3, is one that I really am crossing my fingers for. In 2008, a Slaty-backed Gull was found at the same location on December 13. It hung around until late January at least, and I managed to see it on January 24, 2009. I am hoping this one follows a similar pattern!

And finally, the Black Vultures. They are seen sporadically at best, but  there are up to 5 birds which roost near the Niagara River and travel to a landfill on the American side. This landfill is really interesting - a landfill is one of the things which can entice vultures to overwinter!  I'm willing to put in a day or two at least searching for just this species in January if they are still being sporadically seen.

There are other good birds that have been seen recently in Ontario, birds that I am very interested in. Varied Thrush and Spotted Towhee near Thunder Bay, Pacific Loon in eastern Ontario, Barrow's Goldeneye and King Eider in several spots, etc. The Christmas Bird Counts usually turn up a few rarities as well.

Owls are starting to worry me a bit - while Snowy's are clearly having an erruption year, everything else seems very quiet....I haven't heard of any reports of Great Gray Owl, Boreal Owl, or Northern Hawk Owl from any location south of Attawapiskat! As well, I have only heard of 1 report of Northern Saw-whet Owl this month, and 0 reports of Long-eared Owl. Maybe it just means that owls are late this year, possibly due to the warm November and 1st week of December we had. At any rate, between rarities I hope to do some traveling to pick up all the winter specialties, even if I have to go nearly to James Bay to search.

It will be very interesting to see how the next few weeks play out.

Winter bird list update

*****To those who don't care at all about the "Ontario winter list", or listing in general, I apologize for this post. More interesting content (actual birding, etc) will be posted soon enough!*****

Since my post on Ontbirds about the Ontario winter bird list a few days ago, my inbox has been flooded with additional reports. As well, some people have asked me where some select species have been found, so I thought I would quickly highlight the recent additions to the list over the last 2 days here, as opposed to spamming Ontbirds with an additional report. I'll send another report to the listserv in a week.

I sent Blake an email with 11 additional species, and he has already posted the update onto his site (http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/maybank/other/onwinter.htm). The 11 new species are:

Brant : December 5 - present (Trenton)
Barrow's Goldeneye : late November to present (Oshawa)
Dunlin : December 3 (Erieau harbour)
Northern Hawk Ow l: December 7 (waaaay up north near Attawapiskat)
Great Gray Owl : December 5 to present (waaaay up north near Attawapiskat)
Red-headed Woodpecker : December 6 (the Pinery). Most likely a wintering family
Varied Thrush : November 29 to present (west of Thunder Bay)
Orange-crowned Warbler : December 2 to December 3 (Highland Woods, London)
Chipping Sparrow : several reports
Field Sparrow : several reports
Red Crossbill : several reports.


There have been an additional 13 species which I have heard about recently, and thus their presence isn't indicated on Blake's site yet. They are:
Pacific Loon : December 3 (Prince Edward Point)
Great Egret : December 3 (Luther Marsh)
Spotted Sandpiper : December 7 (Long Sault Parkway)
Wilson's Snipe : December 10 (Rondeau area)
Long-eared Owl : December 10 (Bronte)
Northern Saw-whet Owl : December 2 (near Ottawa)
Eastern Phoebe : December 8 (Ayr, near Cambridge)
Black-billed Magpie : December 4 (Thunder Bay area)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet : December 1 (Oshawa's Second Marsh)
Eastern Towhee : seen in December, photo taken, but haven't verified dates yet
Spotted Towhee : November 13 to present (Longlac)
Clay-colored Sparrow : December 3 (Kingston area)
Hoary Redpoll : December 4 (Rainy River area)

This brings us to 185 species for the winter birding season so far, with lots of time left to break 200! Some possible species which I haven't heard any reports of so far, include:

Eurasian Wigeon (though there was one in the Ottawa area on the Quebec side)
Blue-winged Teal
either Ptarmigan (who wants to go to Hudson's Bay?)
Gyrfalcon
Virginia Rail
many shorebirds, including Black-bellied Plover, Lesser Yellowlegs, American Woodcock etc
Boreal Owl
House Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Townsend's Solitaire
Pine Warbler
Vesper Sparrow
Brewer's Blackbird
Baltimore Oriole

Another run around the county

With no exams for over a week, I thought I would waste another day driving around the county looking for birds. As I was leaving my driveway, I got an email from the WELLbirds listserv about a Snowy Owl 5 minutes from my house. 4 minutes later I arrived, with the owl sitting on the hydro wire in plain site!

It appeared to be an adult male, but I didn't linger long so that I wouldn't scare it off.

Snowy Owl in natural habitat - Guelph

I headed up north, hoping to get a few new species. Sandhill Cranes were hanging around and I was hoping to run into them somewhere near Luther Marsh.

On the way up north, I stopped by the Arthur lagoons and had my first Horned Larks of the winter, as well as many gulls (all Herring and Ring-billed, unfortunately).

Horny Lark

Needless to say, I didn't get any Sandhill Cranes. However, there were a few highlights, such as a beautiful light morph Rough-legged Hawk that flew right over my car! I also had a flyover White-winged Crossbill while walking some random trails near Luther, and a Common Raven which was hanging out in a farm field.

Common Raven - southwest of Luther Marsh

showing off that wedge-shaped tail

Oh yeah almost forgot - I stopped at Guelph lake during the morning and found a rare for the county (and even rarer in winter) Red-necked Grebe. Cool! It was the only bird in that section of the lake.

Red-necked Grebe - Guelph Lake

"Winter" birding in Guelph

I guess since we had our first snow fall of the season last night, it is starting to feel a little like winter. However, almost every body of water in the county is still wide open, and quite a few good birds for Wellington county in the winter are still around. With an urge to add a few lingering species to my Wellington winter list, yesterday Dave Bell, Emily Rooks, and I headed north to Guelph Lake to chase a Black-legged Kittiwake found 2 hours early by Mike Cadman. We didn't have any luck, and really didn't see anything of note!

Today I booked it to some spots in the southern part of the county. From my post to the WELLBIRDS listserv:

(Also, I'm really starting to learn that a 300 mm lens isn't conducive to photographing waterfowl a mile away)

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Corner of Forestell Road and Wellington Road 32:
-1 Rusty Blackbird
-3 Brown-headed Cowbird
They were mixed in with about 500 starlings

Neibaur's marsh:
-1 female Ring-necked Duck
no luck with the Belted Kingfisher I had here the other day

Puslinch Lake (as viewed from the marina restaurant)
-2 female Red-breasted Merganser
-many Common Mergs, Hooded Mergs, and Common Goldeneye
-1 male Ring-necked Duck (in the small pond to the northeast of the main lake)
-6 Ruddy Duck
-1 Double-crested Cormorant (in the usual spot near the island)
-1 1st basic Lesser Black-backed Gull (presumably the same bird that I had December 2)
-1 2nd basic Glaucous Gull
-2 Great Black-backed Gull

2nd cycle Glaucous Gull with other gulls and waterfowl - Puslinch Lake

Double-crested Cormorant in the gloom - Puslinch Lake

Ring-necked Duck  - Puslinch Lake

McMillan Pit
-Eastern Meadowlark
-several C. Goldeneye, Bufflehead, A. Black Ducks etc


Quarry to the northeast of McMillan - not sure its name
-1 Double-crested Cormorant
-several Coots, Bufflehead, C. Goldeneye, A. Black Duck, etc
-no luck with the Bonaparte's Gull I had here on Dec 2

North end of Mountsberg:
-1 male Wood Duck
-1 Great Blue Heron
-1 White-throated Sparrow (at the feeder of the first house west of the little bridge)
-35 Cedar Waxwings in a tree (no Bohemians, unfortunately)
-no luck with the E. Bluebirds

backlit Cedar Waxwings - Mountsberg

Pond at the northeast corner of HWY 401 and the Hanlon
-2 female Greater Scaup
-1 adult wing-tagged Trumpeter Swan (it was hard reading the tag due to the distance/lighting, but I believe it said "334". Hopefully someone can confirm this)

Greater Scaup and Bufflehead - pond at corner of HWY 6 and HWY 401

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So yeah, that about sums it up! I think I am close to 60 species for the county this month. Kind of a fun thing to do, though I'm sure it will really drop off once the real winter weather hits.

In other news, due to a few recent additions the Ontario winter list is 160 species. We are still missing a bunch of easy ones! Barrow's Goldeneye, Gyrfalcon, Dunlin, W. Snipe,  most of the owls, Red-headed Woodpecker, E. Towhee, Chipping, Field and Vesper Sparrows, Red Crossbill, etc!

What a day on the Niagara River

Yesterday I spent the entire day birding the Niagara River with Brett Fried and Reuven Martin. The rarest birds in Ontario right now include Black Vulture, Razorbill, Slaty-backed Gull, Black-legged Kittiwake, California Gull, etc. THey all happen to be at the Niagara River now too!

We arrived at the Control Gates bright and early but failed to see the adult Slaty-backed Gull that was found by Kevin yesterday. I did spot an interesting gull mid-river and got Reuven and Brett on it. It showed all the characteristics of an adult California Gull. Also seen here were our first Bonaparte's, Ring-billed, Herring, Lesser Black-backed (2 1st winter, 1 adult, 1 3rd winter), and Great Black-backed Gulls. There was also an interesting bird I observed briefly that had the mantle color of a California Gull but with pink legs and a light eye (hybrid perhaps?). 3 female Harlequin Ducks (as opposed to the 2 seen previous days) were hanging out on the breakwall as well.

Photo of Harlequin ducks to be posted here

Moving down the river, we stopped at the whirlpool to look for the Kittiwake. No luck there, so we continued on to Adam Beck. Here, we had great looks at an adult Thayer's-type gull, as well as our first Kumlien's Gulls of the day. We were up to 8 species of gulls for the day. After hearing reports that the Kittiwake was back at the Whirlpool, we hurried over and had great looks as it circled with the bonies. I couldn't believe the size difference between the two species!

Photo of the the kittiwake will be posted here

Sometime later that morning we headed back to the Upper Falls, and immediately got on a darker mantled gull that had all the field marks of the adult Slaty-backed Gull. A group of birders nearby, including some very good gullwatchers, had the bird much closer and confirmed its identity of the Slaty-backed Gull. Two 1st cycle Glaucous gulls were also present.

I was surprised to spot the Purple Sandpiper on the traditional rocks near the barge. It had jammed itself into a tiny crevice and was nearly impossible to see!

With 11 gull species under our belt, we headed back downriver to search for Franklin's and Little. Franklin's was no problem, as it was sitting in "the usual spot" at the roosting rocks, just upriver at Adam Beck. We only needed Little for a 13-gull day!

We skipped Queenston and headed to Niagara-on-the-Lake to search the Bonaparte's Gulls that would be flying past. Eventually they started streaming by, and the OFO group also stopped by. We managed to get 3 adult Little Gulls go past - 13 gulls for the day! As far as I am aware the adult California gull was only seen by a few other parties throughout the day.
By the way, no luck with the Razorbill or Black Vultures, though both were seen on the day.

Another great day at the river!

Winter birding

This year, there seems to be a pretty big competition within the Wellington Co. birding community to compile a winter list of birds seen in Wellington County. I thought I would join in just for fun - really just an excuse to get outside during December while I am busy studying for exams! If you live in Wellington and would like to join in on this endeavor, check out the link to the post:
http://naturesbestcreations.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6669&p=34663&sid=46108a53bb7eace490f050eaf7a9f96a#p34663

Obviously with winter listing, the first few weeks are crucial and most species are seen then. I doubt I will get out much in the county next year so this month of December is critical for me to have a decent list. Yesterday I made it out to the southern part of the county hoping to add a few lingering species of waterfowl. Mountsburg was fairly slow, but eventually I added a few decent birds such as Canvasback (female), Horned Grebe (2, of which one was in Wellington Co. waters), Lesser Scaup, many Hooded and Common Mergansers, etc. I met several other local birders and chatted with Bryan Wyatt for a bit. He gave me some tips of other good winter birds in the area, but I couldn't located the Eastern Bluebirds that were seen near the north end of Mountsburg that day. David Bell visited Mountsburg earlier in the day and had a Pine Grosbeak fly over.

I checked out the quarries just south of the 401 on the west side of HWY 6. One of them had a nice little flock of gulls which contained, among many Herring Gulls, 1 ad. Kumliens (Iceland) Gull, 10+ Ring-billed Gulls, and a surprise ad. Bonaparte's Gull. Bonaparte's Gulls are extremely rare in the county any time of year. A few American Coots were nice, since the ones at Mountsburg weren't within the boundaries of the county. I added a few more birds at McMillan Pit (Green-winged Teal, A. Robin, etc), and several more at Puslinch (Double-crested Cormorant, Lesser Black-backed Gull (1st cycle), Redhead, Ruddy Duck) before heading home. A beautiful light morph Rough-legged Hawk was a good way to finish the day!

By the way, this year I'm coordinating the winter list for Ontario. Blake Maybank will be hosting the results on his website, http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/maybank/other/onwinter.htm. The winter birding season includes the months of December, January and February. A cumulative total of 336 species have been recorded during the winter in Ontario, with around 196 species recorded annually. Last year, 203 species were recorded; highlights including Slaty-backed Gull, Black Vulture, Wilson's Phalarope, Summer Tanager, and "Hornemann's" Hoary Redpoll. With the unseasonably warm temperatures we had in November, perhaps enough fall migrants will hang on into December and we will break the 200 species mark again. It's been a bit of a slow start, and I have compiled 149 species seen so far this month in Ontario. We are still missing a number of easy ones, such as Brant, Eurasian Wigeon, King Eider, Barrow's Goldeneye (I'm sure the Ottawa birds are still present though), Black-crowned Night-Heron, Dunlin, Wilson's Snipe, Northern Saw-whet Owl, Long-eared Owl, Eastern Phoebe, Black-billed Magpie, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Gray Catbird, Field, and Chipping Sparrows, Brewer's Blackbird, Red Crossbill and Hoary Redpoll. Additionally only two species of warblers have been reported. If anyone has heard any reports of those listed species (or other rare species that haven't yet been reported to Ontbirds or Ebird), I'd really appreciate it you send me an email.

Why do a Big Year?

Why do a big year? That's a question that I've asked myself numerous times ever since I starting tossing the idea back and forth in my head. And to be honest, I still don't really have a straightforward answer!

For one, I want to explore my home province a lot better. While I am pretty familiar with the southern 1/4 of the province, I haven't really made it up north yet! I've never visited Ontario's ocean coast of James and Hudson's Bay. I've never visited the prairies in the Rainy River region, or even the Boreal forest in northern Ontario! I think the farthest north that I have explored/birded in Ontario is probably the Algonquin area.
Meeting other birders is another reason I want to do this big year. Since I've only been in the "Ontario birding scene" (its actually bigger than people might think!) for a few years, I haven't even met a large percentage of birders. It will be cool and a lot of fun to put faces to names and to meet birders in far off areas of the province I haven't really explored. My knowledge of birds is far lower than many other birders in the province so it will be a great learning opportunity as well.

Like I mentioned before, the logistics of doing a big year seem to be in my favor this year, so if I ever was to do one, this would be the year. I'll be graduating with an Ecology degree in the spring, and I don't have a full time job to tie me down yet. So far, my girlfriend Laura, my family, and my friends have been really supporting of the idea of me spending an entire year driving around the province and looking at birds (hopefully they are not only supportive of the idea because it means that they won't have to put with me as much :P ). Obviously money will be an issue next year, and I haven't really figured out what I'm going to do about that. I'd like to pick up some consulting work for a few months sometime from mid June to mid August - if you hear of anything, by all means let me know. ;)

Obviously doing a big year isn't all fun and games, especially since I plan on going virtually "all out" next year. There will definitely be a lot of times when I will miss friends or family. I'm sure I'll question my decision to spend a year screwing around looking at birds instead of pursuing career opportunities with my brand spanking new Ecology degree. And of course, I'll smack myself in the head and mutter, "What the hell are you thinking?" to myself after driving all night to chase a rare bird, only to discover that it is not longer around.

While it will be cool to beat the record, I'm not sure if that's the sole reason why I'm going to do a big year. If anything, having a numeric goal will give me the excuse to go on an adventure, explore some cool areas, see some amazing birds, and meet more individuals in the birding community. I can hardly wait for it to begin :)

Rarities on the river

Razorbill - check!
American White Pelican - check!
Frankin's Gull - check! (x3)
California Gull - check!
Little Gull - check!

Needless to say, it was a great day birding Niagara with the University of Guelph wildlife club (our drinking club with a wildlife problem).

Our convoy of 27 enthusiastic gullers left Guelph shortly after 7 in the morning, and eventually we all arrived at Jack Custer's Bird Sanctuary near Niagara-on-the-Lake. The juvenile American White Pelican was sitting exactly where it was supposed to, hanging out in a pond that seemed much too small. What a cool bird to start the trip! After an extended photo session, we rounded up the troops and continued on.

American White Pelican - Niagara-on-the-Lake

American White Pelican - Niagara-on-the-Lake

Niagara-on-the-Lake was our next stop, and unfortunately it was pretty slow. Despite spending over an hour here, we couldn't wrangle up any Razorbills, jaegers, or other super-neat birds. A flock of 30+ Snow Buntings was nice to see, and of course there was the usual assortment of loons, grebes, and ducks. We continued on to Queenston.

Queenston was a decent spot with lots of gulls around to study. Many people in our group got looks at their lifer Little Gull, excellently spotted by Reuven Martin. A group of 5 Turkey Vultures began to kettle, but we couldn't locate any Black Vultures with them.

Fort Niagara

We arrived at the Adam Beck power plant somewhere after 11:00 and began studying the gulls. Meanwhile, Brett Fried, Erika Hentsch, David Bell, and Emily Rooks went to the "roosting rocks" just upriver to see if the Franklin's or California Gull were present. The rest of us managed to find a crisp looking juvenile Thayer's Gull, a fugly 2nd winter Lesser Black-backed Gull, and an adult Iceland Gull. The other four found the Franklin's, so off we went!

Fortunately for us it was still present when we arrived, but it took several of us (not me of course.....haha) an embarassingly long time to pick it out on the rocks. Unfortunately there was no California Gull at the time, so we continued to Chippewa to eat lunch.

The Upper Falls (viewed from several vantage points) was next on the agenda. While we didn't see anything super rare here, it was fun to study some of the ducks, including Hooded Merganser and Gadwall. Lots of gulls, but nothing out of the ordinary (save for a couple of Lesser Black-backed Gulls).

Great Black-backed Gull - Upper Falls

Mallard - Upper Falls

A Black-legged Kittiwake was being seen at the whirlpool (thanks for the heads-up, Barb!) but we were running a little late so we decided to skip the kittiwake to make one more run at the Razorbill at Niagara-on-the-Lake. A brief stop at Adam Beck was worthwhile as "Frank" was flying around with Herring and Ring-billed Gulls. It was nice to see some familiar faces here too, such as Kevin McLaughlin, Jean Iron, and Blake Mann. Brett texted me that they had the Razorbill at Niagara-on-the-Lake, but by the time my car came rolling in it was out of sight. A nice "consolation prize" was this beautiful intermediate-morph, juvenile Pomarine Jaeger! It chased Bonaparte's Gulls on several occasions, even getting one to spit out a fish, which it caught just before the fish hit the water. The photos definitely don't do it justice, but in the scope this bird was a thing of beauty. While scanning for the Razorbill, Brett and I caught several glimpses of it as it dove, but it was much too far out that no one else got on it. One of the flocks of Bonies heading to the river contained the Franklin's Gull, which circled several times, giving good views.

juvenile Pomarine Jaeger - Niagara-on-the-Lake

While most of the group left, Ken Burrell texted me that the California Gull was being seen at Adam Beck, so the remaining 5 of us booked it over there, arriving well after sunset, but with just enough light to see the gulls! Several birders were still there, and Jean Iron and Willie D'Anna got us on the Cali Gull.  What a fitting end to a great day on the river!

Niagara tomorrow

Like many southern Ontario birders, I will heading to the Niagara River area tomorrow in search of gulls and waterfowl. This time, I will be leading a trip with the University of Guelph Wildlife Club as we do our annual gull extravaganza. There are a number of rarities that are frequenting the area, such as the long-staying Razorbill, the 3-4 Black Vultures, an adult California Gull, a Franklin's Gull, and a Black-legged Kittiwake. I'm hoping that we are able to locate at least some of these birds as many would be lifers/new Ontario birds for some of the members coming along on the trip.

In other news, tons of rarities have been showing up across the continent! Check out this White-breasted Nuthatch, the first one EVER for Newfoundland. You may have to scroll down a bit to see it.

I mentioned previously about a Graylag Goose that was present near Montreal. Amazingly, a Fulvous Whistling-Duck was found in the same flock of birds a few days later!

Gray Flycatchers are cool little birds, and one showed up near Louisiana. A few years ago one was found by the Skevingtons on a Christmas Bird Count, and it hung around for a few months! Unfortunately that was before I was into birding.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jboslerbirds/6367234165/in/pool-ebird

BC had its 3rd ever Summer Tanager the other day - what a bird!

And of course, we can't forget the Hepburn's Gray-crowned Rosy Finch that was found near Thunder Bay a few days ago. Pretty crazy! I'm not sure if this subspecies has been seen in Ontario before?
http://northshorenature.blogspot.com/2011/11/gray-crowned-rosy-finch-hotspot-in.html

A numbers game (Big Year)

As I mentioned before, the Ontario Big Year record is 338 species, set by Glenn Coady in 1996. In preparing for my Big Year, I have categorized every Ontario species based on how likely I think I am to see it. 

I arbitrarily ranked the birds as either Code 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6, based on what I think my relative chances are of seeing each species. Code 1 birds are guaranteed, and code 6 birds are highly unlikely. This categorization is fairly arbitrary – for instance, California Gull is an OBRC bird – meaning that it is rare enough in the province that documentation needs to be sent in to the Ontario Bird Records Committee if one sees the bird. Ruff, a Eurasian species of shorebird, is not an OBRC bird – meaning that it occurs regularly enough in the province, so there is no need to send in documentation if you see one. However, I have given Ruff “Code 4 status”, and California Gull “Code 3 status”, since California Gull observations have been increasing in frequency every since the first provincial record in the early 1980s. Now there seems to be one (or multiple) birds spending a few months on the Niagara River every winter, plus a few other individuals are seen through fall, winter, and spring migration. Ruff on the other hand is a tough species to nail down and rarely do more than 1 or 2 show up a year. I haven’t even seen one yet in Ontario. I think my chances of seeing California Gull (of which I’ve found 2, and seen ~4 others) are much higher than are my chances of seeing Ruff!

Note: I wrote this post before the last one on my big year (see: ). Since then I’ve tweaked the numbers a little bit (changed Yellow-crowned Night Heron and Townsend’s Solitaire from code 3 to code 4, among other things). The numbers don’t really line up with the other post because of this.

Code 1 birds include everything from exceedingly abundant (like European Starling) to common (like Stilt Sandpiper, Snow Bunting, or Chestnut-sided Warbler). These birds I am absolutely guaranteed to see on my Big Year – I cannot afford to miss a single one! I have 219 species ranked as Code 1 birds.

White-breasted Nuthatch (code 1) - going way back into the archives for this one!

 Code 2 birds are also very common, though they may be a little tough to get. This includes everything from annual winter specialties (like Pine Grosbeak and Snowy Owl) to uncommon breeding birds (like Sedge Wren, Acadian Flycatcher, and Prairie Warbler), to uncommon migrants (Red-necked Phalarope).  I listed 62 birds as Code 2. This makes a total of 281 birds which are Code 1 or 2. I cannot afford to miss a single one of these species.

Red-necked Phalarope (code 2)

 Code 3 is when it starts to get a little tricky. None of these birds are guaranteed on a big year, though if one is persistent enough one should get nearly all of these species. These include regular spring overshoots (Worm-eating Warbler, Summer Tanager), rare breeding birds (King Rail), some of the owls (Boreal Owl), some of the rare gulls (Black-legged Kittiwake, Pomarine Jaeger), etc. Some species on this list, like Cave Swallows, are common some years but absent other years. It will take a lot of luck to get all the species on this list! Out of the 38 species listed, I will only be doing well if I get AT LEAST 33 of them. To break the record I will probably need to get all 38. 

Boreal Owl - perhaps my favorite Code 3 bird

Code 4 birds are generally OBRC birds, usually birds that show up 1-5 times annually (like Western Grebe). Some on this list however (like Black-throated Gray Warbler, or Mountain Bluebird) occur less than annually. Basically, all the Code 4 birds are genuine rarities and I can’t count on any of them to show up.  There are 40 species which I’ve categorized as Code 4. The “easiest” Code 4 species are probably Laughing Gull, Black Vulture,  Townsend’s Solitaire, Black-headed Gull, and Kirtland’s Warbler. 

Black-headed Gull - an "easy" Code 4 (this one's from Nova Scotia though)

As expected, Code 5 and 6 birds are the rarest of the rare. Most Code 5 birds on my list have shown up between 5 and 20 times EVER in Ontario (like Gray Kingbird, or Slaty-backed Gull), while others (like Ivory Gull with 29 accepted records) have shown up more often. I placed Ivory Gull as a Code 5 as opposed to Code 4 because if one shows up, the chances of it hanging around long enough for me to see are very small! I have listed 65 species as Code 5.

Finally, Code 6 birds. These ones have usually been seen less than 10 times in Ontario. Out of the 59 species listed, I’ll be doing really well if I see more than 3 in this category! These include extinct species like Eskimo Curlew, crazy vagrants (Bachman’s Sparrow, Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher), and one-hit wonders (Variegated Flycatcher, Black-capped Vireo, Audubon’s Shearwater, etc).  I don’t think I’ll be seeing any Passenger Pigeons or Eskimo Curlews next year.

Neotropic Cormie - one of the few "Code 6" birds I've seen

So, to recap: There are 281 Code 1 and 2 birds which I am sure to get. There are 38 Code 3 birds, and if I get them all, it would bring me to 319 species for the year. To beat the record, I would need an additional 20 genuine rarities on top of that. For every Code 1, 2, or 3 bird I miss, I’ll need to see an extra rarity on top of the 20!

There is also one more thing: these rankings are based on my abilities to travel to all 4 (5?) corners of the province to search for birds. Smith’s Longspur and Willow Ptarmigan are both Code 2 birds, since if I make it up to the coast of Hudson’s Bay during the breeding season I will be (nearly) sure to get them. That is a big IF though, since I haven’t really figured out how I am going to be able to make it up there without having to sell all of my possessions, and possibly one or both kidneys, to afford it! Without that trip, Smith's Longspur drops to Code 4, and Willow Ptarmigan to Code 6. This is true with several other species.

I will have an extremely narrow margin of error next year to say the least! If any of my big trips (Pelee area from late April to late May, Rainy River in late May and early June, Hudson’s Bay in June or July, north shore of Lake Superior for a week or two around Oct. 1, James Bay in the mid/late autumn, etc) fall through, it will be nearly impossible to beat the record. 

Note: I will eventually make a spreadsheet available to download right off of this blog, much the way that John Vanderpoel does on his big year blog. This spreadsheet will contain the big list (chronologically and taxonomically), the status of each species (codes 1-6), remaining target birds, etc.