There’s a newly-updated version of the Grand River Watershed checklist of birds available on www.grandriver.ca/birding.
The checklist includes all bird species that have been recorded historically, as far as the Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) is aware.
The list includes 59 species that are rare within the province and 27 that are at risk in Ontario and Canada.
Birding has evolved from a mere recreational activity into an important aspect of bird conservation, notes Tony Zammit, aquatic and terrestrial ecologist with the GRCA. The checklist of birds is intended to be a guide for recreational birders, GRCA staff, consultants and others with an interest in birds and bird conservation.
Programs developed by organizations including Bird Studies Canada make information about birds easier to find and share.
“We have better record-keeping and it is easier now to find out about rare species,” explains Zammit. “There is definitely also an increase in the level of interest in birding.”
Internet websites such as www.ebird.org encourage people to record and share their sightings with each other and also see what bird species have been recorded in their area.
Through time, a historical record is being built up by citizen scientists, and more people are turning to online record keeping for personal lists of sightings, which can also be viewed by anyone.
Information about birds and bird calls is much easier to track down than in the past with the advent of sites such as www.allaboutbirds.com.
There are many active birding “hot spots” within the Grand River watershed.
In 2010, a scissor-tailed flycatcher was seen at Luther Marsh, and this was exciting News for birders, who read about the sighting online and “flew” up to the area to catch a glimpse of it. This species is extremely rare and had not been seen in the watershed for many years. A diskcissel (named for its song) was seen at Luther in 2013. Both of these are vagrant species, meaning they had strayed outside their expected range.
This year, a breeding pair of prothonotary warblers surprised birders in Brant County. This is the first confirmed breeding record of this small yellow species in the Grand River watershed. Single birds have been seen in Haldimand County and Waterloo Region. The Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas suggests that breeding was possible in a few locations during the 2001 to 2005 atlas period but remained unconfirmed until this year.
All three of these species are on the GRCA’s recently-updated checklist of birds.
Zammit hopes the Belwood osprey web camera, which garnered nearly three million views since April (www.grandriver.ca/osprey), is encouraging more people to keep their eyes to the sky and learn about the birds that most of us take for granted.
“It is hopefully going to inspire more people to get out and visit natural areas. That is always a good thing,” he said.
Anyone that has documented a bird that is not on the GRCA list can contact Zammit at tzammit@grandriver.ca or 519-621-2763, ext. 2246.
