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| 80 years ago this month |
Grandma D. put this card in a scrapbook, a memory of a picnic birthday party on May 12, 1944. She celebrated her 48th birthday that year. Birthday picnics at the farm on 5th Concession Whitchurch, later the 5th Concession Stouffville, were yearly events. By 1956, when my cousin Sandra was born, we celebrated four family birthdays between May 5th and May 10th. Mom was 12 on May 5th, 1944 and undoubtedly attended this picnic where bird watching was on the agenda for the day. I don't know if it was a group activity or an individual contest. I can see them now with their binoculars and slip-on gum rubber boots walking through the bush, around the quicksand, across the apple orchard, and up to the pines and meadows at the farm. The picnic would be at the log cabin by the barn.
Grandma counted the following species:
- Song Sparrow*
- White-throated Sparrow*
- Vesper Sparrow
- Chickadee*
- Wood Thrush
- Veery
- Partridge
- American Redstart
- Canada Warbler
- Northern Parula*
- Magnolia Warbler
- Black and white Warbler*
- Chestnut-sided Warbler*
- Bay-breasted Warbler
- Marsh hawk
- Mourning Dove*
- Great-crested Flycatcher
- Blackburnian Warbler
- Rose-breasted Grosbeak
- Water Thrush
- Oven Bird
* on my May 1, 2024 list
I am impressed with the list and know it would be difficult to replicate in the same location today. Since 1970, there has been an estimated loss of 2.9 billion adult birds in all North American biomes including forests and grasslands. Loss of habitat in breeding and migration routes, skyscraper window strikes, pesticides, and climate change are just some of the hazards migrating birds face today. In the past fifteen years, I have noticed decreasing bird numbers.
There was a "warbler drop" in a nearby park this week after overnight inclement weather landed several species of migrating birds. On my way home from work on the afternoon on May 1, 2024, I got off my bike and saw more warblers in one spot than I had seen in a long time.
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| Northern Parula* |
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| Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle Warbler) |
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| Black-throated Blue Warbler |
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| Yellow Warbler (breeds locally) |
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| Black and White Warbler * (breeds locally) |
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| Warbling Vireo- A small, rather plain songbird with a big, beautiful voice |
I also saw a Wilson's Warbler and a Chestnut-sided Warbler but did not get photos. Other species counted included Northern Flicker, White-throated Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Mallard Duck, Canada Goose, Baltimore Oriole, Common Grackle, Grey Catbird, Blue Jay, Northern Cardinal, Mourning Dove, Downy Woodpecker, Eastern Phoebe, Red-winged Blackbird, American Robin, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, American Crow, Black-capped Chickadee.
I counted twenty-eight native bird species in less than two hours. I went back the next morning but many Warblers had moved on overnight as it was clear with a steady south wind to assist their flight north. Grandma did not benefit from improved binoculars, a super-zoom camera and a phone app that identifies birds by sound and picture. Her count in 1944 would have been higher with the technology available today. True birders do not need cameras and apps. It is enough to be outdoors, observing, documenting, and gaining an understanding of the natural world around us.
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| Painted Turtles- More to see at the park than birds |
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