María Wong

One more update!

With your kind and generous support, the Toronto & Hamilton team was able to meet it's goal of $1000 and Feminist Bird Club has collectively raised over $23K (and counting!) for environmental justice in DRC.

Thank you again for your wonderful support and for being a part of the movement to bird for a better world!

Pictured: a curious and boisterous Blue Jay.

I wasn't able to get out all day and had just one hour of backyard birding before the sky started to threaten rain and lightning!

I managed to squeeze in one more species, though, bringing my total to 36 species (11 over my goal), including 2 lifers. And even though I wasn't officially tracking, I spent 7 wonderful happy hours enjoying nature during this Birdathon.

My neck hurts from staring up at the trees, trying to find those elusive warblers that I still haven't been able to properly ID (and which is driving me absolutely bananas) - but this was a fun and rewarding experience, and I'm already thinking about goals and strategy for next year ;)

Thank you again to my kind and generous donors for your wonderful support of environmental justice in DRC!

My full list of birds sighted:

1. Mallard

2. Mourning Dove

3. Red-bellied Woodpecker

4. Downy Woodpecker

5. Hairy Woodpecker

6. Blue Jay

7. White-breasted Nuthatch

8. Red-breasted Nuthatch

9. European Starling

10. American Robin

11. House Sparrow

12. House Finch

13. Pine Siskin

14. American Goldfinch

15. Song Sparrow

16. Baltimore Oriole

17. Red-Winged Blackbird

18. Brown-headed Cowbird

19. Common Grackle

20. Northern Cardinal

21. Rose-breasted Grosbeek

22. Eastern Phoebe

23. Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

24. Turkey Vulture

25. Red-tailed Hawk

26. Northern Flicker

27. Black-capped Chickadee

28. Northern Rough-winged Swallow

29. House Wren

30. Gray Catbird

31. Yellow Warbler

32. Indigo Bunting

33. Yellow-rumped Warbler (lifer!)

34. Chestnut-sided Warbler (lifer!)

35. Great Crested Flycatcher

36. Cooper’s Hawk

Pictured: Red-bellied Woodpecker

With so much birding excitement / activity, I realized yesterday that I had forgotten to count the Northern Flicker, so Saturday morning's total is actually 32.

Then yesterday afternoon, I saw a lifer in our garden: a Yellow-rumped Warbler!

I was out for about an hour again this morning and I got two more sightings, including a second lifer in our garden: Chestnut-Sided Warbler!

That means my total number of species to date is 35!

Pictured: Yellow-rumped Warbler :D

Friday after my morning count, I added 3 additional bird species to the list for a total of 21 species spotted on Friday.

This morning, I spotted an additional 10 species, for a total of 31 bird species sighted! My goal was to reach 25 and I made it over. This being my first birdathon, I wasn't sure what to expect so I might need to make it more challenging for next year!

I also saw toads and a deer today :)

Pictured: a shy female cardinal.

I spent an hour outside this morning and am off to a strong start with 18 different species sighted!

Additionally, I saw some irregular visitors including a raccoon and a garter snake.

All in all, a good morning!

I'm unable to post photos right now but will post some decent ones I managed to get later, so stay tuned! Also, I got lots of great leaf shots...