Archive for October 2022
25th Huron Fringe Birding Festival in The Works.
At this time of year most of the fall migrants have moved through and several of the winter ones haven’t moved in yet. It is a busy time of year though for the Huron Fringe Birding Festival committee as plans are being worked on for the 25th festival in the spring of 2023. The program committee is putting together a special collection of events for a very special year.
This time of year may be a bit slow and unexciting for many birders but one of our past and future leaders has just set a new record for the most species of birds seen in Ontario in one year and there are still over two months left in the year. Kiah Jasper surpassed Jeremey Bensettes 2017 record of 346 species in a year in Ontario with a Tropical Kingbird seen in the Windsor area recently. He added a few more species shortly after that as he saw his first Purple Sandpiper, a Townsends warbler, a Cattle egret, a Red phalarope and presently sits at 351 species for the year. Other birders also doing a “Big Year” are close behind Kiah so the next two and a half months will be an exciting time for those diligent birders. It will be interesting during the next festival to hear Kiahs story of his year and see just how many birds he was able to see during the whole year.
For the rest of us its time to watch as the crops are harvested from the fields and the northern birds arrive to spend their winter here and give us great opportunities to get out to see and possibly photograph some of these species. Usually, depending on the tree seed crops, finches head south for food during the winter months. Already many have seen Evening grosbeaks visiting their feeders or flying overhead chattering. Here’s a link to the winter finch forecast so you’ll have an idea as to what bird you’ll have a better chance to see in your area this winter.
WINTER FINCH FORECAST 2022-2023 – FINCH RESEARCH NETWORK (finchnetwork.org)
Get your birding app out and listen to some of these finches as you might hear some flying over even if they don’t stop at your feeder or trees in your yard. The large open fields will be great places to spot Snowy owls, Rough-legged hawks, Snow buntings and Lapland longspur as they search for food on the open land that they are so accustomed to where they spend their summers.
Some winter day you might look out the window and see a flock of Common redpoll mobbing your platform feeder or if you have a Mountain ash tree in the yard some Bohemian waxwings visiting for a feast.
As I sit and type, the rain is coming down steadily but due to the rain some migrating birds are also driven from the sky to seek shelter and food for a day or two before continuing their journey south. Get out in the calmer parts of the day and just see what birds might have unexpectedly dropped in on you. Each day this time of year might just be the one to see a stray Mountain bluebird, Cattle egret, Townsend’s solitaire, or some other unique species for the area. Recently an American White pelican was spotted in Saugeen Shores and stayed Around for the enjoyment of several birders.
It is some time yet to the 25th Huron Fringe Birding Festival but there can be a lot of excitement even now in the birding world if you are out exploring or even watching carefully out of your window to see what is vising the yard. During these rainy days it’s also a good time to check out the festival dates, schedule of events posting date, registration date and mark them off on you calendar. To be prepared for next year and the spring migration through Bruce County.
Huron Fringe Birding Festival – 25th Huron Fringe Birding Festival
Even if the bulk of the migration is behind us more surprises may be in store for you before the end of the year and well into the winter months ahead. Enjoy each day and what it has to offer in respect to the natural world. Unfortunately the numbers of birds seems to be decreasing due to a variety of reasons so don’t delay……enjoy them, photograph them, share them with others and enjoy that smile on your face when that special species shows up for your enjoyment.
huronfringefest 