Who doesn’t enjoy getting presents? For birders, they don’t always come under the tree but instead appear at our feeders. Once winter sets in, wayward travelers that have been foraging in various parts of Ontario since fall search for a reliable food source that could be in your yard. Rare birds that may be thousands of kilometres from a winter home find offerings of sunflowers seeds or suet to their liking while others survive on crabapples and ornamental mountain ash berries.

In winter's past, birds like the Western Tanager, Summer Tanager, Varied Thrush, Townsend’s Solitaire, Lark Sparrow and Dickcissel have all appeared in birders’ yards in Ontario. Some even spent the entire winter before heading out. Even though such species should be well south of Canada by now, they have lost the desire to migrate and must tough it out until spring. Keep your eyes open.

Happy Birding!

Brian Morin
Publisher of Ontario Birding News