Costa Rica is often the first destination for birders that want to see South American birds. With over 900 bird species reported in this very small country it is easy to see why it is a popular destination for birders. Many week long birding tours see a few hundred species and 21 day tours can see 500-600! Tours allow you not to worry about anything but they are also very expensive. I was hoping to spend half of what a tour for both of us would cost. After 3 years of chasing numbers with the Big Years I was not interested in quantity, and rushing from place to place in an effort to see as many birds as possible. I wanted quality birding. I wanted to immerse ourselves in the country, in the birding. So instead of just booking a tour I made up one for us, loosely based off a 21 day tour but staying longer at lodges and missing some areas of the country. I booked the best known birding lodges for 2-3 days each knowing that we would have guides to help us and then I found birding spots to stop at on travel days between the lodges. I wanted things to be relaxed, so there would be time for birding walks each morning, breakfast at the lodge and then a 2.5-4 hours drive to the next destination with a birding stop or two along the way. That sounded heavenly compared to our Big Year birding with 10-12 hours drives between places.
Screenshot
Car rentals were not easy to figure out – many comments on Costa Rica Travel FB sites warned me of the extra insurance that is often not mentioned in the first booking and you find the price doubles when you pick up your vehicle because of this mandatory Costa Rican insurance. Jerry had booked something and we found out that the cheap price would indeed double on pickup due to the insurance not mentioned and so we canceled and looked for something else.
I found a car from Costa Rica 4×4 Car Rentals with profits going to the Wet Nose Dog Rescue. We are not dog people as many of you know but we are always keen to give back to the local community when we travel rather than the big corporations. Who am I kidding? It was way cheaper! That is the real reason! The cars, however, are 10-20 years old which made me a bit nervous (a lot nervous actually) having never owned a car older than 7 years. But, I figured worse case we could always find another car if something happened. Look at me, being all Pura Vida! before the trip even!
Once things were all booked we focused on familiarizing ourselves with as many of the birds as we could. We spent many evenings going through the illustrated checklist for Costa Rica on ebird and looking at photos, listening to calls and then trying to remember names the next day. Slowly, we became a bit more familiar with a number of the birds we hoped to see.
And suddenly, it was time to pack our bags and head to Toronto…
Our Air Canada flight landed at 10:45 pm in San Jose. We cleared immigration and customs in minutes, the advantage to arriving late at night. I had read stories on FB about people taking 3 hours to get through immigration!! We met Adrian with our car, an 11 year old Toyota Rav 4×4 right outside the airport and signed documents, paid and were on our way to the hotel 20 minutes away. The ride was quick but with no street signs we just turned when Waze told us to and for the most part the streets were empty of people and cars making it a pretty easy drive.
We heard our first two birds of the trip when we checked in just after midnight. Ferruginous Pygmy Owl and Common Pauraque were calling on the hotel grounds but neither of those birds were lifers having seen and heard them in Texas years ago. We fell asleep quickly but I woke up at 4:30 to the strange calls of a bird and just had to put Merlin on to find out it was our first lifer, a Clay-coloured Thrush, which is also Costa Rica’s national bird. Not one of the fantastically coloured birds but this rather drab looking bird with a fantastic, powerful song.
We tried to go back to sleep for a bit and were up again and dressed by 5:30 to head out into the garden that was full of bird sound. It was overwhelming to see and hear birds we had not seen before. I used Merlin to give us the heads up about what was possibly singing and we used that to search out and confirm our identifications. We were surprised by how many we did recognize from all our memory work before the trip. We met a couple from Guelph and we worked on some ID’s together and then passed each other numerous times over the next couple of hours.
Hotel Bougainvillea is a known hot spot for birders and often the chosen destination to start any Costa Rica trip. It has 10 acres of gardens and water features that host a few hundred species of birds. They are not all there all the time obviously but we hoped to use this time to get familiar with the common species. After leaving the drabness of Ontario in March the gardens were a feast for our eyes!
We quickly had lifer Red-billed Pigeon, Social Flycatcher, Melodious Blackbird, Rufous-backed Wren, Crimson-fronted Parakeet, White-fronted Amazon, Hoffmann’s Woodpecker, Cabanis’s Wren, Rufous-tailed Hummingbird and Gray-headed Chachalaca. The bird I had really hoped to see was a Mottled Owl that roosts in the huge bamboo near the pool but despite usually being seen, it was not found that first day. We heard a very sweet song in one corner of the garden, Merlin ID’d it as a Rufous-browed Peppershrike. We listened and kept listening trying to zero in on where the bird was, Heather and Greg from Guelph joined us. Eventually Heather saw it in a different tree but the rest of us did not get on it as it quickly disappeared. We added it to our lifer list because we had actively heard it singing for a significant amount of time and I hope that we will get a chance to see it.
By 7:15 we were starving, our dinner on the plane was hummus and crackers so we were ready to fuel up but it was super hard to leave the birds and take the time to eat. The buffet was included in our stay and gave us our first taste of the famous Costa Rican Gallo Pinto, which is basically rice and beans mixed with onion, peppers and cilantro. The breakfast was yummy and we chowed down quickly and then dressed down as it had gotten quite warm and headed back to the gardens.
We had missed seeing a Lesson’s Motmot the first session and we ended up having the experience of the day with one after. I had spotted the first one on a shaded path right above Jerry’s head but the second one was out in the open and this one showed us the wonderful “swinging” of its tail before flying off the branch directly at us and landing on the grass near our feet for the briefest of seconds, (long enough to pick up an insect) and flying back to another branch. I was in awe of the brilliant turquoise colour. Just stunning.
Lesson’s Motmot
Things were starting to slow down, there were less calls and song as the temperature soared to 27C. By 11:30 we decided to take a break. We wanted to grab some beer and snacks from the supermarket a 10 minute walk away so we did that in the hottest part of the day. After a refreshing cold beer and some chips we took a much needed nap.
We headed back out around 3:30 but things didn’t pick up until 4:30-5:00. We added a couple of lifers, Lineated Woodpecker and White-tailed Kite. We did find 2 more Lesson’s Motmots in the front garden that gave us great views and video. Dusk was coming and night happens swiftly here so we went to shower and dress for dinner.
We were up again just after 4am not being able to sleep more and caught up with more pics and the blog notes before heading downstairs for 5:30. The Mottled Owl we missed yesterday was the bird I most wanted. We headed for the bamboo stand right away and the maintenance staff came out to help us look and quickly found the owl right by the path and in clear view. It was still quite dark but Jerry managed to lighten things on his camera and my phone camera did a decent job considering the low light.
Mottled Owl
The next agenda item was to see the Peppershrike we heard yesterday but could not find. We heard it sing within minutes but again could not find it before it flew away and sang again from the adjacent property.
We added a few more lifers, Boat-billed Flycatcher and Orange-chinned Parakeet and had better views of some of the other birds. A really good morning and by 7:30 we headed in to have breakfast excited to head out to our next destination.
Crimson-fronted Parakeet
Blue-gray Tanager
I am glad we decided to stay at Hotel Bougainvillea, it was a nice beginning to our trip, the grounds and gardens always hold new surprises each day. It is a gated hotel with security on the street 24/7. The rooms were comfy, the food was delicious and the staff very friendly. Jerry lost a camera battery on the grounds and a British birder picked it up and gave it to the front desk so when we asked on the off- chance it had been found the staff were happy to hand it back to him. It is popular and can be pricey if you have to take a more expensive room, as we did, so I can understand why people might hesitate to stay and in our case we paid for a “night” that we were only there from midnight on. I would probably skip this on a return trip and find something cheaper and closer to the airport before heading to other destinations. But it was a great introduction to some of the birds. We opted to stay at the much cheaper Holiday Inn right beside the airport the night before our flight back.
Hotel Bougainvillea – We saw 43 species of birds with 24 of them Lifers
After my last blog February 8 we continued to only bird on nice weather days. We opted to drive into Hamilton on a sunny but cold day to traverse the Lake in hopes of Scoters and some Owl species. It has been a strange year with Lake Erie almost completely frozen and Lake Ontario with huge areas close to shore frozen. Standing at the lake you can hear loud “KRACKS” as the ice cracks along the shore. We had our best views of Black and Surf Scoters because the ducks were in small areas of open water surrounded by ice which meant no waves! Usually our views are far out and glimpses in the scope between waves. They were still quite a distance for Jerry’s camera but he did manage some recognizable shots and the looks through our scope were lovely.
Black ScotersSurf Scoters (white forehead)
After checking all the openings to the Lake we eventually ended up at 50 Point, the known spot for owls in the winter. We walked the usual area but did not find any Saw-whet owls and so headed to another area. Carefully scouting pines and spruce we checked for any visible lumps. Jerry found a carcass of a rabbit and a medium size owl flushed from a nearby tree. A Long-eared Owl. Margaret texted to ask about owl sitings and to let me know she was at 50 Point so we quickly spoke and met up. We continued along the path and another birder alerted us to a Long-eared Owl and as Jerry moved closer to the tree to see if he could see the Long-ear on the other side he came face to face with a tiny Northern Saw-whet Owl! Two owls in the same tree. We quickly backed away and quietly managed a few pictures before leaving it in peace. Angela and Michael also joined us at Fifty Point so they got to see the Saw-whet too. These owls are seen by a lot of people – there exact where-abouts are not posted on Discord and many people hide their lists on ebird but it is a known park for photographers, birders and just locals that like seeing nature. The owls return year after year and despite the popularity of the place we have not witnessed large gatherings of people disrupting the owls. Hopefully, like us, they snap a bad pic and then go on their way.
We met up with Angela and Michael the next day to see the celebrity Virginia Rail at F.W.R. Dickson and had quick looks, but no pictures as it scurried out to grab a peanut we had just brought to help it through the continuing cold. We then headed to Brant Park but only a bit of the main road was plowed and it was really tough going through the softening deep snow on some of the more popular paths. There were few birds and no owls and as we headed out a small snowstorm arrived so we opted to call it a day and head out for dinner.
On the Family Day weekend a rare Barrow’s Goldeneye was reported in Cambridge only 15 mins away from us so we had to take a look at it. We were heading to Keira’s for a family dinner but my food was ready to go and we had an hour before we needed to leave. We arrived at the Blair Lookout where birders had it in their bins so I got the scope out and after some time managed to get on it as it constantly dove for food. Eventually, everyone had good scope looks and Jerry walked down the road to access the river at another spot to get some pictures. While we were there an Iceland Gull flew by so we added 2 birds to the year list. I am interested in just how birding like this will pan out in real numbers, no chasing great distances but just waiting for the birds to show up close to us or by accident when we are out seeing other things. We had parked down a bit of a slope in some snow and with the warmer temps the snow was super slippery so with our “seasonal” tires we could not get back out onto the main road – it was super silly, not even that much of a hill. After repeated tries we needed a helping push from the birders that had congregated for the Barrow’s. Thanks Guys!
Barrow’s GoldeneyeIceland Gull
The next day we walked local trails following reports of some interesting birds in the neighbourhood. There was a Long-tailed Duck down at the trail head which is unusual on the river and in Brant County but certainly we had seen thousands of them on the Canal in Hamilton.
Long-tailed Duck
Then we headed onto the rail trail walking up from Paris towards Glen Morris as a Red-shouldered Hawk had been seen in the morning. We ran into Bill and had a nice chat and saw a number of species while we chatted but no Red-shouldered Hawk after the initial report. This is the first year that we have not had one in our yard after 6 consecutive winters of a Red-shouldered Hawk visiting. I’ve certainly been home more than other years but have not managed to see one.
A week or so later we were heading to Benson’s hockey game in Beamsville in the late afternoon and decided to quickly stop at 50 Point to try for a third owl species – a Great Horned Owl. Apparently, there was a possible nesting pair. We walked the area we had heard they were known to roost in but did not see any large lumps. We scanned another area, chatted with a local that said they had not seen them that day and so we decided to head out as the light was fading. Just as we started to drive along the road, I looked to my right and saw a lump in a small evergreen just off the road. We got out of the car and had glimpses of an alert Great Horned Owl through the branches and trees. Jerry took a picture and then the owl started moving around placing his back to us and stretching a bit and then he flew off back to the area they have been seen in probably to start the night’s hunt.
Great Horned Owl
Jerry was struggling with his photography through most of the month after getting new lenses in his glasses and discovering that they had made them transitional lenses by mistake. With any sunlight or daylight the glass darkened on him and he had great difficulty seeing through the camera lens. It has been a frustrating few weeks for him. Thankfully they have now been changed again so he can finally see through the viewfinder.
Since then we have not birded except for our backyard feeders. We have added a few early migrants, the first Red-winged Blackbirds have arrived and today we had our first Common Grackle and a Sharp-shinned Hawk chased after the Doves in the yard. There is the “feel” of spring. A warmer day here and there, then another cold spell but we are closer to spring every day. The days are getting incrementally longer and the worst of winter should be behind us. The pajama days have come to an end. With as little birding as we have done this year we are still at 90 species seen since January 1. This is about average for us most years in Ontario, and as expected, quite a bit below our big years where by this time in 2024 we were at 145 and last year we were at 107 species in Ontario.
Ontario numbers as of March 1
In other news…We have been busy finalizing all our travel plans for Costa Rica, trying to find required items for our trip and making sure we have most eventualities covered. Our focus most evenings has been to learn as many birds of Costa Rica as we can, or at least familiarize ourselves with the bird families and some calls. We will have guides for many of our outings but we also plan to bird on our own as well. Many birders opt to just write a cheque (a big cheque) and take a tour so that they need not worry about anything but seeing the birds and it is very tempting to travel that way but for two of us the cost is hard to justify. Certainly there are countries that a tour would make the most sense but Costa Rica is safe, we have heard, and easy to find your way around so we will give it a go. I do not think I will be blogging while we are away, but you never know. I suspect that evenings will be spent figuring out pictures and calls of species seen so that we can submit accurate ebird lists as least. I plan to journal our whole trip and then put together blogs when we get back with hopefully some great pictures and stories to share. This will likely not be until April when it will truly be spring here! Until then….
Finally February! I’m one of those people that struggle through winter – I hate the cold, hate the snow, ice, wind. Hate the multiple layers, thick mitts, puffy coats, big boots making movement and birding a huge effort. Birding at least gets me out of the house but I have to admit that this year without a goal its hard to get me out of PJ’s. I think I have hit a record number of days spent in my PJ’s this last month with the continual double-digit negative temperatures and constant winds and squalls. I’ve enjoyed watching the birds at our feeders and I have made an effort to get on the treadmill in the basement and shovelled snow to at least keep up some semblance of physical activity. I’ve also been reading a few books a week, completed 8 jig-saw puzzles and been making all our favourite comfort foods. Hoping my clothes still fit in another month LOL.
We put in a display at our local library for February titled “Blind Date with a Book” where we wrap up books and just write a little blurb on the front to peak interest so in that spirit I’ll share some book recommendations in case some of you are looking for something new – I am an eclectic reader and willing to read anything interesting.
Careless People – Sarah Wynn-Williams – memoir from a FB employee!
Three Days in June – Anne Tyler – classic relationship story from Anne Tyler
Atmosphere – Taylor Jenkins Reid – women and NASA!
All Her Fault – Andrea Mara – mystery with lots of twists
Whistle Linwood Barclay – thriller in the Steven King style
The Reason You Walk – memoir Wab Kinew (Premier of Manitoba) current read – future first Indigenous PM?
But you want to hear about the birding, right? We have only gotten out 8 times in the last month. Quite a difference from last year when we took a trip to BC and out birding most days. Back on Jan 12 we tried for local owls at Brant Park and flushed a Long-Ear Owl that was in a tree close to the road. We always feel bad when they flush as we know they need the rest. It flew out right overtop of us and went deeper into the forest where hopefully it was not disturbed again. A few days later on our way to a hockey game in Oakville we decided to actually “chase” a rarity and headed to Desjardin Canal where a Greater White-fronted Goose had been reported. Unfortunately it had flown off just before we arrived so we continued onto LaSalle Marina and checked through all the ducks again adding another 4 duck species for the year.
Pied-billed Grebe the consolation for no GooseHooded MerganserTundra Swan – note the yellow below the eye!
Two days later we were out again meeting up to bird with Angela and Michael. What a crazy day! Snow Squalls were in the forecast and boy did we get hit. We had been in beautiful sunshine at Bayfront Park and drove 3 minutes over to Pier 8, got out of our cars and were hit with a wall of snow. I wish I had taken a pic of us! We walked/ran to Williams Cafe and arrived looking like snowmen! We opted to grab hot chocolates and talk about birding instead of trying to bird. Once things had cleared up we headed to Windemere and Sayers Park adding another couple of birds for the year. The real purpose of the day was to grab some yummy Mexican food at Mesa on James Street. Always a fun time with Angela and Michael with soooo much laughter!
It would be another 10 days before we birded again due to the weather- lots of PJ days. We drove local roads for Snow Buntings, Jerry had added them to his list a few days before while running errands, and we managed to catch up with a few flocks but at a distance in the fields. We then headed to Waterworks Park and spent a lovely afternoon hiking along the river. We scanned carefully as you never know what rare goose might be tucked in with the hundreds of Canada Geese that rest along the riverbank.
Taking a “short-cut” back left us in deep snow
Two hours after we got home a report came in that a Snow Goose had flown in. Yeesh! The following day Bill saw it first thing in the morning, we headed to yoga, and he confirmed it was a Ross’s Goose – a “bigger” rarity. We headed out after yoga but worried the goose might have gone off to feed as they are apt to do and indeed it was not seen after 10:30. We opted to visit Babi first and then walked the river just before dusk hoping we would catch it flying back in but it was never seen again. Not having much luck chasing things.
Grand River – Waterworks ParkBrown CreeperWhite-breasted Nuthatch
A couple of days later, on a sunny, cold, calm day we opted to visit the Burlington Canal at the Liftbridge. In very cold winters with a lot of ice along the shores of Lake Ontario the wintering ducks will congregate in the canal giving birders close up views of thousands of ducks. We were hoping to find Surf and Black Scoter to add to our year list but again dipped on both species.
Burlington Canal at the LiftbridgeThousands of Long-tails,Golden-eyes, Scoters, MergansersRedheads, Common Goldeneye, White-winged Scoter, Long-tailed DucksRed-breasted Mergansers
The next day we drove up into Mennonite Country northwest of Kitchener the known spot to see Snowy Owls. We headed to the road where reports had come in and saw another car pulled over. That is almost always another birder and sure enough it was Bob who we have run into before around Hamilton and up in Rainy River.
Screenshot
They had not seen any owls although people had 5 the day before. We drove around and then ended up crossing paths again with none of us seeing anything. Shortly after I saw a weird lump out in a field and stopped for a look. I asked Jerry to take a pic to confirm and he said it was just a lump of snow.
This is what you are looking for if you are not lucky enough to have an owl sitting on a pole or fence
I couldn’t let it go. Something about it just did not seem like a lump should be there and the colouring was more white than the blue-white of snow. I insisted we get out the scope and IT WAS A SNOWY OWL – a beautiful Male, pure white.
Snowy Owl looking like a lump of snow
I called Bob and he headed to where we were. It was so far back in the field but it was our first Snowy this year and we sure were not disturbing it. Bob had family with him and they had nice views in the scope. We got back in our car and drove a bit more and then headed a bit further north where other owls had been reported. Turning onto another gravel road a car was pulled over with a birder out of the car so we pulled over. He had 2 Snowies, one female on a silo and a male in the tree line. A Rough-legged Hawk flew past at a distance. The Owls were also quite a distance away but we got out and got the scope out and suddenly cars were stopping all over and I had a line-up at the scope for people to view the owls. It was bitter cold but I love sharing those moments with people that are thrilled and excited to see something for the first time. They are always amazed at how close the bird is in the scope. We finally moved on as did the owls and drove up a bit further to see our 4th Snowy of the day up on another silo at the next crossroad. A fun-filled birding day.
Number 2 SnowyNumber 3Number 4
So here we are closer to spring every day. While Bluebirds overwinter in this area their bright colour at the feeder makes us think of warmer days. We have been leaving some mealworms for the Virginia Rail that made it through the coldest week and Jerry got a cute pic of a curious Tufted Titmouse doing a drop-off.
Eastern BluebirdTufted Titmouse
I have spent many, many hours in the last month planning a trip to Costa Rica in March and that has been a tad overwhelming. The number of bird species typically seen over a few weeks can top 3-400 and the vast majority would be lifers for us. The birds come in every colour and the names are crazy – Golden-browed Chlorophonia, Bare-necked Umbrellabird, Three-wattled Bellbird, Scaly-throated Foilage-gleaner, Checker-throated Stipplethroat, Purple-crowned Fairy. And hundreds of other names that are hyphenated and similar to other names. We are scrolling slideshows every few days hoping that some of the names and pictures will stick so we will not be totally overwhelmed when we get there. I am taking the approach of quality over quantity and just planning on spending time at the different eco lodges that offer birding on their grounds with guides. Most people take tours where they can see hundreds of birds over a short period but I hope to make this a bit of a relaxed tour with time for afternoon swims and leisurely drives. It will be tough to get great pictures in rain forests but we hope to have the time to be patient and wait around to see and get as many pics of birds as we can, a luxury that many of the tours do not have.
I promised in my last blog a Birding Spectacle Blog coming but I still have not composed it so bear with me and I hopefully will get to it in the next few weeks or it can wait till later in the year.
Most of you know when I post a blog because you follow on FB but I know a few of you have left FB or do not have it. I plan on setting up a notification with email so if you would prefer to sign up for an email notification when I post a new blog let me know and I can add you. Send an email to ellyhorak at gmail dot com.
No alarm was set for January 1 but I was awake at my usual winter 7:30am time and saw my first bird of the year on my way to make tea – a beautiful male Northern Cardinal. I started a list and saw 11 species over the next 1.5 hours. Jerry opted to stay in bed and so he started his own list later – the horror! separate lists! it had not happened often in the last three years. I had seen a Cooper’s Hawk shortly after I got up so after he added the usual suspects I was AHEAD of him by 1 bird! LOL This is of course all in jest. After being tied to one another for 3 years and sharing almost all our birding moments it was refreshing to not. We trash talked a bit, kibitzing back and forth about competing with each other this year, and of course the Cooper’s Hawk returned and so we were again – even.
We opted to head out and see if we could add two rarer birds to the year’s list but had no luck with the White-winged Crossbill or the Dickcissel that we saw at the end of 2025. And you may ask why were we even “chasing” something on the first day of January? All I can say in our defence is it is a bit of an adjustment and hard to break habits. Over the next few days we discussed what this year would look like and decided that we would not be chasing rarities unless they were lifers or maybe a new bird for Ontario. We would rather just plan birding outings to favourite places to bird and see what we turn up. I do not want to chase the 300 year after year either. We know what kind of driving is involved with getting to that number. We decided we were going to practice “non-urgent birding” for at least this year.
The grandkids came for a sleepover on the weekend and we stopped at F.W. Dickson so they could feed the birds and we could show them the wintering Virginia Rail. We waited patiently for 20 minutes, in the cold, the kids were both really quiet and still feeding birds and waiting but no Rail appeared. At 25 minutes the patience had worn thin, I negotiated 5 more minutes explaining that you had to be patient for bird watching, sometimes for hours, they were not impressed. At 30 minutes we started to walk away and I stopped to chat with a birder when a shout came from behind, “It’s here!” We quickly back-tracked and the kids had good views as it came out to the tiny puddle that remains unfrozen. We happily watched for another 5-10 minutes as it moved about. Hunter saw it flap its wings as a squirrel chased it from the tangle. They were suitably impressed and excited that indeed, their patience had been rewarded.
Virginia Rail
Not a great pic but we opted to give the bird space, you can see some of the meal worms rehydrated that we left for it.
At lunch I asked if it might have been their “spark” bird but they answered in the negative. I remain hopeful that one of my four grandchildren will become a birder but at least they all know bird names and love nature and birds.
On Sunday we participated in the Brantford Christmas Bird Count checking our usual areas. We started a bit later in the morning this year hoping there would be more activity as the day warmed up and it seemed to work as we added more species at each stop than our previous years. A number of the birds were FOY ( First of the Year) birds for us too.
Last year, if you remember I could not find a Brown Creeper for 28 days in January and of course this year I have already seen a dozen. How strange birding can be. We have two Cooper’s Hawks, an adult and a juvenile, using our feeders as an all-you- can-eat buffet. They seem to hunt every 2-3 days and it seems to take them 4-5 attempts before they are successful. Doves are their main prey and we have watched 4 disappear in their talons in the past weeks. We have about 30 Mourning Doves coming to the feeder so they seem to be set for the winter months. When we visited Babi this week and took her for a walk on that one warm day we saw a Cooper’s Hawk catch one of the Rock Pigeons that frequent the gardens there. Everything needs to eat.
Weather and home jobs kept us from birding for the next few days and finally on Thursday the sun shone and the temperature climbed. We opted to go to LaSalle Park and Marina, a favourite spot for wintering ducks and swans. It was lovely to have no agenda, no “must-sees” and I noted to Jerry as we walked the path that in the previous years I would have been constantly thinking about what else we needed to add or where we should go next. It was quite freeing to just be and enjoy the birds.
Horned GrebeMute SwanTundra Swan
Check out that huge Grebe foot! Their feet are at the very back of their bodies making it impossible to walk on land. You can tell a Tundra Swan by the bit of yellow beside its eye. They are also noticeably smaller beside Trumpeter Swans. Below is a video of the bonding ritual head bobbing of the many Trumpeter Swan pairs that spend the winter at LaSalle in Burlington.
We added a few more birds on a local walk Friday at Cavan Flats. The Northern Mockingbird is not often found in Brant County so it was exciting to see one locally.
Northern MockingbirdDowny Woodpecker
I have weaned myself from most of the birding information that was my normal routine for the last few years. Instead of hourly needs and rare bird alert emails I now just get one rare bird email a day. I still get rare alerts on Discord for all the counties in Ontario but I don’t check them as often and as spring ramps up I will likely just subscribe for the local areas that I am in. I still find myself checking the “Top 100” listing every few days, not to see where I am but to see if anyone is attempting a Big Year. We’ve seen 63 species in these first weeks and plan to have an owling adventure and a winter lake watch to see more wintering ducks over the next weeks. We are also planning a trip outside Canada to open the door to world-wide birding – a scary expensive proposition. I also have a first birding spectacle to share with you in an upcoming blog. I know, I know, how dare I leave you hanging in anticipation LOL. Til next time…
And so our final count was 431 birds seen across Canada which is 79.5% of the 542 species seen in Canada this year. We were the top ebirders in Canada and join only 7 other people that have birded over 400 in Canada in any given year. We had 5 birds that were “Heard Only” and Jerry missed pictures for only 19 species. We added 16 LIFERS to our Life List.
We birded in every province, drove 47,379km which was 2,000km LESS than we drove doing the Ontario 300 year. We walked 1,125km which was about the same as the Ontario year and that seems crazy right? You would think more birds seen, more walking and driving necessary. Maybe we just ended up being more efficient? I think the difference is in chasing – we did not chase birds across Canada that would have involved flights and longer drives. We spent $20,773 on travel and we estimate another $2,500 on gas. We missed at least 9-10 birds that I had expected to get.
With a couple of adjustments of a longer winter trip to BC, a pelagic from the top of Vancouver Island in June and heading out East a week or two earlier I think we would have got most of the 10 birds so I think 440-450 is possible with just driving and that one winter trip to BC in case anyone is contemplating a run at Canada. I have lots of lists and spreadsheets to share.
In Ontario this year Jude managed to get an incredible 351 species in Ontario. Only 3 others have had higher totals. And Margaret saw 336 species to best our number from last year by 1! Congrats to both of them on a fabulous year. We managed to see 301 in Ontario this year to be part of the 300 club for the second year.
I do not plan on making it a habit of being over 300 but we will see. Barbara has managed to do it for 15 years in a row! I’m not sure I want to go down that road.
We had a fantastic time traveling across Canada, we truly have a remarkable country and while our focus was on the birds we did manage to see some iconic spots along the way. I made a point of sitting in as many of the red chairs I could find in parks throughout the country. Each time I sat we took a picture and then I spent a few moments soaking in the view and feeling very grateful that we were healthy enough to be doing this traveling.
We were originally going to do this year at the same time as Susan and Jim Nagy. They had planned a different kind of Canada Big Year for 2025 that would have involved flights and tourist locations and we met them a few times in 2024 to plan and share the task of making up bird lists and where to see what. Sadly, with Jim’s cancer diagnosis and subsequent death in August 2025 their Big Year did not happen so we were acutely aware of how lucky we were to be able to complete this year in good health.
As always the best part of the year was meeting so many people and sharing this passion of birding. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for following along and all your support and well-wishes. Thanks for all the help with reporting birds, chasing birds down for us, keeping them in scopes and cheering us on. Thanks to birders across Canada that shared information with us and made suggestions about where and when to travel. A very big thanks to my friend and non-birder Marg, who kindly sent me corrections to the blog every week. I am always looking to have a blog that is error-free! I suspect she has increased her knowledge of birds without really wanting to. I remain hopeful that one day she will suggest going birding LOL!
It has been a crazy, wonderful 3 years and of course we can now say it went by so fast! The birding at this level kept us sane through the worst years of care-giving for Babi allowing us to de-stress instead of using copious amounts of alcohol or drugs. LOL. I hope that birding and all the learning we continue to soak up keeps Alzheimers away from our brains.
My dreams for the last 3 years have almost been exclusively about birding. Finding birds, out birding, chasing birds, missing birds. It was very strange. When we were traveling and in the midst of spring migration I was always thinking about what birds next, what birds missed and that must have carried into my dreams. I guess it shows the intensity and focus that happens with Big Years. I’m happy to report that in the last couple of weeks those birding dreams have lessened and I’m dreaming of other aspects of life with just the occasional bird dream.
So what is next for us? I’m sleeping in January 1 and then we will get out and start the list for 2026 without URGENCY! We are planning a trip to Costa Rica in March, our first foray into birds in South America. I am a little frightened to open the door to birding world-wide but it is so tempting to go somewhere where hundreds of new, colourful birds are possible.
We also want to start finding and traveling to “Birding Spectacles”. Massive migrations of species, mating dances and rituals, nesting colonies. Send me your ideas of what we need to see and where. Hopefully, we can catch up with a few this year too.
I plan on continuing the blog, probably not weekly, but I have enjoyed writing it and people have told me they enjoy reading it. It acts as a journal and keepsake to remind me of these birding years as I move towards my dotage. A quick re-read in the future will leave us shaking our heads and considering, “how did we manage to complete 3 consecutive Big Years and end up tops in Ontario and Canada back to back years?” One bird at a time, one day at a time…
