St. Thomas Field Naturalist Club

Tag: Birds of Elgin County

  • 2016 Christmas Bird Count Results

    Black Vulture in Port Stanley, photo by Ron Kingswood
    Black Vulture in Port Stanley, photo by Ron Kingswood

    The day was cut a little short by the heavy fog in afternoon. We had new species of Dunlin found on beach in Port Bruce and Black Vulture spotted on beach at Port Stanley during count week. We had new highs with Golden Eagle(3), Peregrine Falcon(2), Robin(501) and Fox Sparrow(10). This year had over 100 American Bluebirds and 2 Great Horned Owls. Other nice sightings were Greater and Lesser Scaup, American Coot, Glaucous Gull, Merlin and a good number of Bald Eagles(20). The count has had Turkey Vultures every year this century with the addition of the Black Vulture this year. Ruffed Grouse have been conspicuously absent for a decade. Also missing were Snowy Owl and warblers.

    Here is the Species Total in pdf form.

  • Birds of Elgin County

    Birds of Elgin County A Century of Change

    This book has 44 colour plates of birds and their nests in Elgin, many photos with chicks taken by Ron Kingswood and William Rayner. There are 335 species reported as of writing of this book in Elgin and the book covers each bird over the 100 years, including Frank Farley’s observations in 1891 and Ron Broomans second edition in 1954. Each report has interesting tidbits about that bird as seen in the county. There are over 40 pages of Christmas Bird Count statistics for the two county nature clubs in existence at time of writing. Sketches of birds by our local artists including Candy McManiman, Pat Hartwell McLean and Diane Dobson.
    There are a limited number of the 2004 book Birds of Elgin County A Century of Change still available
    They are $25 for hard cover and $10 for soft cover. They can be picked up at any of the club meetings while supplies last. Shipping in Ontario will add $15 to the cost of either book. To purchase email asharpe@outlook.com
    The book was written and compiled by the naturalists of Elgin County.