The Festival has come to a Successful Conclusion for Another Year

The Huron Fringe Birding Festival is over for 2018 but plans are already in the works for an even better event next year. So get your 2019 calendars and block off a couple of weekends to come and enjoy birding hikes, nature hikes, wild flower hikes, photography hikes and other interesting nature events.

These past events saw over 400 attendees enjoy the sunny and dry days. We received many positive comments and some good ideas to incorporate in to the 2019 festival. By the end of the festival there had been over 180 species of birds seen or heard by the participants. As the tree leaves blossomed with the warm weather the birds found it much easier to hide, so good ears were a benefit in knowing what was hiding behind those quivering leaves.

Our mascot American redstart showed up on many of the events to the delight of many of the photographers. These wonderful little warblers add a nice touch of colour to the green of the newly opened leaves.

For a complete list of birds that were seen this year check back soon on the festival website and until 2018 is updated its easy to see what birds have been seen over the past several festivals. It gives you an idea of the possibilities for 2019.

http://friendsofmacgregor.org/page/species-list

The festival in 2019 will have two knowledgeable birders in the persons of Mike and Ken Burrell giving the keynote address at the dinner on Saturday night. Come and enjoy some of their experiences and knowledge regarding the natural world we all love to see and find out where in Ontario to see those elusive birds.

Note the new time that registration starts next year. No more staying up until midnight to get your first requests for events entered. Have a nice morning coffee as you log in at 6:00 am March 1 2019 to choose the events you would like to participate in!

The Piping plovers at Sauble Beach that many enjoyed a view of have had their first eggs hatch and with three nesting sites this year more should soon follow. Hopefully the numbers of these small shorebirds can recover with a bit of help from the communities that they choose to nest in.

Enjoy a wonderful year as summer approaches and don’t forget to get those dates marked on your calendar for next years Huron Fringe Birding Festival. It will indeed be another great opportunity to enjoy nature and meet new friends with similar interests.