The next 20 additions to the Ontario List: part 1

I'm stealing someone else's ideas! Josh Vandermulen just did something very similar to this on his blog, and I liked the idea so much, I figured I'd run my own list. It's not REALLY stealing, since they're in my own personal order... Maybe we can get a few other ontario bird-crazy bloggers to run their own ideas? (Blake, Ken?)

Here's some links to Josh's postings:

20 to 11!!!

http://joshvandermeulen.blogspot.com/2011/07/next-20-birds-added-to-ontario-list.html

10 to 1 !!!

http://joshvandermeulen.blogspot.com/2011/07/next-20-birds-added-to-ontario-list_09.html

Anyways, just for fun, my predictions for numbers 20-11



20. Bridled Tern:

Starting things off with an oddity... This species is almost impossible to predict... Actually it's as easy as predicting when the next hurricane leftovers will strike the east coast of the USA, then move inland over Ontario.. Good Luck!

When: Post Hurricane in August or September!!! We just need a big storm!!!

19. Cory's Shearwater:

This one is probably going to be post Hurricane similar to Bridled Tern, but has the advantage of not totally relying on a Hurricane to arrive (see Ontario's record of Audubon's Shearwater)..

Where/when: most likley is an August/Sept Hurricane, but one could be randomly found dying on Lake Erie/Ontario in July (without a storm) in any year.

(from Wikipedia)

18. Williamson's Sapsucker

A big striking woodpecker comes in at #18.. Birders in Minnesota watched a bird fly straight towards Ontario, but we never found it. There's also a June record for the Fire Island Lighthouse on coastal New York!!!!

When: I'd love to see this species in the last few days of April along Lake Erie! Although NW Ontario may be better situated.

17. Calliope Hummingbird

There's a solid 10+ species of Hummingbird that could show up in Ontario as a "1st" - but a record of this species in Ohio is what convinced me to put it on the list here (+ Massachusetts). Had to pick one, right?

When: some random backyard in some random town in late Oct or November.... Hopefully the "landowners are birder friendly".

16. Bar-tailed Godwit

"Strictly a coastal species" is what the books will tell you, but I also saw photos of a bird Tom Hince found in Saskatchewan. Take that, field guides. But seriously, this is an expected species to eventually occur here.  Our leagues of Jedi-skilled birders in southern Ontario could eventually turn one up, but they'd be easier to find further north:

When: July/August on the shores of James Bay.... I figure we'd have 95% of the shorebirds seen in North America if there was steady coverage up there... Unfortunatley 99.9% of it is very remote and virtually never covered.

Link to Tom Hince's Bar-tailed Godwit find/photos



15. Redwing

Ontario has 3 records of Fieldfare, and we're just waiting for a Redwing now. I've heard that Redwings have replaced Fieldfares in Greenland, accounting for the increase in records. So how long until we get one?

When; January in central or eastern Ontario! Kingston maybe? (since i work in that area a lot??)

(from Wikipedia) - Redwing with the "old school" Fieldfare

14. Cassin's Vireo

My photo from Point Pelee. 

When: May... or very early June... in a mist net...if it's going to count on the checklist...

13. Gull-billed Tern

It's been seen within 50km of Ontario (or less)

When: August in extreme SW Ontario? Maybe if Hillman ever had low water levels? Or maybe Long Point (Breakwater or Bluff's Bar?)

12. Bronzed Cowbird

Just another species with an established pattern of vagrancy that hasn't occured in Ontario. The great lakes love catching far-flung vagrants, and I feel a cowbird in our future. There's a chance that this species was actually seen at pelee 50-60 years ago but they couldn't figure out what it was???


When: I'd like to see Pelee or Long Point in May. Maybe Thunder Cape in early June?

(From Wikipedia)

11. Pink-footed Goose

Go go gadget goose! Barnacle Goose was finally added to the ON list with a banded bird shot. Pink-footed Goose is rarer, but is very rare in captivity and a sighting in migration season would probably count on the first try. This species is increasing as a breeder in Greenland I think!

When: #1 spot - Ottawa area in April. #2 spot- Somewhere in Eastern Ontario (Toronto eastward I guess) in November... #3 spot - Slight chance is James Bay in October if anyone's looking.

(from Wikipedia)

(I once saw a Canada goose that had its upper mandible broken, and I could see it's pink tounge sticking out the top (sad) --- yet gave me that split second excitement of the PFGO bill pattern)





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# 10 to 1 in the next post!!! Check back in a few days