the noddy

Champions of the Flyway is an annual international awareness and fundraising campaign to support bird conservation issues of utmost importance. It is comprised of a month long+ media frenzy followed by a Bird Race (e.g. Birdathon, Big Day) in Eilat, Israel. The Champions of the Flyway bird race is staged as part of the Eilat Bird Festival by The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (BirdLife’s national Partner in Israel) and is a BirdLife International Migratory Birds & Flyways Programme initiative.

In 2019, the initiative is supporting Vulture conservation in Africa as populations have been on a landslide for the past 30 years and many species are at risk of extinction in the near future. For the first time, Champions is joining forces with an African Birdlife partner – Nature Kenya. Visit Champions of the Flyway for more information, or to sponsor one of the 23 teams racing for conservation in 2019. Among them, Canada’s first and only team, The Canucks (pseudonym for Anous), are joining this incredible effort. Follow along on social media through #COTF19, #FlywayChampions, #GoVultures, #LoveVultures, or #TeamCanucks!

Click here to support The Canucks!

Parts of a Lappett-faced Vulture

Intertwined within the Bird Race component is a head to head Big Day competition like non-other. Despite being hailed as the world’s greatest and friendliest bird race on earth, we have found it surprisingly difficult to find decent intelligence about Strategy, Routes, Timelines, Past Attempts, Big Day Trip Reports, Big Day Magic, and Big Day Blunders.

We have therefore begun to compile a Repository of Champion’s of the Flyway Intelligence. Full disclosure: While we are seasoned Big Day aficionados, we have 0 COTF experience, so everything posted here is either stuff we’ve found, been given, or dug out of  old shoe boxes. ENJOY.

The Canucks – Stu Mackenzie, Jody Allair, Yousif Attia, and Pete Davidson.

The 2018 Long Point Boat Route

The Christmas Bird Count is North America’s oldest standardized census providing valuable information on the early winter distribution and abundance of birds. It is also a vital outreach, education and birder/naturalist recruitment tool, and a proud holiday tradition. For more information visit https://www.birdscanada.org/volunteer/cbc/.

The 69^th Long Point Christmas Bird Count took place on 15 December. The count covers a ~24km circle centred on the lighthouse south of St. Williams, ON. Fifty-six birders counted 32,230 birds of 119 species. This is slightly above the long-term average of 28,201 of 103 species, but below the recent decade average of 47,518 owing to an early freeze up of the Inner Bay which caused most waterfowl to disperse. The average number of birds counted at Long Point has grown consistently over the decades from 10,375 in the 1960’s to 47,518 in 2010-2019. Since the count began in 1961, volunteers have contributed more than 8,000 hours counting more than 1.5 million birds of 226 species.

Generally mild conditions leading up to the count kept Long Point’s Inner Bay, Big Creek, and most waterways free of ice. Count Day was overcast with temperature ranging from 3 to 6 C, and chilly north-east winds averaged about 30 km/h gusting to 60 km/h later in the afternoon which made for challenging conditions in some areas.

The general sentiment among teams was that it was slow bird wise as evident by lower numbers of most bread-and-butter winter songbirds (see below), but almost every team had higher than average diversity and a few interesting observations.

The coveted Bird of the Day prize was given to Brett Fried for discovering a Western Kingbird (new for the count) at Turkey Point. Western Kingbird was new for the Long Point count this year, the 9^th for Canadian CBC’s, and the first for Ontario. The runners-up were Ross and Graham Wood for discovering a Northern Waterthrush in Port Rowan. Pictures of both are available on the eBird checklists listed below.

Observers:

David Agro, Geoff Atkins, Yousif Attia, Gregor Beck, Kathryn Boothby, Michael Bradstreet, John Brett, Kyle Cameron, Steve Camp, John Carson, Andrew Couturier, Darleen Degrieck, Brandon Edwards, Mary Gartshore, Paul Gent, Ted Gent, Peter Carson, Barb Charlton, Janice Chard, Brett Fried, Christian Friis, Joseph Gabriel, Jennifer Gedye, Eric Giles, Audrey Heagy, Erika Henstch, Barry Jones, Kevin Kavanagh, Bill Lamond, Sarah Lamond, James Lees, Denis Lepage, John Lounds, Stu Mackenzie, Dex Martin, Kevin McLaughlin, Fergus Nicoll, David Okines, Becky Pearce, George Pond, Lynn Post, Nicole Richardson, Ron Ridout, Ed Ruttle, Diane Salter, Bob Stamp, Terry Tait, Adam Timpf, Matt Timpf, Doug Tozer, Graham, Ross Wood.

Turkey Point Snowy Owl

Highlights:

Red-necked Grebe – The thirteenth of the Long Point CBC and the first since 2011.

Red-throated Loon – Third for the count and the first since 1994.

Red-shouldered Hawk – One wintering bird in the Big Creek Valley.

Snowy Owl – One at Turkey Point.

Northern Saw-whet Owl – One found near St. Williams Forest.

Red-bellied Woodpecker – Highest ever count of 83.

Pileated Woodpecker – Highest ever count of 19.

Woodpeckers – High numbers, but not records, for all species, possibly a consequence of Emerald Ash Boer.

Peregrine Falcon – One bird at Turkey Point marsh.

Western Kingbird – First for the count, first for Ontario CBC’s, and 9^th for Canadian CBC’s. See – https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50701577

White-breasted Nuthatch – Second highest total of 167 since 173 were observed in 2001.

Eastern Bluebird – New high count of 113.

Vesper Sparrow – New count high with 5 observed near Walsingham.

White-throated Sparrow – third highest total with 175 observed.

Northern Waterthrush – 6^th on the count and the first since 1990. See – https://ebird.org/canada/view/checklist/S50701120

Orange-crowned Warbler – First observed since 1994.

Lows:

Wild Turkey – Only 19 recorded which is the lowest Count since 2001.

Horned Lark and Snow Buntings – Only one Snow Bunting, and 8 Horned Lark.

Sparrows – Most typically abundant ‘winter’ sparrows were below their long-term average likely due to no snow cover.

Expected winter finches were present, but not overly abundant.

Additional count week species (December 12 to December 18):

Oregon Junco – near Walsingham, ON.

Golden Eagle – near Walsingham, ON.

Common Raven – near Walsingham, ON.

Notable Misses:

Short-eared Owl

Long-eared Owl

Yellow-bellied Sapsucke

Pied-billed Grebe

Other Notable Species: Red Bat, Blue-spotted Salamander, Leopard Frog, Garter Snake (black).

Species List:

Virginia’s Warbler at the Tip of Long Point 1 June 2018. Photo Kyle Cameron.

As of June 2018, the Long Point, Ontario birding area checklist sits at 402 species with recent additions of Vermillion Flycatcher (Tip of Long Point, 27 April 2018), and Virginia’s Warbler (Tip of Long Point, 1 June 2018).

It’s always fun to try and predict the next bird to be added to the checklist, and usually fail doing so.  Now that the checklist includes more than 81% of the species ever recorded in Ontario, the ‘next’ game is getting a little tricky, but there are still plenty of options, many low hanging fruit, and some more ambitous reaches. The complete Long Point Checklist can be found here: https://www.bsc-eoc.org/longpoint/index.jsp?targetpg=lpbolist&targetpg=lpbolist (needs updating to reflect 2018 additions).

Predictions in no particular order as of April 2018 (send your predictions to anousbirding@gmail.com):

Yousif Attia

1) Black-bellied Whistling-Duck

2) Tropical Kingbird

3) Grace’s Warbler

4) Chestnut-collared Longspur

5) Scott’s Oriole

6) Broad-tailed Hummingbird

7) Great Cormorant

8) Mew Gull

9) Burrowing Owl

10) Yellow-billed Loon

Stu Mackenzie

Hermit Warbler (should already be on, needs to be resubmitted to OBRC)

Chihuanuan Raven (is already on Long Point checklist, but needs to be resubmitted to OBRC)

1) Townsend’s Warbler

2) Dusky Flycatcher

3) Grace’s Warbler

4) Lucy’s or Virginia’s Warbler

5) Rock Wren

6) Mottled Duck

7)  Black-bellied Whistling Duck

8) Barnacle Goose

9) Tropical or Couch’s Kingbird

10) Black-throated Sparrow

Extras…

A wagtail…

Any hummingbird

A storm petrel

Ron Ridout

1) Black-bellied Whistling Duck

2) Mottled Duck

3) Garganey

4) Tufted Duck

5) Mew Gull

6) Rufous Hummingbird

7) Burrowing Owl

8) Tropical Kingbird

9) Brambling

10) Townsend’s Warbler

Denis Lepage

Hermit Warbler

1) Anna’s Hummingbird

2) Rufous Hummingbird

3) Anhinga

4) Black-bellied Whistling-Duck

5) Mottled Duck

6) Tufted Duck

7) Wilson’s Plover

8) Mew Gull

9) Dusky Flycatcher

10) Tropical Kingbird

11) Black-throated Sparrow

12) Black-headed Grosbeak

Our 2015 Texas Big Day attempt is featured in the latest issue of the American Birding Association’s Birder’s Guide – http://bg.aba.org/i/737370-oct-2016/2

A more comprehensive account of the day including the planning, scheming, and list of eBird checklists is available here https://anousbirding.com/anous-big-days-2/

A photo of Brother Attia was featured prominently in a recent article about birders searching for a Redwing on Vancouver Island and a Siberian Accentor in Surrey. Well, some were searching, others were waiting for someone else to find it.

View the story here – http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/british-columbia/rare-redwing-sighting-draws-birders-to-vancouver-island-1.3392770

If you scroll to the last picture, you’ll see an Anous sticker proudly displayed on the tripod in the foreground.

Badass Brother Attia

Anous Birding Syndicate’s Texas BIG DAY summary is now available in the BIG DAY archive – https://anousbirding.com/anous-big-days-2/.

Read about the 2nd (or 3rd? – but only one better has been officially submitted) highest BIG DAY total in North America! 271 species in Texas on April 18, 2015.

CBC technological revolution.

Woodhouse CBC, Ontario Canada. – December 14, 2014.

Waterford, Ontario.

33 feeders with food

61 feeders without food

4 feeder hooks without feeders

5 idiots that can’t comprehend how to manage slow moving vehicles on country roads

45 species – highlights: Common Yellowthroat, Common Loon, Common Redpoll.

Waterford central – http://ebird.org/ebird/canada/view/checklist?subID=S20911322

Waterford – extra site – http://ebird.org/ebird/canada/view/checklist?subID=S20911350