July 13 2024 (Saturday) Thickson's Point

Leader: Dave Milsom, Cathy Douglas, Brian Wales.

This OFO trip had 23 members and guests registered, but despite a beautiful sunny day, only 10 participants attended.However, they all seemed to enjoy a productive yet relaxing day of birding along the Durham lakeshore. 56 species were seen by the group. From 8 to 10.30 am, we hiked the tarmac trail to Thickson's Point.Highlights were Orchard and Baltimore orioles, many Bank Swallows (large colony nesting in the cliffs), Yellow Warblers and Willow flycatchers, a Green Heron, Great-crested Flycatcher, and a Northern Rough-winged Swallow. At Whitby Harbour we saw Common and Caspian terns, Herring and Ring-billed gulls, Mute Swans, Double-crested Cormorants, and a Belted Kingfisher. After a lunch break at Tim Hortons, we proceeded towards Cranberry Marsh.At Halls Road, we found 4 Sandhill Cranes feeding in a cornfield, a Semipalmated Plover in a wet area, 2 Great Blue Herons and an Osprey. At Cranberry Marsh, we enjoyed several singing Marsh Wrens, a number of eastern Kingbirds, female Mallards with ducklings, Great Blue Herons, a Trumpeter Swan, and several early Fall migrants : 5 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 20 Common and 5 Red-breasted mergansers, a Common Loon and a breeding-plumaged Red-throated Loon. Many thanks to the participants for their cooperation and enthusiasm.We hope to see them again on future OFO fieldtrips.

July 6 2024 (Saturday) Rosetta McClain Gardens

Leader: Jack Alvo, John Nishikawa, Rose Petrich.

Saturday, July 6, six participants gathered on a sunny and comfortable morning at Rosetta McClain Gardens in Scarborough. In a deliberately slow-paced outing, the group found 21 species, a typical number for this location in mid-summer. Songbirds included Northern Flicker, Northern Cardinals, Blue Jays and White-breasted Nuthatches, all of which were vocalizing. A few group members had a brief look at a bright male Baltimore Oriole. Looking out over the lake, we saw Bank Swallows, a Caspian Tern and 33 Double-breasted Cormorants. Some of the birds seen were lifers for some people.

As always, the gardens at Rosetta McClain were stunningly beautiful with flowers in full bloom. Butterflies seen were Monarch, Red Admiral and Cabbage White.

This was one of two outings this month designed to be inclusive and accessible, particularly for people who have a mobility-related disability. Unfortunately, some registrants were unable to come. These outings are being put on jointly by Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO), Toronto Ornithological Club (TOC), and Accessibirdies. Co-leaders were Rose Petrich, John Nishikawa, and Jack Alvo. Also present were another two members of the planning group: Monika Croydon and Accessibility Leader Holly Barkley, who is also the founder of Accessibirdies.

June 18 2024 (Tuesday) Happy Valley

Leader: Kevin Shackleton.

Trip Report. 30 people registered at one point and then some people cancelled at the last minute. Some people went to the "pin" in the description of the start location and were at the wrong place, despite my written directions which were easy to follow. I spent about 10 minutes describing the history of Happy Valley and reviewing the song of the Hooded Warbler so people would know what they were listening for this morning. We spent the bulk of our time in the NCC Happy Valley Forest and walked about 3Km over well marked trails in two hours. I asked people to use their Merlin app and one of them heard the Hooded at the same time as I did. We heard a second one further on and I tried to call it in without success. People said me mimicking the song helped them hear it when it sang again. We had 26 species in that tract, including 14 Ovenbirds and 5 Brown Creepers, two of which were seen as we ended that portion of the morning.
Some people left the group at this point as the up and down nature of the tract was too much for their knees. We moved to the newer York Region Forest Happy Valley Tract just north of the NCC property. We spent about 50 minutes looking and listening to open country birds where one of the group saw a life Mourning Warbler. There were Clay-coloured, Field, Chipping, Song and a rare Lincoln's Sparrow here. We also had Bobolink, Eastern Meadowlark and Baltimore Oriole. There was a request for a washroom break at this point so I took part of the group to Tim Horton's in Schomberg.
For the last hour or so, I took the remaining 12 of the group to the Goldie Feldman Tract on the 17th SR in King. The forest birding was slow, but we added Barred Owl, a life bird for one of the group, Warbling Vireo and Winter Wren. We finished up at about 12:36 pm with 39 species. I felt that as the trip was billed as the Happy Valley Forest the participants should see all parts of it. In the past it has gone through Nobleton and to the Schomberg sewage lagoons.

Kevin Shackleton

June 2 2024 (Sunday) Glen Morris

Leader: Jason Pizzey, Jenny Pizzey.

Here is our short and sweet trip report for the Glen Morris area on a soggy morning.
June 2, 2024 Leaders: Jason and Jenny Pizzey

5 people attended in the steady rain, thanks to them for being troopers, Jenny and I were expecting to bird alone. This included 2 brand new birders from Kitchener, who were brought along by a member. We wish we could have had a better day to fully introduce them to our pastime. The day started at Grass lake, where we watched a lone sandhill crane in the marsh and singing swamp sparrows. Try as we might, we did not hear or see any other marsh birds. We then proceeded to walk the roadway offering great looks at several savannah sparrows, bobolinks and distant looks at the singing meadowlarks. These species were much appreciated by the attendees who were targeting them on our trip. Our second stop was the rail trail in Glen Morris where we were greeted by singing warbling vireos, yellow warblers and a few cliff swallows nesting under the bridge. It was decided at this point to cut our trip short, everyone being drenched and chilly. 28 species over the couple hours we were out wasn't too bad, considering the conditions! https://ebird.org/tripreport/247818