Hello Ontario Birders, Does everyone have their 2024 birding goals set? 2024 is just around the corner. This is an update for the 2023 part of the 2023-2024 winter bird list. The current list total is 203. We have added 29 species since "Update-1" on Dec. 8. New additions include the Limpkin found by Pete Read in Wheatley Provincial Park, Western Tanger in Ottawa, and Baltimore Oriole reported by Chad Cornish in Oxford county. The only three species that I would consider common that we do not have for 2023-2024 Winter bird list are: Gyrfalcon, Harris's Sparrow and Gray Partridge. Other species that I would call uncommon that we could get include: Blue-winged Teal (seen in 11 of the last 16 winters), and Virginia Rail (14/16). To give perspective, the final 2022-2023 list was 218, 2021-2022 list was 229, and the 2020-2021 list was 218. The average number of species for the last 16 years is 207. This year's list is currently below the average total winter list species numbers. I would predict that the 2023-2024 winter list will be average. The four species difference between where we currently sit versus the average number of species seen is large. Adding the three common species we are currently missing would get the list very close to 207. The list can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/myyulvs . Check out the OFO website for winter bird trips http://www.ofo.ca/site/tripsupcoming. Winter bird trips include: - Peterborough Area - Jan. 1 2024 - Understanding the Language of the Forest (online) - Jan. 3 2024 - Toronto Winter Birds: Tommy Thompson Park - Jan. 6 2024 (Fully booked) - Winter Birds of the Detroit River: Windsor - Jan. 7 2024 - Owl Banding at Hilliardton Marsh (online) - Feb. 7 2024 - Haldmand and Norfolk Counties - Feb 24, 2024 - Amherst Island - Feb. 25 2024 The OFO also has a discord group with a Winter bird channel. A link to the OFO discord group is here: https://discord.gg/npbCzXVhZ2. Winter Listers can also keep track of what's being seen in the Ontario Birds Discord Server which can be found here:https://discord.gg/EhvgAc2fwb.I try to update the spreadsheet every couple of days or whenever I hear of a new addition. Please let me know if you hear of a new addition or any other correction to the spreadsheet. Happy New Year, Todd Hagedorn