February 21 2026 (Saturday) Haldimand & Norfolk

Leader: Barry Coombs, Mike Norton, Cody Bassindale.

Fifteen keen birders joined co-leaders Cody Bassindale, Barry Coombs and Mike Norton at Kinsmen Park in Caledonia on a breezy, drizzly morning. Fortunately, the precipitation cleared but the wind continued. A recent, brief warm spell opened up the water at Silver Lake and a few other spots, which allowed us views of a good collection of waterfowl. Lake Erie, however, was still ice.

Much to our dismay, the thaw had also melted a lot of snow and we weren't able to find any Snow Buntings, although we saw several Horned Larks. Our co-leaders had scouted the route on the previous Saturday and had found many Snow Buntings.

Overall, we observed 41 species. Not all individual raptor sightings were saved to eBird but we kept a tally of 4 Bald Eagles, 20 Red-tailed Hawks, 2 Northern Harriers in the same field, 5 American Kestrels and a very welcome, single Rough-legged Hawk. A notable species, found at Caledonia, was White-winged Scoter, which is rare for Haldimand County.

Tufted Titmouse are always a crowd pleaser. We heard one or two at Ruthven but didn't see them. Luckily, we were able to get eyes on two of them on Irish Line.

Thanks go to our co-leaders and to all participants for their contributions. Also, we're grateful to Rob Palin who assisted Mike Norton in the tail car and kept us all together all day long.

January 10 2026 (Saturday) Detroit River

Leader: Jeremy Hatt, Kory Renaud.

16 participants joined the Detroit River outing today, a joint effort of OFO and the Essex County Field Naturalists' Club. We had a great day w/ 50 species observed across 7 eBird hotspots in Windsor and Tecumseh. Temperatures stayed around 2C for the day w/ low winds making it a comfortable outing. The sky remained cloudy throughout the day and ended w/ a mix of rain, sleet, and snow in the final hour!

During this outing, we hope for colder temperatures to freeze up Lake St. Clair and concentrate birds on the Detroit River but a week of mild temperatures melted all the ice on the river and lake. Waterfowl numbers weren't as high as usual but two major highlights made up for it: Long-eared Owl and Northern Saw-Whet Owl, which were lifers for several attendees.

We started the outing at Lakeview Park Marina. Highlights included a Trumpeter Swan near Peche Island, a decent-sized raft of Canvasback and Redhead, and a flyby Lesser Black-backed Gull. We then headed over to the Little River Pollution Control Plant and Park where we picked up a pair of American Wigeon and an American Kestrel.

After lunch we stopped at two spots along the upper Detroit River for closer views of several waterfowl species and a resident Peregrine Falcon perched next to the "A" of the Ambassador Bridge.

We finished the outing w/ a walk through Ojibway Park where we had great looks at many Tufted Titmice, Brown Creeper, two Fox Sparrows, two Eastern Towhees, and good numbers of White-throated Sparrows, American Tree Sparrows, and Dark-eyed Juncos.

Thanks to everyone who attended, Jeremy Hatt & Kory Renaud