It honestly seems pretty insane to me that I am already over a month into my big year. It has been a real whirlwind so far, but it has gone by so fast. I'm going to go into the whole numbers game of the big year in this post, so if you just want to see photos skip to the end ; )
This winter has been pretty darn crazyyy in Ontario from a birding perspective. A warm December allowed numerous rarities that had been around since the fall to survive into the new year. Coupled with a few other rare events, like the 2021 Razorbill invasion, meant that 2022 was shaping up to be a stellar year. The winter bird list (which is kept from Dec 1 to Feb 30 annually) is at a remarkable 224 species at the moment, and with almost a month left to go. The average year sees an average of 205 species reported, so this has been a remarkably good season. Interestingly enough the 2021/2022 season is tied with the 2011/2012 one for a record high species list... the year that Josh Vandermeulen set the Ontario big year record.
The first week of 2021 was relatively mild, and it was rather strange honestly... starting with spring-like temps. My first day of the year was utterly insane, netting me 54 species and 4 OBRC birds. As I'm writing this I have 133 species, or 38% of the birds that I'll need to see this year.
Now on to the numbers side of the big year! This is going to be fairly long... you've been warned.
Now on to the numbers side of the big year! This is going to be fairly long... you've been warned.
The current Ontario Big Year record is 346 species, which was set by Jeremy Bensette in 2017. To beat this I will need to see 347 species, but 350 is the goal!
I have already written a post on this (back in 2020), so I am just going to paste that part here ~
For his 2012 big year, Josh Vandermeulen ranked all 491 species that have been recorded in Ontario from 1-6, with code 1 being common and code 6 being an insane mega rarity. His codes were designed for a birder attempting a serious big year while being based from southern Ontario. The codes have been tweaked a bit (moved a few things from 2 to 3 etc), since some birds have gotten more or less common since his 2012 big year (Neotropic Cormorant for example). Also the provincial list now stands at 503, so that is edited as well. Josh's explanation of the codes are great, so I'm going to paste them below.
Code 1 birds include everything from exceedingly abundant (like European Starling) to common (like Stilt Sandpiper, Snow Bunting, or Chestnut-sided Warbler). There are 203 species listed as code 1.
Code 2 birds are also very common, though they may be a little tough to get. This includes everything from annual winter specialties (like Pine Grosbeak and Snowy Owl) to uncommon breeding birds (like Sedge Wren, Acadian Flycatcher, and Prairie Warbler), to uncommon migrants (Red-necked Phalarope). There are 73 birds listed as Code 2. This makes a total of 276 birds which are Code 1 or 2.
Code 3 is when it starts to get a little tricky. None of these birds are guaranteed on a big year though, if one is persistent enough one should get nearly all of these species. These include regular spring overshoots (Worm-eating Warbler, Summer Tanager), rare breeding birds (King Rail), some of the owls (Boreal Owl), some of the rare gulls (Black-legged Kittiwake, Pomarine Jaeger), etc. Some species on this list, like Cave Swallows, are common some years but absent other years. There are 46 Code 3 birds.
Code 4 birds are generally OBRC birds, usually birds that show up 1-5 times annually (like Western Grebe). Some on this list however (like Black-throated Gray Warbler, or Mountain Bluebird) occur less than annually. Basically, all the Code 4 birds are genuine rarities and it can’t be counted on that any of them will show up. There are 40 species which are categorized as Code 4. The “easiest” Code 4 species are probably Laughing Gull, Townsend’s Solitaire, Black-headed Gull, and Kirtland’s Warbler. There are 41 code 4 species.
Code 5 & 6 birds are the rarest of the rare. Most Code 5 birds on my list have shown up between 5 and 20 times EVER in Ontario (like Gray Kingbird, or Slaty-backed Gull), while others (like Ivory Gull with 29 accepted records) have shown up more often. I placed Ivory Gull as a Code 5 as opposed to Code 4 because if one shows up, the chances of it hanging around long enough for me to see are very small! There are 63 species as listed as code 5. These include extinct species like Eskimo Curlew, crazy vagrants (Bachman’s Sparrow, Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher). one-hit wonders (Black-capped Vireo, Audubon’s Shearwater, etc). There are 74 birds listed as code 6.
Code 1 birds include everything from exceedingly abundant (like European Starling) to common (like Stilt Sandpiper, Snow Bunting, or Chestnut-sided Warbler). There are 203 species listed as code 1.
Code 2 birds are also very common, though they may be a little tough to get. This includes everything from annual winter specialties (like Pine Grosbeak and Snowy Owl) to uncommon breeding birds (like Sedge Wren, Acadian Flycatcher, and Prairie Warbler), to uncommon migrants (Red-necked Phalarope). There are 73 birds listed as Code 2. This makes a total of 276 birds which are Code 1 or 2.
Code 3 is when it starts to get a little tricky. None of these birds are guaranteed on a big year though, if one is persistent enough one should get nearly all of these species. These include regular spring overshoots (Worm-eating Warbler, Summer Tanager), rare breeding birds (King Rail), some of the owls (Boreal Owl), some of the rare gulls (Black-legged Kittiwake, Pomarine Jaeger), etc. Some species on this list, like Cave Swallows, are common some years but absent other years. There are 46 Code 3 birds.
Code 4 birds are generally OBRC birds, usually birds that show up 1-5 times annually (like Western Grebe). Some on this list however (like Black-throated Gray Warbler, or Mountain Bluebird) occur less than annually. Basically, all the Code 4 birds are genuine rarities and it can’t be counted on that any of them will show up. There are 40 species which are categorized as Code 4. The “easiest” Code 4 species are probably Laughing Gull, Townsend’s Solitaire, Black-headed Gull, and Kirtland’s Warbler. There are 41 code 4 species.
Code 5 & 6 birds are the rarest of the rare. Most Code 5 birds on my list have shown up between 5 and 20 times EVER in Ontario (like Gray Kingbird, or Slaty-backed Gull), while others (like Ivory Gull with 29 accepted records) have shown up more often. I placed Ivory Gull as a Code 5 as opposed to Code 4 because if one shows up, the chances of it hanging around long enough for me to see are very small! There are 63 species as listed as code 5. These include extinct species like Eskimo Curlew, crazy vagrants (Bachman’s Sparrow, Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher). one-hit wonders (Black-capped Vireo, Audubon’s Shearwater, etc). There are 74 birds listed as code 6.
So to recap there are;
203 Code 1s
73 Code 2s
46 Code 3s
41 Code 4s
63 Code 5s
74 code 6s
203 Code 1s
73 Code 2s
46 Code 3s
41 Code 4s
63 Code 5s
74 code 6s
Still with me? If so then I appreciate the dedication.
So, for a successful record attempt big year I will need to see every code 1 and code 2 species. This would give me 276. I should see most of the code 3 species, but will likely miss 2 or 3. Let's be generous and and for the sake of argument say I get 43 code 3 species. That would put me at 319, still 27 short of the record. This means I will need to see 28 code 4-6 species... which is no small feat!
Normally spring and fall are the peak time for rarities, however this winter has been truly phenomenal so far and I have already seen 10 code 4/5/6s! I really could not have asked for a better start. Now I just need a really strong spring (come on Pelee). My list of rarities below...
- Black-bellied Whistling-Duck (Code 4)
- Tufted Duck (Code 4)
- Slaty-backed Gull (Code 4)
- Glaucous-winged Gull (Code 6)
- Razorbill (Code 5)
- Rufous Hummingbird (Code 4)
- Mountain Bluebird (Code 4)
- Black-throated Gray Warbler (Code 4)
- Spotted Towhee (Code 4)
- Golden-crowned Sparrow (Code 5)
I have also had good luck so far with some of the tough code 3 species and have seen 8 so far. Remember that even though 3s are annual, it's easy to miss a few! My 3s so far have been;
- Barrow's Goldeneye
- Gray Partridge
- Black-legged Kittiwake
- Northern Hawk Owl
- Boreal Owl
- Gyrfalcon
- Varied Thrush
- Harris's Sparrow
As far as "winter specialties" go, I have been doing quite well overall. During the first two months of the year there are two main groups that are essential for big year birders. They are winter specialties & rarities. I have already mentioned the rarities, so I'll go over the winter birds quickly. There are two main groups here, one is winter finches and the other is owls. These species are possible during other times of the year, but getting them out of the way early is the best idea... that way I don't have to scramble for them later in the year. Here's the breakdown so far of how I'm doing;
Finches - 8/10. The only species I am missing now are Hoary Redpoll (tough this winter in the south) and Purple Finch (pretty sad! Just bad luck that I haven't chanced into one yet.
Owls - 9/10. I have seen all of the regularly occurring owls now with the exception of Great Gray Owl. Not too shabby! I will hopefully get Great Gray within the next few weeks.
How about species I have missed this year? There really aren't many, but the main one that jumps is Burrowing Owl. It was just unlucky timing that I was up in northern Ontario with William and Ezra on the day that the bird was refound. I tried several more times after that but no dice. After the massive snowstorm that hit the GTA back in January I doubt it's still alive...
The other annoying one is Townsend's Solitaire. Two birds were seen in northern Ontario prior to our trip, but of course they disappeared when we were up there. The next week the one was seen again, as well as a new one in a different location.., but all the way up in Thunder Bay! Solitaires show up annually in Ontario, so fingers crossed I have more chances at them.
As far as my self found list goes, I have 102 birds so far this year, or 75.9% of my list. January was mainly focused on chasing rarities found by others, so it wasn't the most exciting month as far as finding my own birds go (not complaining). I think so far I haven't found anything better than a Little Gull. My goal for this year is 300 self found birds & at least 3 self found OBRC rarities... We shall see what happens!
As far as future plans go, I plan on heading back to northern Ontario later this month with Ezra to look for a number of boreal species and maybe even Willow Ptarmigan if we get super lucky! February tends to be the quietest month of the year for rarities, so I'm not expecting to add many species this month. A Great Cormorant was seen on the US side of Niagara Falls yesterday, so that will likey be in the cards for next week.
Some photos from January below...
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| - Red Crossbill |
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| - Black-throated Gray Warbler |
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| - Tufted Duck |
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| - Glaucous Gull |
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| - Evening & Pine Grosbeaks |
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| - Spotted Towhee |
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| - Glaucous-winged Gull |
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| - Glaucous-winged Gull |
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| - Tufted Titmouse |
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| - Rough-legged Hawk |
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| - Northern Hawk Owl |
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| - Golden-crowned Sparrow |
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| - Mountain Bluebird |
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| - Rufous Hummingbird |
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| - Boreal Owl |
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| - Black-bellied Whistling-Duck |
You're off to an awesome start, keep it up!
ReplyDeleteI love reading your posts. Wish I knew the birds we have around here. Lots in our yard at times. Love listening to them. MJ
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