300 Bird Challenge RARE Birds in Toronto And Burlington. Ep01.
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- Опубліковано 14 жов 2024
- New Year, New Birding Challenge. Welcome to the start of the 300 Bird Challenge Big Birding Year.
In 2024, we want to try to see 300 different bird species. In this first video, we travel to the west end of Toronto and Colonel Samuel Smith Park plus a marina in Burlington, in the hopes of adding some first of the year birds, hopefully including some rare bird species.
Please like, please subscribe, and stay tuned to the channel as we continue our search for 300 birds.
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BritHikesOntario, is Stu Hall. I'm a displaced Brit... who hikes and goes birding in Ontario, Canada. I'm often joined by my wife, Sara.
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Social Media:
Twitter: / brithikeson
Instagram: / brithikesontario
Threads: threads.net/@B...
Facebook: / stuhall1
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Check out my friends Nigel & Kayleigh over at
@TheBackyardAviaryAdventures
for a similar UK Based Birding Challenge.
Santa got me binocular harness. A Scope phone mount. Great video happy new year to you both. And thank you for the shout out.
Thanks Kayleigh. Hope you like your presents! 🎁 Sara swears by her binocular harness. Happy New Year 🎉
Thanks so much for another wonderful video like always 👍🏻
Thanks Miguel. Any birding trips planned for 2024? 😊
Awesome video with some great footage. Ooft that nuthatch 😍
Thanks so much Kate, means a lot. I also know you like a nice silky nuthatch!! 😆
Started 2024 with bang! I think it’s about time your channel reaches 1k, hopefully soon!! All the best!
That'd be good, long slog! Thanks 😊
Also: quite good start, you bagged over 10% of your targeted tally
Thank you!
That was a great start for this year. I got a birder's journal for Christmas.
Nice 😊
Which journal did you get?
Last time I was in The USA, I was at a Barnes and Noble and I picked up a "National Geographic Birder's Life List & Journal", which is pretty cool. It has a list of all the birds of North America and a spot to you write about when you first see\saw it.
@@BritHikesOntario My journal was an Audubon journal and it was very similar.
Lol first bird and it’s a Canada Goose you can always count on them, I thought it would have been a Chickadee 😊
It's actually the same two birds we saw first in 2023, just the other way around. Mallard first, Canada Goose second 😆
Great video look at 1042 there are ring necked ducks too. Good luck on your target.
Hi Brian, Looks like you're right on the Ring-necks! We had already seen so many Scaup and were so focused on the Canvasbacks that we overlooked them.
I'll probably not go back and count them at this point because they're not really in focus in the footage and we will look for them in the future, but good eye and thanks for the comment!
10:08 In my eyes that was a clear Western Grebe, no hesitation, especially compared with Horned Grebe. Only possible species to confuse it with would be the Clark's, but then I'd agree: better/closer view/photo is needed...😁
Yeah, we agree in retrospect. The final video zoomed in 6x makes it much clearer.
We will just have to find a better shot this year!
Nice intro! You did a damn sight better than us. we only got 24. Thanks for the shoutout!
Thanks Nigel. I'm confident we will both be hearing a lot more "dinging" sounds this year and we will both reach our goals 👍
A very good start to the year, and some great birds on your first day. I've been birding around Toronto for many years and have never seen a pintail. Have to get out to Sam Smith one of these days ...
One of my favourite ducks, for sure. I hope you're able to see one. We were fortunate with the Pintail, we weren't expecting it and we found it independently, but I think people are going a little crazy looking for it now.
FYI, there was one seen at Tommy Thompson Park recently, too.
Happy New Year Year to you both and good luck in the challenge.
Thanks a lot! Happy New Year 😀
Definitely count the Western Grebe, even in retrospect. You've added birds retrospectively before (when you needed ID help or when you forgot to tally it) - so just explain on a future video and all will be good. Spend your time finding another red throated loon instead!
Thanks Rylan. We may well end up re-visiting the footage in the next video as you suggest 👍
YOOOOOO the new intro is FIRE. Looks good for Greater Scaup with the peak of the head above the eye and those wider cheeks. I also think you have the Western Grebe in the shot. It's too tall for a Horned Grebe.
Haha thanks.
Yeah, in retrospect, I think I'd have been happy to have counted the Western Grebe.
Sometimes I find that footage in the final cut comes out looking clearer than the original footage.
We will just have to go find another Western!
@@BritHikesOntario Totally fair! There are times I'll count something I spot in retrospect and other times that I'm just not satisfied with not recognizing it in the field and don't count it. Go get another one!
Awesome video, great idea!! I am up to 66 so far this year! And the green tint to the head of the drakes at the beginning are Greaters in fact.
Thank you
And yes, I correct the Scaups in a subsequent video 👍
Yep about to watch the rest of the videos
I was able to see the Western Grebe on Christmas at Lasalle Park! I think your footage is good enough to identify it as a Western Grebe but it’s your challenge, so totally up to you. Great video!
Thanks Robert, glad you liked it.
In retrospect, I think we would have preferred to have counted it. The final video comes out looking better than the original footage and, especially on a larger screen, I agree you can tell it's the Western.
We will just have to go find it again if we can 😁
Great episode and a nice start to the year. I'd count that Western Grebe though. The bird filmed is too long-necked proportionally for a Horned Grebe and the darkness of the head and bill color eliminate Clark's. Out here in California I'd have no trouble counting that as Western.
Thanks Cliff, appreciate it.
As for the Western Grebe... yeah... I think in retrospect we are now thinking we should have counted it. The footage, blown up, looks clearer in the final cut than the original clip. I can now see it is clearly much larger than a Horned and a Clark's would be much more notable than a Western out this way.
We will just have to find it again another time!
Well done!
Thanks Tracy! 😊
Great start on the challenge guys. Glad to finally see you with a Scope. All you need now is a camera/scope adapter :P
hahaha... adapter burns now... 😉
Any recommendations?
PhoneSkope seems a bit breakable and fiddly. I don't like the idea of using a separate app like Magview suggests, and Ollin (which seems the best) costs $238CAD.
@@BritHikesOntario LOL, no burns my friends. Just thought you know, if you catch the bird in the scope but it is distant and yet you want a photo, you could use a phone to scope adapter to achieve that. I previously had an Olivon T90 scope and an Olympus Camera, thankfully there was a scope adapter that took moments to apply that would allow me to photo down the scope. Was not perfect, but it certainly captured the image. With todays attachments and image stabilisation you should get some great results :)
Another great video. Glad to see Santa dropped off a nice spotting scope. I have a Celestron Trailmaster mounted to a video head and find it a handy piece of kit. I wish you and Sarah well in your pursuit of 300 birds this year (you’re well on your way). I’ve been spending most of my time the last few weeks observing and photographing local Common and Barrows Goldeneye. I’m trying to build up a collection of images especially for the Barrows. Next week I head off in search of Boreal Chickadee's (not very common on the west coast of Newfoundland.
Thanks a lot Keith. Need to try to find myself a Barrow's. They show up around here from time-to-time, but somehow I haven't seen one!
Boreal Chickadee would be excellent. Another I'd love to see. Wishing you good luck with that one. And also wishing you a Happy New Year 👍
The Barrow’s I find are usually scattered within a group of Common. I’ve never seen them by themselves
Good to know, thanks!
We did miss you! Nice intro🎉. And I got a spotting scope too!
Excellent! We are quite happy with ours. I just wish there was an easy way to capture footage through it without some of these overpriced laser-printed plastic phone attachments.
@@BritHikesOntario mine was very cheap, absolutely 0 things special, just so i can see those faraway ducks 🙃. But it came with that phone attachment 😉
If you want waterfowl than I would recommend going to hillman marsh in mid march-early April.
Thanks 😊
I'm a big fan of Rondeau and we will usually hit up Hillman Marsh on any trip to that area. Looking forward to Hillman now that we have a scope!
@@BritHikesOntario I’ve never been to rondeau but have been wanting to for awhile. When do you recommend is the best time to go?
As with most of Southern Ontario, spring and fall migration are going to be the most active for migratory species like warblers.
We sometimes go around mid-april when we are fed up with the winter here in Toronto. It's 3 or 4 degrees warmer down that way... so we get a bit overly keen to get down there. But that's probably a bit too early to get the best out of it, with May being better.
@@BritHikesOntario I see. Thank you I hope to go there this year
Love the new opening! We also got a Vortex scope for Christmas! You inspired my family to do a bird challenge. We had 200 last year and are going for 250 this year. We have only done two trips so far but it SO challenging to get them all on video! Wow! Did not anticipate that. If you come to Florida let us know we can share our favorite spots. Here is our video: ua-cam.com/video/uDQ-52G7RNk/v-deo.htmlsi=RUng9UQleM2y-25y
Thanks very much. Hope you all have a fun time with your challenge.
We are very interested in visiting Florida. Perhaps in the spring before it gets too hot for me to handle! 😂