By Jeremy Hatt
When I heard that the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) was holding its first Pride Bird Walk in Toronto, I knew immediately that I had to hold a similar outing in Essex County. On June 18th, in partnership w/ the Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club, OFO held its second Pride Bird Walk at Ojibway Park in Windsor.
I am very grateful that ECFNC and OFO are beginning to offer trips that celebrate the LGBTQ2S+ community and I look forward to more Pride events in the future. Outings like this are about building community and providing an opportunity for people who may not always feel safe or comfortable to attend such outings a space to do so.
I am also grateful to Jennifer Nantais who co-led the trip and added so much value to the day with her knowledge of nature and Ojibway.
It was important to us that the outing be open to the public and not just to members of OFO and ECFNC. We wanted anyone who learned about the outing to feel welcome to attend. To get the word out, I posted the event to a local Windsor LGBTQ2S+ group on Facebook and it resulted in several people registering. We ended up having 16 participants. Most in attendance were not part of either organization, and for a few, it was the first time they had ever gone birding. It was great to see so many new faces and get to share our stories and experiences. The energy of the group was tremendously positive.
We could not have asked for a more perfect day. After a week of sweltering heat, the temperatures landed in the mid-70’s for the day and a refreshing breeze kept the bugs low. It felt fantastic to wear a light jacket comfortably in June.
The outing started with one of our top highlights. While attendees arrived and introduced themselves, a Yellow-billed Cuckoo was perched right out in the open next to the parking lot. This was a lifer for many in the group and as one participant quipped, “It’s almost like you placed it there just for this walk.”
Our morning was spent exploring the trails of Ojibway Park. Not long into the outing we encountered another highlight of the day; a singing male Scarlet Tanager. This was another lifer for many people on the trip and we spent a lot of time taking photos and admiring its striking plumage and song.
Other expected woodland species included Red-bellied Woodpecker, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Great Crested Flycatcher, Red-eyed Vireo, White-breasted Nuthatch, Eastern Towhee, Baltimore Oriole, Indigo Bunting, and American Redstart. Ojibway Park is a site that many birders visit in Essex County to reliably see Tufted Titmouse and we were not disappointed. A few attendees were even fortunate enough to witness an adult titmouse feeding recently fledged young.
In the afternoon, a few keen participants continued with me to the Ojibway Prairie Provincial Nature Reserve. The habitat here is long grass prairie and provided an opportunity to see species we did not encounter in the forest including American Goldfinch, Field Sparrow, Orchard Oriole, and Common Yellowthroat. We also picked up several swallow species and Chimney Swift feeding over the prairie, and observed a pair of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. In total, we ended up seeing 40 species on the outing.
The feedback for the Ojibway Pride Walk was very positive and participants expressed interest in future Pride events. I left the trip feeling energized and hopeful for more ECFNC events celebrating the LGBTQ2S+ community next year. Stay tuned and happy Pride!
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