Thank you to everyone who joined us for these bird walks!
2024: Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) Field Trip: Porcupine Lake and area.
26 May 2024 - The fog lifted on Porcupine Lake just before 7am as 15 of us started the morning looking at waterfowl, sparrows, warblers and swallows at White Waterfront Conservation Area. More people joined us and we visited a few other locations. Songbirds were active along Porcupine Lake's Dead Man Point section of the trail. The leaves were out earlier than usual and made it difficult to locate birds, but encouraged us to appreciate the various songs and calls.
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| OFO Field Trip: Porcupine Lake - South Porcupine © Photo: Adele Malo (26 May 2024) |
Many in our group managed good views of Black-and-white, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Bay-breasted and Yellow Warblers, American Redstarts, Philadelphia and Red-eyed Vireos, and Veery.
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| OFO Field Trip: Porcupine Lake - South Porcupine Philadelphia Vireo © Photo: Pierre Noel (26 May 2024) |
The highlight of the day was finding a Summer Tanager, a very rare bird for the area and a first record for Timmins. Many of us were delighted to watch this beautiful bird sing and feed along poplar branches. This bird was species # 155 added to the Timmins Checklist of Birds! See the updated Timmins Checklist of Birds PDF.
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| OFO Field Trip: Porcupine Lake - South Porcupine Summer Tanager © Photo: Pierre Noel (26 May 2024) |
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| OFO Field Trip: Porcupine Lake - South Porcupine Part of the group looking at the Summer Tanager © Photo: Roxane Filion (26 May 2024) |
Thank you to the 24 people who joined us throughout the day. We had a wonderful day, we saw and heard 65 different species of birds at 5 different locations, and met many new local bird enthusiasts!
2023: Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) Convention - Timmins Edition
September 2023 - From September 22 to 24, Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) held their annual convention in Peterborough and part of their events were held in Timmins. Offering a northern component to the OFO Convention is an initiative started last year by OFO board member Angie Williams.
Between Friday and Sunday, close to 30 participants joined many bird walks offered by OFO volunteers and gathered Friday and Saturday evening to attend a live streaming of the main convention events and talks, including the presentation of OFO's 2023 Distinguished Ornithologist Award to Bruce Di Labio, and an informative talk about bird migration by keynote speaker Stu Mackenzie from Birds Canada.
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| Some of the Saturday morning participants getting ready to look for birds around Porcupine Lake with hike leader Pierre Noel (Left) OFO Convention Timmins 23 September 2023 Photo: Gary Dowe |
With volunteer hike leaders Pierre Noel, Andrew Davis, Rhonda Donley, Roxane Filion and Mark Joron, participants explored 5 of the best local birding hotspots: South Porcupine's Bart Thomson Trail, Porcupine Lake, Hollinger Tailings Ponds, Hersey Lake Conservation Area and the rural roads west of Timmins.
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| Participants at the Hollinger Tailings Ponds with hike leader Andrew Davis OFO Convention Timmins 24 September 2023 Photo: © Swapnil Dhandhukia |
A total of 80 species were observed by many during the weekend outings, including a few elusive ones like the American Three-toed Woodpecker and the Black-backed Woodpecker, a Lesser Black-backed Gull, Horned Grebes, a Peregrine Falcon, a flock of American Golden-Plovers and hundreds of migrating Sandhill Cranes.
Read the OFO News Article here
Read the Daily Press article here.
A sincere thank you to Angie and Ken Williams, Christa Rigney, all volunteer hike leaders, everyone who participated, Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO), Mattagami Region Conservation Authority, Wintergreen Funds for Conservation, Tourism Timmins, The Fish Bowl restaurant, Conseil Scolaire Catholique de District des Grandes Rivières, Andre Filion, and Pick of the Crop.
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| Sunday morning hike leader Rhonda Donley with some of the group Hersey Lake Conservation Area 24 September 2023 |
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| American Three-toed Woodpecker Hersey Lake Conservation Area OFO Convention Timmins 24 September 2023 |
2023 Wintergreen Spring Migration Bird Walks
Thank you to everyone who joined us for the Wintergreen Spring Migration Bird Walks this spring at Gillies Lake and at Porcupine Lake! Here are a few photos from the walks.
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| Common Yellowthroat Wintergreen Spring Migration Bird Walk Gillies Lake - 31 May 2023 |
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| Wintergreen Spring Migration Bird Walk Gillies Lake - 31 May 2023 |
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| Great Blue Heron Wintergreen Spring Migration Bird Walk Gillies Lake 14 May 2023 |
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| Wintergreen Spring Migration Bird Walk Porcupine Lake - 24 May 2023 |
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| Tennessee Warbler Wintergreen Spring Migration Bird Walk Porcupine Lake - 24 May 2023 |
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| Semipalmated Plover Wintergreen Spring Migration Bird Walk Porcupine - 24 May 2023 |
2023 OFO Field Trip at Porcupine Lake (21 May 2023)
Four participants joined Sunday's OFO Field Trip at Porcupine Lake. It was 3°C with a wind chill factor of -1°C when we started at 7am at the White Waterfront Conservation Area, with heavy north winds gusting between 30-50 km/h. We started the morning by watching a small flock of Evening Grosbeaks taking cover in a shrub, a Least Sandpiper on the beach with a Killdeer, a young Bald Eagle being chased by an American Crow and a beautiful Sandhill Crane flying low over us.
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| Least Sandpiper - Porcupine Lake OFO Field Trip (21 May 2023) |
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| Sandhill Crane Porcupine Lake OFO Field Trip (21 May 2023) |
We moved to the east side of the lake in search of migrating waterfowl; a pair of Redheads was showing well along with a few Lesser Scaups, Common Goldeneyes and Ring-necked Ducks. After grabbing coffee to warm up, we walked the forested part of Porcupine Lake's Prospectors Trail hoping that warblers and other songbirds would be sheltering and feeding away from the high winds. We were not disappointed. If warblers were fewer than usual for May 21st in numbers, they sure made up for it in variety and awesome views! Ten different species of warblers were present along that short section of trail and all of us had wonderful views of Blackpoll Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, Cape May Warbler, Nashville Warbler, and a Black-and-white Warbler to name a few.
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| Participants looking at warblers at Porcupine Lake OFO Field Trip (21 May 2023) |
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| Blackpoll Warbler - Porcupine Lake OFO Field Trip (21 May 2023) |
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| Bay-breasted Warbler - Porcupine Lake OFO Field Trip (21 May 2023) |
By the time we moved on to the last location, it had warmed up to 9°C and the winds were slightly calmer. At this last spot we admired some Gadwalls, Northern Shovelers, and American Wigeons in the scope. The sheltered patch of mixed forest adjacent to the pond offered us good songbird diversity, with nine species of warblers, Least Flycatchers, and a surprise appearance by a male Bobolink singing away on a poplar branch! We had particularly great views of a Northern Parula, a Wilson's Warbler, a Palm Warbler, and a Chestnut-sided Warbler.
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| Gadwall - Porcupine OFO Field Trip (21 May 2023) |
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| Northern Parula - Porcupine OFO Field Trip (21 May 2023) |
Overall, it was a great day out with great people, and we observed a total of 59 species, including 17 different species of warblers. A sincere thank you to all participants for a great day!
2023 Wintergreen Winter Hiking Day at Hersey Lake Conservation Area
19 February 2023, 10:30 am Winter Birdwatching Hike hosted by Wintergreen Fund for Conservation
Description: 7 participants joined us on this fun winter bird hike! We walked the Hersey Lake Promenade and located and identified some of the bird species that spend the winter in Timmins; we watched Black-capped Chickadees, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Common Redpolls, a Hairy Woodpecker, some Common Ravens. The highlight of the morning was an elusive Black-backed Woodpecker who cooperated for us at the start of the hike! We had a lot of fun sharing tips on winter birdwatching and discussing how some of Northern Ontario's bird species find food and survive our cold winters! We also submitted our list to the Great Backyard Bird Count, a global event where people go out and count birds for fun and for science in their favourite spots.
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| Winter Birdwatching Hike participants - Wintergreen 2023 Winter Hiking Day Hersey Lake Conservation Area (19 February 2023) Photo © G. Dowe |
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| Black-backed Woodpecker observed during the Wintergreen 2023 Winter Hiking Day Hersey Lake Conservation Area (19 February 2023) Photo © R. Filion |
2022 Bird Walks and Events
2022 Wintergreen Spring Migration Bird Walks at Gillies Lake:
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| Participants Tiffany, Diane and Gary during the Wintergreen Spring Migration Walk Gillies Lake Conservation Area (18 May 2022) Photo © R. Filion |
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| Solitary Sandpiper observed during the Wintergreen Spring Migration Walk Gillies Lake (18 May 2022) Photo © R. Filion |
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| Sora observed during the Wintergreen Spring Migration Walk Gillies Lake (18 May 2022) Photo © R. Filion |
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| Tree Swallow - Wintergreen Spring Migration Walk Gillies Lake (18 May 2022) Photo © G. Dowe |
For more information on upcoming Wintergreen Spring Bird Walks, check our Upcoming Bird Walks and Events tab regularly, or contact wintergreen@mattagamiregion.ca
2022 Porcupine Lake OFO Field Trip
Sunday, May 22, 2022 at Porcupine Lake and area (7am to 2pm)
Full trip report:
Three participants joined the first OFO Field Trip at Porcupine Lake on Sunday, May 22, 2022 in South Porcupine. The day started at 7 am under an overcast sky and a chilly and wet 4°C morning at Porcupine Lake's White Waterfront Conservation Area, with one early participant who had travelled all the way from the Niagara region and was ready to brave the rain in search of birds. We were immediately greeted by a Surf Scoter, an uncommon species for Porcupine Lake and getting great looks at this splendid unique bird was a great start to a wonderful day.
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| Surf Scoter photographed during the OFO Field Trip (22 May 2022) © R. Filion |
The wires and sky all around the waterfront area were filled with Bank, Tree, and Cliff Swallows, all feeding and calling in impressive large flocks low over the water, as they often do on cold migration mornings. After admiring the Surf Scoter with its Lesser and Greater Scaups and Common Goldeneye companions, we started down the Prospector trail and came across 3 Trumpeter Swans feeding beside a pair of Gadwall near shore.
The rest of the walk happened under light rain and to the intermittent mystical sound of the Common Loon calling from the lake, and gave us decent views of many warbler species, Savannah and Lincoln Sparrows, and a very cooperative Clay Coloured Sparrow, who hopped on the trail right in front of us!
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| Clay-coloured Sparrow - OFO Field Trip at Porcupine Lake Prospector Trail (22 May 2022) Photo © R. Filion |
After walking the Prospector Trail, we met two more participants at the waterfront, where one got a good look through the scope at his first Surf Scoter before following the rapid high pitched 'tsi-tsi-tsi-tsi-tsi-tsi' back to his first Blackpoll Warbler.
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| OFO Field Trip participant Swapnil Dhandhukia Porcupine Lake (22 May 2022) Photo © R. Filion |
From there, we visited the Bannerman Park section of the lakefront where we watched a Common Loon diving and an adult Bald Eagle soaring over us. We all crossed the road to another favourite spot in Porcupine when we heard a mimicking song repeating admirable imitations of American Robin, Tufted Titmouse and Killdeer. We finally managed to spot the talented Northern Mockingbird perched on the other side of the road!
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| Northern Mockingbird, an uncommon visitor in our area - OFO Field Trip at Porcupine Lake Porcupine Lake (22 May 2022) Photo © R. Filion |
We then walked towards Porcupine River where the abundant warblers more than made up for the absence of ducks; we had amazing views of Wilson, Tennessee, Cape May, Nashville, Yellow-rumped, Yellow Warblers, American Redstarts and a Philadelphia Vireo while listening to a Virginia Rail calling from the marsh nearby.
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| Wilson Warbler, one of many warbler species seen during the OFO Field Trip Porcupine River - South Porcupine (22 May 2022) Photo © Gary Dowe |
We went to visit two more quiet spots where we watched a Red-tailed Hawk soaring, and listened to Ruby and Golden Crowned Kinglet, Chipping Sparrows and Brown Creeper singing away in the rain. We finished the day with a quick glimpse at a medium sized black bear and fresh moose tracks.
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| OFO Field Trip participants Lisa (left) and Swapnil (right) with OFO trip leader Roxane (middle) Wetland near the Porcupine River, South Porcupine (22 May 2022) Photo © Gary Dowe |
We observed and heard 66 species of birds in the 5 locations visited. The lists were submitted to eBird and can be viewed here: https://ebird.org/canada/tripreport/58596
The OFO Porcupine Lake Field Trip was held on the same weekend as the Smooth Rock Falls OFO Field Trip led by Angie and Ken Williams and Rhonda Donley to give visiting participants the opportunity to take advantage of a typical peak migration weekend in northeastern Ontario's Cochrane district.
Details and registration here: OFO Upcoming Field Trip List and Registration
World Migratory Bird Day guided walk at Porcupine Lake
Saturday, May 14th, 2022 (8:00 am to 10 am) at Porcupine Lake
Report and photos: On May 14, 2022, the Friends of the Porcupine River Watershed celebrated World Migratory Bird Day with a guided bird walk at Porcupine Lake. Along the Prospector trail, 7 participants got to watch and listen to various migrating birds while learning about their long journey north in spring. From waterfowl feeding on the lake, Savannah Sparrows singing in tall grass and shrubs, and various colourful migrating warblers singing in mixed forest, the group got to experience the variety of habitat that Porcupine Lake offers to migrating and resident birds. The group observed 37 different species during the two hour walk and submitted the list to eBird, a worldwide database of bird observations. You can see the full list here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S110024516. We hope you will join us for our next World Migratory Bird Day walk!
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| FPRW World Migratory Bird Day walk participants listening to various warbler songs along the Prospector Trail © Photo: Swapnil Dhandhukia. 14 May 2022 |
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| Magnolia Warbler - FPRW World Migratory Bird Day walk Prospector Trail - Porcupine Lake © Photo: Swapnil Dhandhukia (14 May 2022) |
To sign up for future FPRW World Migratory Bird Day walk, contact friendsporcupineriverwatershed@gmail.com
Timmins Public Library - Spring migration in Timmins -Online session
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