Archive for March 2017
The Big Sit with Margaret Anderton
How often have you gone to look for birds but have them fly away from you as soon as you approach closely enough for a good view? Often it’s better to find a good bird habitat and sit down and wait for the birds to feel comfortable to have you included in their world. At home I find that when I go outside the birds head for the farthest tree to hide but after sitting for a few minutes those same birds come back quite close and don’t mind my presence as long as there are no fast movements.
Therefore we have a relaxing appropriately named event…The Big Sit…!!
Margaret is an excellent and knowledgeable birder and as you can see from her Bio a member of the Bruce Birding Club. If you aren’t up to some longer times hiking the trail, and have some time for a nice relaxing Friday morning to enjoy some birds check this event out.
Bring your binoculars, bring your camera and bring your lawn chair for an enjoyable way to bird and partake of what nature has to offer.
Follow this link and look for The Big Sit on Friday morning June 2 2017.
Birding the Edge of MacGregor with Henrique Pacheco
MacGregor Park is always a great spot to find birds in May and hiking with a knowledgeable and experienced leader like Henrique Pacheco will make this hike one to remember. You can see from the leaders biographies that Henrique, although one of the junior leaders in years, has a great deal of birding experience behind him.
As well as seeing many species of warblers and other birds along this hike, Henrique will be able to answer questions you have about the habitat and the birds you see. Some that have been seen along the edge of MacGregor Park are the Hooded, Blue and Golden-winged warblers as well as many water birds. Check out the list of 245 species of birds that have been seen during the past year of the festival.
http://friendsofmacgregor.org/page/species-list
Henrique is leading a Saturday morning hike this year so if you like to wander a few trails, see some nice birds and learn from a keen young leader, sign up and enjoy a leisurely hike in the great outdoors.
Pied-billed grebes at MacGregor Park in the Ducks Unlimited wetland.
Check out this link for registration information.
Malcolm Bluffs and Cape Croker with Alfred Raab
The area that this hike covers does indeed often turn up some very special birds and the person that leads these hikes is a VERY knowledgeable birder. Alfred lives in the Bruce Peninsula in the summer and spends much of the winter birding and leading birding hikes in Panama in the months that only the hardy birds stay here.
Alfred’s eyes and his ears are always tuned to the forest or the grasslands and he can identify more species than I’ve ever seen. I think a trip to Panama in the winter may be in our future J.
Alfred leads OFO hikes as well as local hikes for the Bruce Birding Club and when he takes us up in the Malcolm Bluff and Cape Croker area we’re pretty well assured of seeing some fairly rare and interesting birds. Last year at the Huron Fringe Birding Festival those included Hooded, Cerulean and Mourning warblers to name but a few. Last year the Cape Croker area also provided great views of a Loggerhead shrike as well as several Wilsons snipe. There are always surprise birds that show up and having Alfred leading the hike and describing what he hears and pointing out where the bird might be is invaluable. If you are planning a birding trip in the winter Alfred can also give you an idea as to what might be on the birding list for a trip to Panama.
Here’s the view we had of a Mourning warbler at Malcolm Bluff in 2016.
This is the Loggerhead shrike that was hunting in the ditch near Cape Croker.
If you want to see some great birds in their beautiful habitat and have a very knowledgeable leader to learn from check out the Huron Fringe Birding Festival schedule and take a hike with Alfred at Malcolm Bluffs and Cape Croker.
Check out his events with the link below.
Birding South Bruce with Todd Pepper
As the Huron Fringe Birding Festival approaches I’ll try to give you a bit more information on some of the excellent and knowledgeable leaders that take their time out to help us learn about and appreciate birding as well as other interesting topics in nature. This blog post will highlight the achievements of Todd Pepper as he became the first Canadian member of the American Birding Association to see a representative of each of the world’s 234 living avian families. That’s quite a feat in that it requires a LOT of travel and even more determination to achieve this goal.
Here are a few of the links to some of the articles written after Todd achieved his goal.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/leamington-birdwatcher-world-trek-1.3919830
This give you an idea as to the qualifications of Todd and the good fortune you would have to be on the hike he will be leading at the 20th Huron Fringe Birding Festival. If there’s something you want to know about birds, he’s a person to ask. It’s difficult for me to imagine just how much knowledge Todd has stored away and I’m sure he’d love to share as much as he can of his love of birds with fellow birders. Here’s an article that was written after he achieved his world record.
Todd will be leading an all day hike titled “Birding South Bruce” so sign up before the spots are all filled up and let Todd tell you about his birding adventures as he shows you the birds from the area.
You can check out the festival schedule of events at :
huronfringefest 