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…
At the beginning of the week we had some discussions about a final chase into Quebec to try for a Boreal Owl but family plans, weather and another illness just before Christmas made the decision not to go pretty easy. We celebrated with half the family on Christmas Eve leaving us free to bird on Christmas Day. We went out to one of our favourite spots – Brant Waterworks Park and had a nice 5 km hike that only involved me coughing some of the time. The inner paths were all ice so we opted for the safer asphalt path and did not see as many birds as we would have on the other paths. Still, it was nice to be out enjoying nature.
We still hoped to add the pesky White-winged Crossbill and on the 26th we got another chance. Two were seen in Oxford County just 30 minutes away. They had been reported in the same area five days before and I should have checked the area but we had family gatherings to prepare for and Christmas shopping to do so it didn’t happen. On the 26th freezing rain was starting just as we headed out. The birds had been seen only 30 mins before we got there. We carefully checked the tops of all the spruce trees along the road hoping to see movement but just had freezing rain in our faces. We walked up and down a few times carefully scanning and listening but had no joy. We opted to head home as the weather deteriorated and planned on going back the next morning. We were up and out early arriving just after 8 at the same spot. Dave was there already and had not seen anything. We walked, chatted, listened for the next couple of hours. No Crossbills. I finally saw some movement deep in a spruce off the road but could not find anything when I got my bins up. We waited. Eventually Dave and I saw parts of a bird as it quickly appeared and disappeared into the next spruce tree. We both had very good looks at a forked tail and a light underbelly and were pretty sure we had a Crossbill. Dave managed to get on it as it flew to another spruce and had nice views of the side of the bird – olive coloured. We had our White-winged Crossbill. Jerry only managed to see it without bins as it flew from one tree to the next and disappeared. Not very satisfactory views at all. Disappointing even. We waited despite the cold starting to creep into our hands and feet. And waited, no movement, no sounds. We had plans with family so we needed to leave. It was bird #431 and probably the last one to be added for the year. The Crossbill was the last of my 2nd ranked birds to see. There was little celebration because the three of us were carefully discussing the identification to make sure we did indeed see the Crossbill. The consensus was that we had but again the view was not great. The birds were seen again the next morning out clearly on a branch and Jerry headed back out again in another freezing rain storm to try and get pictures but was unsuccessful. We left it for a day and decided to try again on the 31st. One last chance for a nice view and picture. Our 4th trip out there.
Where is the Crossbill?Ending the year on another random road
We heard them this time, calling multiple times and I managed a few recordings on Merlin. I saw two birds fly up the driveway and into a tree closer to us but we could not trespass on the driveway so we could not get close enough to see the birds. So frustrating. Right to the end we are schooled in the lesson that “it is all about timing”. Just as we were leaving another birder, Scott, arrived, who was the finder of the birds, and the only one to get lovely pictures. We chatted and waited a bit more but had no luck with them coming closer. We were happy to have heard them well and seen them in flight to confirm that first crappy view. I’ve added the audio I recorded and a couple of pics from 2021 when we had them out our window so you can see what they look like.
White-winged Crossbill from February 2021 in our backyard
And so the Canada 400 year ends at 431 species. I’ll unpack all the stats and reflections in another blog tomorrow. For now we plan to enjoy our New Year’s Eve at home with a nice meal after 2 years spending it in cheap hotels with pizza. I think I will be sleeping in tomorrow as those numbers all reset back to 0 and we start counting again. I’ll be in no hurry to add birds next year but I will, of course, be birding…
Week 52 1 species added 431 species seen in Canada 2025 Jerry and Ellen
After more days on the couch we finally ventured out for a short hike at the end of Week 50. A wintering Virginia Rail was found at F.W. Dickson just 5 minutes from home. The boardwalk is a favourite spot in the winter to hand feed the chickadees and nuthatches and a family of Titmouse have been in residence for a number of years now. The Rail was coming to a very small opening of water just off the boardwalk allowing for great pictures and some videos.
We don’t always appreciate the common birds we see everyday so I’ve added this video of a Blue Jay .
On Sunday another Purple Sandpiper was reported on Gull Island at Presquile and so we made plans with Margaret to try for it on Tuesday. Monday is a duck hunting day so there is no access to the area. Would it still be there by Tuesday? We left at 4:30am, as per usual, and arrived just at 7:30. Normally, you have to use rubber boots or hipwaders to wade across a shallow channel on Lake Ontario between the mainland and Gull Island but with freezing temperatures in the last week the channel was completely frozen making the crossing a lot less treacherous and less anxiety-inducing. It was still very slippery but we crossed without mishap and I was very grateful I took my hiking stick.
Leaving the mainland to walk out to Gull IslandThe view from Gull Island back to the mainland
Can you believe that people would subject themselves to the conditions in the pictures? – cold, windy, slippery with the possibility of getting wet normally, to just see a bird? Ugggh! the things we do for this hobby!
Michelle from Ottawa had given us the location they had the bird (Thanks Michelle!) so we headed to that spot as soon as we got on the island. I checked along the rocks and ice along the edge and peeking out from behind a piece of ice was a lovely little Purple Sandpiper feeding voraciously on the icy rocks just at the waters edge. #430!!!!! Wow! Wow! Wow! I was convinced that we would not find the bird for some reason but there it was. We waited for Margaret to arrive 30 mins later and made sure she got the bird – #335 Ontario this year for her!
Purple Sandpiper
Purple Sandpiper feeding in the freezing water
We also had some nice views of a Snowy Owl that was flying around the area.
Snowy Owl
Then we decided since we were out and suddenly at 299 for the year in Ontario we might as well hit the 300 so we stopped at Lakefront Promenade Park in Mississauga to see the Harlequin Ducks that have wintered there the last few years. It was another easy get with Jerry stepping out of the car along the canal and the ducks were right there. I didn’t even need to do my coat up or put on gloves.
Harlequin Ducks
On the way home we made another quick stop for a Dickcissel that was coming to a feeder in Harrisburg adding that species to our Life Brant County list. Not a bad day when you can get 3 for 3 in December and without too much effort. Ok, we did get up at 4:30am and walk out onto Lake Ontario but when I think back to all of the hours and things we endured for many birds this was a really easy, successful day.
Dickcissel
The next day we opted to head north a couple of hours to see if we could track down a White-winged Crossbill. We were still pumped after our 3 bird day and hitting 430 so you get silly forgetting that most birding days do not go that well. But we went anyway… The Crossbill is the only #2 ranked bird that we have missed this year and apparently it should have been more on my radar back at the beginning of the year. Because we were busy with Babi and the Condo our winter trips just did not happen and I really believed that we would not have a problem finding one somewhere in Canada but here we are with a week left and no White-winged Crossbill. It is an irruption year for finches meaning that there is little food in the Boreal forest for these pinecone eaters and so they move south to find food. Usually, Southern Ontario is far enough south but it would appear that our cone crop is not much better and there have not been the reports I expected in this area. I suspect that they travelled further into the States to find sufficient food. Anyway, there had been a large group of Pine Grosbeaks up at Earle Rowe Park and some White-winged Crossbills in that flock and so the chances were good that they might stick around. When we arrived around 10 there was Margaret walking the trail! We had not even discussed it at the Purple Sandpiper the day before but here we were searching for the same birds two days in a row. Another birder heard a Crossbill in the early morning so we were hopeful, but despite our best efforts we only managed to see Pine Grosbeaks at a distance that would not allow us to correctly ID a Crossbill in the flock. The Crossbills move around to forage a lot and so it is difficult to chase down reports that most often are just fly overs. Will we get lucky in the coming days? The clock is ticking…
So we now have 10 days left. One last blog coming for the year. Three years and it is almost over…crazy!
We started the week anticipating the possibility of Purple Sandpipers and decided to head to Niagara to catch up with the popular Black-throated Gray Warbler that had been hanging at Morgan’s Point for a number of weeks. We added this species in BC but we only heard them as they were high up in the trees. With nothing else to chase we figured we would see it and grab some pictures and take it off the heard only list. When we arrived a beautiful Cooper’s Hawk was hanging in the area and we hoped it had not just dined on a tiny gray bird. With a few other birders we kept moving around and checking its usual spots until it finally appeared in its favourite tree. We all had great looks and Jerry took some pictures. Target complete! We were really hoping that a Purple Sandpiper would be out on the point but a careful search turned up nothing.
Snow arrived for the next couple of days putting an end to our birding and then Babi ended up ill and being rushed to hospital at midnight. Jerry was back and forth to emergency until they admitted her and by Saturday Jerry had brought home the virus to end all viruses. By Monday we were both on the couch, coughing so hard we could dislocate ribs. Ok, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but IT WAS BAD! I don’t know if it is covid, RSV, or influenza but the two of us have never been sick like this. The first day or two we ate yummy soup but by day 3 I completely lost my sense of smell which made eating next to impossible. Everything became a ball of cardboard in my mouth. As I write this on Sunday a week later I can say that there is a glimmer that we are recovering but I’m not sure how long it will take to get my smell and taste back.
I spent lots of time watching the bird feeders out the window from the couch and was lucky to see the numerous hunting passes of our resident Cooper’s Hawk. He managed to catch a dove the one day and then was back hunting on the 3rd day after that. Many misses happened again before he successfully grabbed one right from below the feeder. I had just been thinking this Dove should not have been closing its eyes while it was out in the open like that and BAM! Another Dove gone. We have about 30-40 visiting our feeder this year so we have a fairly large supply for the Hawk. My views for the last week…
On Wednesday evening I managed to contain my coughing long enough to do a zoom presentation for OFO on our 3 consecutive big years and while it was a bit of a struggle to make it through, I did enjoy doing the presentation. Just wish I could have been feeling a bit better.
This was not the week to get sick. We ended up missing multiple Purple Sandpipers at Point Pelee the first weekend and then on Gull Island at Presquile and then at the Gull weekend in Niagara the second weekend. So disappointing that we were not able to chase any of them. We have been to every Gull Weekend since 2013 and were sad to miss a weekend with friends as well as the hunt for rare Gulls. I am so weak at this point that I am not sure I could walk down our driveway and back. I think it will take a bit to recover from this.
Robert Baumander interviewed me back in the spring about our Ontario Big Year for his Big Year Podcast show and he published it this week so take a listen when you get the chance. I talk really fast LOL! https://thebigyearpodcast.podbean.com
