Trip Report: Ontario and Quebec
If you have been reading TN-Bird for the last ten years orso, you will know my
main interest in birding is Total Ticking. Of course, TotalTicking is where you
add up the birds you have seen in all the states andCanadian provinces, 64
birding areas in total. The question for me has alwaysbeen what is the best or
most efficient way to go about Total Ticking,and as you know the answers have
generally found their way into my tripreports. The major targets for this trip
were the provinces of Ontario andQuebec, and although I already had about 100
birds for Quebec, my list forOntario was quite low. So the focus for this
report is how do you bird (asa Total Ticker) the province of Ontario when you
are new to the area or havefew birds? I will end with a few brief comments on
Quebec.
Ontario
The bird list for Ontario is quite high, 494 birds, thereare lots of birders in
Ontario, and many very rare birds and vagrants have beenreported. The result is
that in a 3-5 day trip you are unlikely to achieve 50%of the province, the gold
standard for Total Ticking. Ontario is not Manitoba(the easiest place for Total
Ticking as a percentage of the birds of the area),or Saskatchewan (#7), but #38
(out of the 62 states and provinces reported in TennesseeBirders by the
Numbers, Vol. 5--Nunavut and St. Pierre & Miquelon couldnot be included in the
work but would likely be at the bottom, #63 & #64).Tennessee by contrast is
#28, just about middle of the pack. For Ontario Ithink a good number to shoot
for in 3-5 days is 175-180 (or about 35%), andwith luck and “good” weather (as
with most birding in the east during migrationideal weather is calm winds
following a strong cold front with rain), and youmay be able to do better than
that.
So where to go? Most U.S. birders go to Pt. Pelee, the southernmostpart of
Ontario near Detroit. One problem with Pt. Pelee is that the bestbirding there
is in the first two weeks of May (usually the second week), whilethe best
birding in Ontario is near the end of the month. At that time
knowledgeablebirders will still continue to go where the water is in Ontario,
specificallythe many places along the northern shorelines of both Lake Erie and
Ontario,and the best bet is to add Algonquin Provincial Park (PP) and Carden
Plain (alsocalled Carden Alvar) to your plans. Since the premier places on the
shore ofLake Erie are west of Toronto, the best places on Lake Ontario areeast
of Toronto, and Algonquin PP and Carden Plain are north of the city,Toronto is
an ideal central location for birding the province of Ontario. Ifyou are doing
more than birding (what an idea), Toronto is a wonderfully safecity with lots
to do and great food (and parks with some of the common owls—thebane of many
Total Ticking trips). Of course, if you are interested in rareowls you will
certainly want to get local information. Without that these birds shouldnot be
on your Total Ticking target list. In general, you should not spend timechasing
rare birds when you are Total Ticking. A Total Ticking target list shouldmainly
be composed of the abundant, common and uncommon birds, and rare species
shouldbe of lower priority unless they can be found in the same locations as
theother birds. Finding rare birds on a Total Ticking trip is always exciting
but,well, rare (the closest thing I had to a rare bird was a barely out of
season Thayer’sGull in Ontario). The main exception here is for subsequent
trips when you alreadyhave 50% of the birds of an area. Of course, many places
have hotspots for rarebirds, but generally they are not for your first or
second trip. Effectively,what that means is that all but the highest ranking
Total Tickers should befocused on getting to 50%, leaving rare birds to the top
tickers. For example, Ihave 16 states and provinces at 50%, and only about 12
or so at 45-50%--a longway to go. Now, where was I?
Yes, where to go. First, find yourself in Toronto in thelast week of May.
Another nice thing about Toronto is that it is easy to getthere (Nashville has
a direct flight), and good hotels are common. If you havethe time it is always
better to drive, as you will be going through otherstates and provinces
(depending on your plan) along the way. What is a good hotel for Total
Ticking?Perhaps one that does not have the name of Trump on it! While there are
a fewexceptions what you don’t want is a hotel in the downtown area, because
gettingin and out of the downtown will take time, often lots of time. Of
course, thisis generally not an issue in the mornings as you will want to get
out before sunrise, but you really don’t want to spend time fighting the
traffic atthe end of a long day of birding (certainly not at my age). And in
general, takeextra time whenever you go out in Toronto. Toronto is a rapidly
growing city (more than2.5 million pop. now, Atlanta by contrast is less than
half a million), and asCanadians say there are only two seasons, winter and
construction. Okay, so youare in Toronto in the last week of May, and you want
instructions for where togo. I still suggest Clive Goodwin’s fine book, A
Bird-Finding Guide to Ontario.While outdated in several respects (the 2nd
edition is 1995), thebook is quite useful. (Especially helpful are the seasonal
status tables,something often not found even in the best guides.) So there are
three ways togo, east, west and north. Consider going west to the Hamilton
Harbourarea, the Townsend/Jarvis Sewage Lagoons, Turkey Point PP, Backus Woods,
LongPoint PP, Rondeau PP, St. Clair NWA, and Pt. Pelee (if you have the time).
Manyof these locations will also have websites and maps, but the book is
helpful inhaving one source. (Almost 500 pages, I copy out the information I
need as itis always useful to pack lightly.) This trip takes you to all of the
bestplaces west of Toronto and mainly on the northern shore of Lake Erie.Note
that many of the parks will have fees. You can get one-day use permitsthat are
good for most Ontario parks, or you can get a seasonal use permit,
currently$125.00, for the entire summer season. As with all Total Ticking trips
to a newarea your first day will be your best. The highest Big Day for Ontario
was 200birds on May 29, 1999, not likely for a Total Ticker not familiar with
thearea, but 200 is possible if you have multiple days, good weather, and
ofcourse luck.
If you have gone west on the first day, you nowhave two options on day two,
either go east along Lake Ontario to Presqu’ile PPand Prince Edward Pt, or head
north to Carden Plain and Algonquin PP. I don’t thinkit matters much which way
you go, however if the weather has changed overnightit is probably better to go
east as you will be more likely to pick upadditional migrants along the Lake
Ontario shore.
Algonquin PP is the oldest provincial park inCanada and one of the best (at
this point my favorite park in Canada is stillRiding Mountain in Manitoba),
roughly three hours northeast of Toronto. Andwhile Carden Plain is the first of
the two on the way north, it is much better tobegin with Algonquin—and begin
before sunrise. You will want to be at the park atleast for the dawn chorus. At
least? While you can find some common owlselsewhere, you have a good chance for
Saw-whets at Algonquin, uncommon yes but the second most common owl after
Barred (get local informationfor current locations). Second, the park is
popular and you will want to getthere early to bird and drive without having to
deal with others of yourspecies. Of course, it is not as bad as the much
smaller Radnor park inNashville. (There does not seem to be a time early enough
at Radnor these days,as you can often find noisy people in groups bounding on
the trails throughoutthe day—the walkers of the Radnor mall.) I strongly
recommend Birds of AlgonquinPark, 2012, by Ron Tozer, the former Park
Naturalist, perhaps the finestbird book on a single natural area/park in North
America (note, notinexpensive). The book reminds me of one of my all-time
favorites that I pickedup on my first trip to Texas when I was teaching field
ornithology as ateenager at a private secondary school, Roland Wauer’s Birds of
Big BendNational Park and Vicinity, 1973 (younger birders may know the second
editionwith the rather misleading title, A Field Guide to Birds of Big
Bend,1996), but Tozer’s book is even better. The book, based on records that go
backto the mid-1800s and 10,000 file cards with numerous sightings of birds on
each(perhaps 200,000 data points or more), includes extensive discussion of all
the278 birds on the park list (seasonal, historical and population status,
andmigration and breeding arrival and departure records), and a checklist
thatcombines all the relevant variables in one chart. The book also includes a
nicemap, information on where to bird, and suitable photographs of the birds
and thepark. Impressive does not begin to characterize this book and the effort
thatwent into producing it. During the last week of May, there are about 125
birds(and 22 warblers) in the park that are abundant to uncommon, and a total
of 144breeding birds. (see note 1 below)
Carden Plain (find good maps and recommended routes online) isa largely
agricultural area, mainly cattle ranching, with mixed woodlands andgrassland
species about 1.5 hours northeast of Toronto. Among the good birds ofthe area
you should look for: Amer. & Least Bittern, Amer. Kestrel,Upland Sandpiper,
Black Tern, Whip-poor-will, Black-billed Cuckoo, LoggerheadShrike, Sedge Wren,
Eastern Bluebird, Golden-winged Warbler, Bobolink, Grasshopper,Henslow’s
(rare), Vesper and Clay-colored Sparrow. About 110 birds are abundantto
uncommon at Carden this time of year.
On the third day go east for Presqu’ile PP and Prince EdwardPt., about 1.5 and
2.25 hours away, respectively. Presqu’ile is especiallyuseful for both migrants
and breeders. If you have the time, on the way backsee Darlington PP and
McLaughlin Bay Wildlife Reserve (exit 425 on Highway 401),and Oshawa Second
Marsh (exit 419) on the Lake Ontario shore.
If you have more than three days (generallyrecommended) your best bet is to go
back to the same places, especially LongPoint PP, Presqu’ile PP, Carden Plain
and Algonquin PP. But it will all dependon where your list is on the night of
the third day. My experience in inlandeastern states and provinces is that you
are likely to have the most difficulty with shorebirds. There are several
workarounds for these problem birds. If ithas rained recently you will
especially want to look at as many wet fields aspossible, but don’t forget the
shoreline and the many beaches on the lakes (i.e.,plovers, godwits, Whimbrel,
Dunlin, Semipalmated and Western Sandpipers, and Sanderling).Remember
identifying shorebirds is less dependent on bird vocalizations (butstill
helpful as shorebirds will fly from place to place along the lakeshore), sogood
times for shorebirds can be middle or late in the day. And give yourself
abreak, note that you are looking for abundant (a) to uncommon (u) birds,
notrare birds. Thus, you should focus on these 20: Black-bellied (c),
Amer.Golden- (u), and Semipalmated Plover (c), Killdeer (a), Greater (u) &
LesserYellowlegs (c), Solitary (u), Upland (u), Spotted (c-u), Semipalmated
(c), White-rumped(u) and Least Sandpiper (c), Red Knot (u), Sanderling (u),
Dunlin (a-c), RuddyTurnstone (u), Whimbrel (u), Short-billed Dowitcher (c),
Wilson’s Snipe (u),and Wilson’s Phalarope (u). If the weather cooperates
(especially recent rain),and you visit numerous areas with appropriate habitat
over 3-5 days, you willget most of these, and have a shot at something a little
more rare. What wouldbe the next step up in rarity? Piping Plover, Hudsonian
and Marbled Godwit,Western, Baird’s, Stilt and Buff-breasted Sandpiper. Of
course, these are birdsmost Ontario birders will have on their lists, but
consider yourself lucky ifyou get them. Finally, is there a Total Ticking rule
for how much time you shouldspend in one state/province? The rule is always to
go to the best places whenbirds are likely to be there. Thus, if you spend time
trying to get just a fewmore birds, that is likely to be a mistake if by doing
so you are losing out bynot going to another state/province. Consider this
another version ofBOC—birding opportunity costs--where the cost is in the
number of speciesconditioned by the scarcity of time. With limited time we have
to make choices;the option we do not take is the cost. In Total Ticking and
other forms of competitivebirding, the trick is to reduce those costs, e.g.,
adding more newstate/province birds compared to the alternative option.
Quebec
Finally, brief comments on Quebec as I have already reportedon the province
some years ago. Currently, there are 475 birds on the Quebec list. If Ontariois
not Manitoba or Saskatchewan, Quebec is no Ontario. Quebec is #51 on thelist of
the easiest states or provinces to go Total Ticking, i.e., among theworst
places as a percentage of the birds of the area. Of course, that is notto say
Quebec is the lowest, or even close to the lowest of Canadian provinces,because
New Brunswick is at #58, Nova Scotia is #59, Yukon #60 and NorthwestTerritory
at #62. With Alberta (#4), Manitoba (#1) and Saskatchewan (#7) allin the top
10, clearly Canada has both some of the easiest and worst places togo Total
Ticking. (If you are interested, the top states in the U.S. are: WI#2, MO #3,
NJ #5, DE #6, OH #8, IA #9 and KY #10, and the bottom are RI #53, AZ#54, CA
#55, FL #56, NV #57, and AK #61.) Most of the highest ranking Big Daysin Quebec
occurred in late May or early June with about 165 or so birds. Asnoted before,
there is lots of online birding information for Montreal, and Iwould especially
suggest J. Cam Finlay’s Bird-Finding Guide to Canada, (McClelland& Stewart,
2000), St. Timothe Marsh and agricultural lands in the area forshorebirds, and
Mont-Tremblant. Tremblant is a special place with a list of 200or so birds,
many boreal, breeding and migrant species at this time: Ruffed and
SpruceGrouse, Northern Goshawk, Great-horned, Barred and Northern Saw-whet Owl,
Black-backedWoodpecker, Olive-sided, Yellow-bellied and Alder Flycatcher,
PhiladelphiaVireo, Gray Jay, Boreal Chickadee, six species of thrush, including
Bicknell’s(rare), a large variety of warblers, Lincoln’s, Fox and many other
sparrows,and various finches, Pine (rare) and Evening Grosbeak, Red and
White-wingedCrossbill, and Pine Siskin. Tremblant is found about two hours
north of Montreal.Of course, to get the best out of the area you will want to
be at the park atsunrise or earlier.
Well, that’s it for this report. If you are interested ingoing to Ontario or
Quebec I would be more than willing to help you out, andindeed I can help with
many of the states and provinces in North America.Exceptions would be Alberta,
Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Canada (ofthe three I only expect to go to
Alberta). Of course, this was a Total Tickingreport but over the years a major
interest of mine has been helping beginnersand intermediate birders progress.
So let me change the topic and put on my professor hat to suggest three
badhabits birders can fall into. One habit is to rely on others
foridentification, a real problem when birding with a group. I tell my students
toalways use their own words, and so for birding I would say make your
ownidentifications and then compare them with what others have said. Questions
toask more experienced birders should be based on your own identifications,
notvariations on “what bird is that?” Should you come up with an
identificationthat is different from what a more experienced birder has
suggested, thereasonable question is, why is that bird not the bird I
identified? Beginningbirders greatly desire the names of birds (you can’t list
a bird without thename), and experienced birders are generally more than happy
to provide thatinformation. However, from a pedagogical point of view that is
not the best way tolearn or teach: beginners need to put in the required effort
and experiencedbirders should teach for understanding, not simply providing
students with thecorrect answers. As an experienced birder, be less forthcoming
about identificationand more expansive about how you got to your
identification. Questions like, “whatdo you think the bird is?” or “what bird
does it sound like to you?” are a goodway to start the discussion, and an
important and pointed way to suggest thatbirding begins with the study of
birds. Another bad habit is the over reliance onguide books (or phone apps) in
the field. The time for books or apps is at homebefore you set out, and that
means you need to actually read the field guideand memorize it as if you were
going to be tested (begin by focusing on similargroups of birds found in your
area). Perhaps the worst habit is the over dependenceon binoculars. “How can
binoculars be a bad habit?” If you want to progress quicklyin birding put down
your binoculars and listen. Use this “trinary” rule (a rulewith three parts):
listen first, try to identify by sound, and only then useyour binoculars. “But
if I do that the bird might take off before I get mybinoculars on it.” Yes, but
learning means that your failures today will besuccesses in the future. If you
expect to be successful at the beginning youmay not be successful in the
future. In everything you do in life effort is theessential ingredient. (At the
same time, keep your eyes on the big picture.Effort is a resource that can be
used effectively or squandered. Is that majorin English, art history or
sociology going to give you what you want out oflife? Birding might be a good
path to take but make it a well-consideredchoice.) And note that if your guide
book should mainly be used at home, thesame is true for bird vocalizations:
listen and memorize those before your tripto the field. What do you think? Many
birders have thought about how best toteach birding and there is even a small
literature on the topic. I am puttingtogether a new course on field ornithology
and I welcome any comments. Anddon’t think that only expert birders can make
useful suggestions, the oppositemight be the case as birding and the teaching
of birding are different things.
Of course, not everyone wants to be a student of birding orbirds. As a purely
social activity birding has much to offer especially withregard to my own
academic area of epidemiology: as a result of increased exerciseand social
integration (the degree to which people are attached, bonded orconnected to
others), birding should reduce your chances of morbidity andmortality. It does
not get better than that!
What’s next for this old ticker? Unfortunately, increasinglyslim pickings at
this point. Having missed out several times for personalmatters, I badly want
to get to Arizona in winter. Following that I especially needLouisiana and
Texas during spring migration, California and Oregon, Alberta,and Newfoundland
and St. Pierre & Miquelon. And beyond that, and if myhealth holds up, CO and OK
will have to be in the mix as, with the exception ofAK, these are the only
states now with less than 37% of the birds (37% is auseful standard for Total
Tickers because 37% of all states/provinces = 10,000TTs or so).
As I was driving home I realized that this is my 45thyear of birding. What an
adventure it has been! Time for some summing up Isuppose—perhaps on my annual
report, Tennessee Birders by the Numbers,in the new year. For now, and with
mixed feelings at best, it is time for me toget back to my routine in the
academy, edit my research journal, read SiddharthaMukherjee’s new book, The
Gene (strong contribution I am told in thiscritically important and rapidly
developing area), and plan my next trip. Butperhaps not in that order!
Good birding and good totaling!
Kevin Breault
Brentwood, TN
mtweb.mtsu.edu/kbreault
1. Appendix 2 of the book provides for a quantitativeanalysis of bird arrival
and departure dates for two 25 year periods ofreporting, 1961-1985 and
1986-2010, and allows for an assessment of whether thedifferences between the
two periods are consistent with climate change. Forexample, the mean spring
arrival date for Northern Waterthrush was May 8 in the1961-1985 period, but May
3 for 1986-2010, a statistically significantdifference at the .0001 level. An
examination of Appendix 2 indicates that ofthe 114 birds for which there were
sufficient data for spring arrival for bothperiods, 82 birds or 71.9% show
significantly earlier arrival dates in the mostrecent quarter century,
1986-2010, supporting the notion that bird migrationhas been affected by
climate change. For warblers, 19 of 23 (82.6%) showearlier arrival dates
compared to the 1961-1985 period.
