2026 Birdathon: George Pond’s Report

Photo, above: Ospreys. Photo by George Pond. May 16 started out as a beautiful sunny, but cooler than predicted, day. I had intended to meet my team of seven others at 6:30 a.m. but Murphy’s Law took over and I was unable to meet them. A team of five took off at 7:00 a.m. By the time my daughter and son and I met them at the Old Cut Banding lab it was raining cats and dogs and nearly time to join the organized portion of the Birds Canada’s Birdathon festivities. From 7:15 a.m. this avid group of five birders covered some of the best birding areas in Norfolk, including The St. Williams Forest, various sections of Backus Woods, the Timpf farm, a Bobolink field, the causeway, the Port Rowan Wetlands, the Old Cut banding lab, the headquarters property, Turkey…
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2026 Harry B. Barrett Bursary Recipients Announced

Our fund has been doing well over the last few years under the management of the Norfolk Community Foundation. This has allowed us, for the first time, to distribute three $2,000 bursaries to deserving students.  We are thrilled to announce the successful Harry B. Barrett Bursary recipients below with is a brief description of each student’s research work in Norfolk County: Emily Laver-Shareski, Master of Biology candidate at Western University.  To monitor the success of the recent re-introductions of the Mottled Duskywing butterfly, an endangered species in Ontario,  in Norfolk County. She will look at the genetic diversity by monitoring the populations over the next few years. Following her graduate studies she hopes to work for Wildlife Preservation Canada and continue her work in conserving and protecting the Mottled Duskywing and its oak savanna habitat. Thomas Pianta, Master of Science …
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65th Long Point Christmas Bird Count

Photo, above: Orange-Crowned Warbler, taken by Stu Mackenzie Story by Stu Mackenzie The 65th Long Point Christmas Bird Count (CBC) was held on Saturday, December 20, 2025, incorporating both the Long Point Family Winter Bird Count and the traditional formalized CBC. The count covers a ~24-kilometre diameter circle centred on the lighthouse south of St. Williams. Over 100 participants surveyed sixteen territories, contributing approximately 120 hours in the field, travelling 400 km by car and more than 110 km on foot. In total 27,710 birds were observed of 108 species. Highlights and Low-lights: Green-winged Teal - First time missed on the count since 2016. Virginia Rail – Tracks of a rail were found on fresh snow from the night before which was determined to be a Virginia Rail. This was the 17th for the count and the first since 1997.…
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35th Fisherville Christmas Bird Count–Report

Photo of Eastern Bluebird by Len Grincevicius Report by Sarah Sharp This year marked Fisherville’s 35th annual Christmas Bird Count, and although the weather was against us, the twenty dedicated counters made an amazing effort to once again document all of the birds in the area. The temperature ranged from -5ºC to 3ºC with wind gusts up to 40km/h from the Southwest. There was drizzle in the late morning turning to snow/freezing rain in the afternoon. A total of 45 collective hours were spent in the field counting birds, with a collective 430km travelled by car and 29km travelled by foot. Thank you kindly to David Maida, Anne Marie Henry, Duane Brown, George Uimonen, Nicole Richardson, Andy Johnson, Jeff Skevington, Ruchard Skevington, Angela Skevington, Tom Thomas, Bill Smith, Amanda Anstice, Hugh McArthur, Julia Wever, Jacob Wever, Randy Wilson, Michael Kirchin,…
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39th Woodhouse Christmas Bird Count Report

Photo: Common Raven, photo by Sue Drotos Article by Adam Timpf, Woodhouse CBC Count Organizer These are the results of the 39th Woodhouse Christmas Bird Count (CBC) held on Sunday December 14th, 2025. The Woodhouse CBC is centred 7 km east of Simcoe, at the crossroads of Highway 3 and Cockshutt Road at Renton, and roughly covers from Port Ryerse and Port Dover to Waterford and from west of Simcoe to east of Jarvis. This year there were 34 field birders covering the count area plus 12 feeder watchers. Conditions were bitterly cold to start the day with temperatures of -15, light west winds (0-15 km/h), plenty of snow cover, and barely any open water away from Lake Erie or moving streams. It "warmed up" to about -7 by the afternoon, but the sun felt nice when it was poking out from the clouds. The cold temperatures leading up to…
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Naturefest

Friday, May 21st to Sunday, May 23rd, 2027 A celebration of Norfolk's nature with a gala dinner and local entertainment, followed by a weekend of birding, nature walks, night hikes, mountain biking, kayak and canoe trips, wildlife shows, family-oriented activities, displays, and workshops throughout Norfolk County. For more details please contact us at info@norfolkfieldnaturalists.org.
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Long Point Butterfly Count 2025

Image, above: Appalacian Brown, by Len Grincevicius Article by Adam Timpf, NFN Member and Organizer The 34th annual Long Point Butterfly Count was held on Saturday July 5th, 2025. It was a beautifully sunny and calm day to be out hunting for butterflies, although it was a bit sweltering and staying hydrated and cool was a challenge. In total, we had 30 people spread amongst 11 parties, logging 53 party hours and 60 party kms. Most groups commented on the lack of butterflies, but the data tells a different story. Collectively, we turned up an excellent 57 species which is above the 10-year average of 54, and just 2 below the all-time high of 59. As for individual butterflies, our total of 2742 is higher than the totals from the past 3 years, and above the all-time and 10-year averages…
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2025 Birdathon–George Pond’s Report

Photo, above: Great Crested Flycatcher Contributed by George Pond Three of us, my son and daughter-in-law David and Heather started “Birdathon 2025” just before 7 a.m. on May 16, an hour or so later than planned because of an early morning storm. Birds in the St Williams forest were mostly back on territory and were actively singing. We had soon identified a number of warblers including Chestnut-sided, yellow, common yellow-throat, hooded, ovenbird, blue-winged, magnolia, yellow-rumped and pine. Rose-breasted grosbeaks, scarlet tanagers, Indigo buntings, eastern towhees, chipping sparrows, a red-breasted nuthatch, wood thrush, catbird, chickadees, red-eyed vireos, great-crested and least flycatchers and a surprise black-billed cuckoo were all found. A field in the Backus woods complex netted field, song, and grasshopper sparrows but no vesper sparrow sang. We walked into the pond in the Backus woods and flushed a pair of…
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Long Point Christmas Bird Count 2024

Photo (above): Sandhill cranes in flight (photo by Larry Monczka) Report by Stu Mackenzie The 64th Long Point Christmas Bird Count (CBC) was held on Saturday December 14. This count includes the Long Point Family Winter Bird Count and the traditional formalized count. The count covers a ~24-kilometre circle centered on the lighthouse south of St. Williams. Over 120 participants surveyed sixteen territories in the count circle, dedicating 154 hours in the field, covering 400 km by car and more than 140 km on foot. Together we counted an astounding 40,556 birds of 112 species tying the fourth highest species count ever! Counts were on par with the most recent 10-year average of ~42,000 birds of 107 species, and well above the long-term average of 29,543 of 102 species. Highlights are summarized below which include a number of record high…
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Results of the 2024 Fisherville Christmas Bird Count

Photo (above): Northern Shrike (photo by Sarah Sharp) Report by the Haldimand Bird Observatory (Sarah Sharp) The 24th Fisherville Christmas Bird Count was held on Saturday, December 28th, 2024. Every year there are fluctuating high counts and low counts with a varying species composition, and this year was no different! Last year the Haldimand Bird Observatory took over the coordination and compilation of the count and we were happy to do so again this year! Without further ado, here is a summary of this year’s count… Participants: First and foremost a big thank you to our dedicated returning and new volunteers who collected this valuable data! Cody Bassindale Diane Salter Duane Brown Greg Salter Audrey Heagy Bill Smith Anne Marie Henry Tom Thomas Elizabeth Kirchin Adam Timpf Micheal Kirchin Matthew Timpf Dave Maida Jacob Wever Hugh McArthur Julia Wever George…
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