Sorry to say, as you’re reading this while sipping your lemonade, basking in the summer sun by your pool, but birds will soon be heading south again! The first signs of migration are found in the blackbirds, flycatchers, swallows, and shorebirds. Continue reading Signs of Fall Migration →

For me, as far as 2017 tour highlights go, first is Point Pelee in May, then comes the Target Birding in Eastern Ontario trip. On 17 June 2017, our birding group birded along the southern edge of the Canadian Shield, from the eastern limit of Hastings County, through to Frontenac Provincial Park, near Verona. Continue reading Target Birds in Eastern Ontario →

Sedge Wrens are unique in that their songs are improvised, not learned. The variation to their song occurs during the ‘trrrrrrrrrrr’ portion, after the ‘cut-cut-cut.’ Amazingly, males have repetoires of upwards of 300 different ‘trrrrrrrrrr’ notes. Continue reading Sedge Wrens: tales from a nomadic improviser →

Rewind to a Sunday morning in April. The year is 1999. I am at the local Blockbuster Video in Barrhaven, browsing Nintendo 64 video game rentals. I decided to try out a racing game, called F-1 World Grand Prix. Continue reading Before there were birds, there was F1 →

Juvenile Northern Rough-winged Swallows provide an excellent example of subtle beauty. The throat, suffused with cinnamon; and the lesser, median, and greater coverts (wing bars), broadly-brushed with cinnamon. Continue reading Juvenile Northern Rough-winged Swallows →