Expert: Julia Booth - 7/18/2009

Question
Julia
thank you for sharing your expertise, awesome.
I live in NWO have 40 acres and feed birds, lots of birds. Fedd approx. 1500 lbs of feed per year, also I plant thistle. sunflower, weeds, grains, etc. on property. I maintain open areas, 2 ponds, old growth forest, new growth. Feed all year, share with the 'bear' problem. (there is no Bear problem, just management problems.) I recognized nuthatches, goldfinch, purple finch, evening and pine grosbeak, blue jays, red polls, indigo buntings, cedar waxwing, turkey vulture, bald / golden eagle, dove, chickadee, red tail hawk, owls, pilleated woodpecker, so many more, in season, but, there is more.
Newly retired, and loving wild birds I was looking for a site or group where my daily/weekly/seasonal/yearly observations could be of value. Not expecting to save the world but would love to connect with people looking to preserve and enhance wildlife environment to keep inevitable at bay for as long as possible. I belong to several groups but none are real people, real time news, all welcome and warm.
With your obvious expertise, was wondering if you might be aware of any sites or groups of like minded people.
Thank you for your time.

Bill

Answer
I'm hearing Neil Young singing "there is a town in North Ontario..."

(I'm assuming NWO is Northwest Ontario)

Ontario is prime birding territory. I recommend first just Googling Ontario birding forums and see what you get. Also locate your local Audubon chapter and get involved with their website.

But here's what I've already got:

There's a great site for Ontario birding that I've used for reference purposes. The group is called Ontario Field Ornathologists:

www.ofo.ca/

Both of these sites have forums that are very active, especially in discussing identification:

http://whatbird.com/
www.birdforum.net/

I also recommend checking websites like:

www.blogger.com/

www.livejournal.com/

http://groups.yahoo.com/

And searching for forums, communities and discussion groups geared towards your interest. Or just start up a new blog of your own. If you build it, they will come.

And most importantly, if you've got the patience, participate in the Christmas Bird Count. That is where you could do the most good:

www.audubon.org/Bird/cbc/




Let me know if you need more specific info,



Julia