2001 Taverner Cup

Tel: (514) 486-4943
Email: dha@videotron.ca

This year 57 participants in 14 teams, 8 competitive, and 6 recreational, competed in the 5th Annual Taverner Cup Birding Competition. This corporate-sponsored event was held in eastern Ontario and western Quebec over a 24 hour period on Saturday May 26th. The temperatures were in the low 20s and the skies were overcast with intermittent rain in many areas. A major migration passed through a few days before our event. Birders found some passerines still lingering in the migrant traps. Most forest and field birds were found on their breeding territories. Late-migrants such as Yellow-bellied and Olive-sided Flycatchers were scarce. Diving ducks had mostly migrated. Limited numbers were found at Presqu'ile and Amherst Island on Lake Ontario and between the Deschenes Rapids (Ottawa) and Quyon on the Ottawa River. Three outstanding birds were recorded on the day including a Snowy Plover at Presqu'ile, a second year Sabine's Gull in the rapids at Morrison Island, on the Ottawa River near Pembroke and a Curlew Sandpiper at the Embrum Sewage Lagoons. The combined team total was 219 species .

The "Bushnell Nighthawks", captained by Ottawa native, Bruce DiLabio, with fellow birders Chris Traynor from Ottawa and Ross Harris from Toronto, and driver, Andre Charron, won the Taverner Cup with a total of 180 species. The winning strategy included 24 hours in the field, starting in the Kingston area and included visits to Chaffeys Lock, the Ottawa area, Embrun and Alfred Sewage lagoons, the Newburgh area, Presqu'ile Provincial Park and an evening viist to Algonquin Provincial Park. Other teams visited many of the same key birding sites in different orders.

The "Focus Scientific Merlins", captained by Tony Beck of Ottawa, placed second with 176 species. The "Swarovski Spotties" captained by Paul Mackenzie of Kingston, placed third with 160. Other competitors included the Wild Birds Unlimited's (Ottawa) "Great Gray Owls" (Montreal) which placed fourth with 152, Our Natural World's (Ottawa) "Goatsuckers" (Pembroke) with 148, Simmering & Associates (Ottawa) "Flying Dodos" (Toronto) with 132, "Team Tasco, Leeds Stewardship" (Brockville) with 122, and Mountain Equipment Co-op's (Ottawa) "Counting Crows" (Gatineau) with 80. The Nighthawks counted 82% of all birds recorded on their list.

"The Outaouais Buteos", captained by Aylmer, Quebec's, Garry McNulty, and fellow birders Alicia McNulty, John Brisebois and Jean Dubois, won the recreational category, and the Fothergill Trophy, with a total of 143 species. "The Motherflickers", captained by Chris Lewis of Ottawa, placed second with 138 species. They won the Judith Wilks Trophy. "The Bird Brains", captained by Tim Brophy (Ottawa) came third with 125 species. Teams and team members came from as far away as Montreal, Quebec, and Chatham and Toronto, Ontario. A list of all teams competiting and their totals will be found below.

About 85 people, including participants, their sponsors, and invited guests, attended the catered Awards Banquet held in Ottawa on Sunday morning May 27th. The event was hosted by the Ottawa Field Naturalists and the Fletcher Wildlife Garden. Steve Wendt, Director of the Migratory Birds Conservation Division of the Canadian Wildlife Service, was Master of Ceremonies. Bruce DiLabio and his team were presented with the Taverner Cup by Frank Pope, a past President of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists. The Fothergill Trophy was presented to Garry McNulty by Shelagh M'Gonigle, a descendant of Ontario's first resident ornithologist, Charles Fothergill.. Team captain, Joan Molnar of the "Jaywalkers", a close friend of Judith Wilks, presented the Wilks Trophy to Chris Lewis.

There were many birding highlights including: Merlin, Spruce Grouse, Gray Jay, Boreal Chickadee, Black-backed Woodpecker, Olive-sided and Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, Mockingbird, Lincoln's Sparrow, Junco, Red and White-winged Crossbills, Pine Siskin and Evening Grosbeak at Algonquin; Great Egret, Night-Heron, Oldsquaw, Snowy Plover, Whimbrel, White-rumped Sandpiper, Great Black-backed Gull, Gnatcatcher and Orchard Oriole at Presqu'ile; Red-throated Loon, Brant, both scaups, Goldeneye, Rough-legged Hawk, Pheasant, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Screech and Short-eared Owls and Pipit in the Kingston-Newburgh area; Goshawk, Wild Turkey, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Yellow-throated Verio, Golden-winged, Cerulean and Prairie Warablers and Louisiana Waterthrush in the Canoe Lake-Chaffeys Locks area; White-winged Scoter (Lac Dore), Goldeneye and the Sabines Gull, at Morrison Island on the Upper Ottawa River; Red-throated Loon, both scaup, White-winged Scoter, Merlin, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Short-eared Owl, Sedge Wren, Golden-winged Warbler and Pine Siskin in the Greater Ottawa-Hull Area; Black-bellied Plover, Curlew Sandpiper and Wilson's Phalarope at Embrun; Snow Goose, Pintail, Short-eared Owl, Gray Partridge, Sandhill Crane, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Solitary, White-rumped and Pectoral Sandpipers and Red-necked Phalarope in the Alfred area.

Widespread scouting in traditional and new areas, and the sharing of information about uncommon birds, one of the cornerstones of the Taverner Cup competition, is having a very positive effect on team totals and better route selection. The addition of a team from the Kingston Field-Naturalists has increased awareness of the importance of Amherst Island, better known for its winter owls, as a fine place to look for waterfowl, shorebirds, Short-eared Owl and other field birds.

The final team results for 2001 are as follows:

Competitive
Team Name	Captain	Residences	Corporate Sponsor	Total Species
Nighthawks	Dilabio	Ottawa-Toronto	Bushnell Sports Optics	180
Merlins	Beck	Ottawa	Focus Scientific, Ottawa	176
Spotties	Mackenzie	Kingston	Kindermann (Swarovski)	160
Great Gray Owls	Harrison	Montreal-Ottawa	Wild Birds Unlimited, Ottawa	152
Goatsuckers	Michener	Pembroke-Hawkes	Our Natural World, Ottawa	148
Flying Dodos	Pinilla	Toronto	Simmering & Associates Engineers, Ottawa	132
Leeds Stewardship	Nielsen	Brockville	Gentec (Tasco)	122
Counting Crows	Guillot	Gatineau-Ottawa	Mountain Equip. Co-op, Ottawa	80

Recreational:
Team Name	Captain	Residences of Team Members	Species Total
Outaouais Buteos	Garry McNulty	Aylmer-Hull	143
The Motherflickers	Chris Lewis	Ottawa	138
Birdbrains	Tim Brophy	Ottawa	125
The Roadrunners	Brett Groves	Chatham	118
Tweachers	Janet Castle	Ottawa	111
Jaywalkers	Joan Molnar	Ottawa	71

The purpose of the Taverner Cup is to raise money for environmental projects and to raise awareness of the great diversity and richness of wildlife habitats in eastern Ontario and western Quebec. This year through sponsor fees, and pledges collected by our Competitive and Recreational teams, over $3,000.00 was raised for wildlife projects within the area.

The Taverner Cup boundary includes the cities of Montreal and Ottawa-Hull and lies just east of Metropolitan Toronto. These cities represent three of the four largest urban centres in Canada. It is anticipated that this very accessible but under-birded part of Ontario/Quebec will eventually be recognized as one of the prime birding areas, if not the prime birding area, in all of Canada. Plans are developing to create a birding trail through the area to provide easier public access to the many sites and greater knowledge of the wildlife-related activities that take place throughout the year.

The co-ordinator offers a special thanks to all our corporate sponsors and to participating birders, whose continued support is making the Taverner Cup a successful birding and fund-raising event. Thanks are also extended to our many volunteers, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada for providing our banquet facilities, Lifer Bird Gear of Golden Lake, and the Ottawa Field-Naturalists for providing prizes, and finally to "Websites Naturally" (Toronto) for maintaining our website ( www.web-net.com/taverner/). Please support our many loyal sponsors with your patronage and support.

Next year the Taverner Cup will take place on Saturday May 25th. Hope to see you there!

Jeff Harrison
Coordinator