Welcome to another episode of The Big Year Podcast. I’m your host and guide to the world of Big Year birding, Robert Baumander. It’s December 1, 2025 and you’re listening to the Season Three Finale. That’s right, l have been blathering on now for nearly three years. When I began this podcast in January of 2023, with my big year birding mentor, Sandy Komito, I had no idea where this would lead. Actually, I’m not sure exactly where this has lead me, other than to accomplishing a desire since c...
Welcome to another episode of The Big Year Podcast. I’m your host and guide to the world of Big Year birding, Robert Baumander. It’s December 1, 2025 and you’re listening to the Season Three Finale. That’s right, l have been blathering on now for nearly three years. When I began this podcast in January of 2023, with my big year birding mentor, Sandy Komito, I had no idea where this would lead. Actually, I’m not sure exactly where this has lead me, other than to accomplishing a desire since childhood to host my own talk show. Back then I wanted to be the next Johnny Carson. I could never have imagined that I’d end up a bird nerd talking to other bird nerds about their nerdy birding. And I could have never done it without the wonderful community of birders I’ve met over the years. I waited 51 years to finally find a group of people that I really felt comfortable around. And that includes my family and work colleagues. There’s an old line, often attributed to Groucho Marx, saying he would never join a club who would have someone like him as a member. I felt that way for most of my life. But now I am grateful to be a member of this club.
November was another great month of chasing rarities here in southwestern Ontario. October ended with a Western Cattle Egret, Gray Kingbird and Little Blue Heron. And just as the calendar turned to November, a Razorbill showed up near Tommy Thompson Park in Toronto. I raced to Toronto the next day and joined a very large group of excited birders to see this rare visitor from the east coast. Next up were Cave Swallows. These birds, who breed in Texas, have a weird migration route that brings them over Lakes Erie and Ontario. We don’t see them every year, but they have been pretty dependable in the fall of late. I drove to Point Pelee National Park to see them this year and were joined by Jerry and Ellen Horak, who needed them for their ongoing Canada Big Year. Ellen will be joining me shortly, as her attempt at three consecutive Big Years is the subject of this episode.
A couple of weeks later another dependable fall rarity showed up, a Black-throated Gray Warbler. Easy on the west coast but only one or two show up here in Ontario each year. This one was in Port Colborne near the shores of Lake Erie. The next rarity was a Rufous Hummingbird. Earlier in the month I had driven two hours north of my home in Brantford to see one coming to a back yard feeder, but was a day late and a tank of gas short, as there had been a winter storm the night before and it either left or didn’t survive the night. Lucky for me, another one showed up closer to home, near Hamilton, and the homeowner was gracious enough to grant birders a visitation with their female Rufous Hummingbird.
November ended with a sighting of a Townsend's Warbler. One had been seen in Norfolk in September and I was able to get a brief look at it, but no photos. So the chance to see and photograph one was chirping to my ears. With the help of local Brantford birders Bill and his daughter Sarah, we were able to find it and I got my photos. The Townsend's Warbler was an Ontario Lifer, number 385. And I added a Pacific Loon up in Barrie, to round off the month.
As I mentioned last month, I had never been much of an Ontario lister each year, and had never seen more than 285 species, that being in 2022. So, though I am by no means doing an Ontario Big Year, I have been chasing quite a bit and with the rarities that have shown up this fall am at 297 in 2025. So I think it will be a busy December for me, so I can hit at least 300 once in my life here in Ontario. A trip up to Algonquin Park later in the month might just get me there. I’ll let you know next year.
So without any further ado, or even dipity doo, lets get on with the show and get to know one of my favorite Ontario birders, Ellen Horak, sans Jerry.
And that concludes part of one of the 3 year big year adventures of Ellen and Jerry. I met Jerry on January 1, 2021 in their front yard in Glen Morris Ontario. I had just moved to Brant County and figured the best way to learn my new patch was to do a Brant County Big Year. I was standing at the edge of their property, watching Evening Grosbeaks at their feeders. It was a great bird for the county to start my big year. Jerry came out and we had a nice conversation that morning and as the year went on Sue and I kept running into Ellen and Jerry any time we were chasing Brant County rarities. Over the years we have become good friends, along with a number of other local birders. I don’t have many friends, and am not much into socializing, but hanging out with birders is as close to therapy and friendship as one can get. This podcast helps too. And for that I am thankful.
I hope everyone has a great winter of birding, especially the winter listers. I’ll be back in 2026 with Ellen and perhaps Jerry to look back on their Canada Big Year. But the first episode of season 4 will be a sequel of sorts, to my talk with Andrew Keaveny, and his 2012 Ontario Big Year. He was in competition with another young birder, Josh Vandermeulan. You’ve heard from Andrew but next season you’ll get to hear ”The Rest of the Story.”
