Dear Ontbirds subscribers,
The annual meeting of the Ontario Bird Records Committee (OBRC) was held on 2 April 2017. At this meeting, the following changes were made (effective 1 January 2017): 1. Grace’s Warbler and Common Ringed Plover have been added to the Ontario list, bringing the total to 496. Both species are new to the South Review Zone and thus added to the South Review List. 2. Western Sandpiper and Western Kingbird have been added to the South Review List, effective 1 January 2017 3. Townsend’s Solitaire, Glossy Ibis (and *Plegadis* Ibis), and Kirtland’s Warbler have been removed from the South Review List, effective 1 January 2017 4. Lesser Black-backed Gull is removed from the Central Review List, effective 1 January 2017 This year’s OBRC meeting minutes will be available shortly on the OFO website, as well as the updated Operating Guidelines, here: http://ofo.ca/site/Obrc Past annual reports are available online at http://ofo.ca/site/page/view/obrc.annualreports At this meeting the 3 year terms as voting OBRC members for Bill Crins, Ross Wood ended, as well as Don Sutherland’s interim 1 year. The OBRC has elected Don Sutherland, Bill Lamond, and Blake Mann to 3 year terms, going forward. The committee would like to thank all OFO members who took the time to submit nominations. Josh Vandermeulen was elected to the chairperson role. The remaining voting members are Tim Lucas, Paul Pratt, and myself. Mark Peck will continue as the non-voting Royal Ontario Museum Liaison. On behalf of the rest of the committee, I would like to thank Bill Crins and Ross Wood for their excellent service on the OBRC. Mike Burrell will continue as Secretary, alongside Barb Charlton as non-voting Assistant to the Secretary. I would also like to take this opportunity to remind the Ontario birding community to submit your documentation of birds on the OBRC Review Lists as soon as possible – this facilitates timely voting by the committee and helps ensure the process goes as smoothly as possible. It also helps ensure your memory is fresh when writing the reports. Please don't assume others have documented a bird - the more reports we have on file, the more complete the record will be now and in the future. An online form is available at http://ofo.ca/site/Obrcreport but the OBRC accepts submissions in any form (send them to the OBRC secretary (obrcsecret...@gmail.com). Guidelines for submitting reports is available at http://ofo.ca/site/page/view/obrc.guidelines. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me or any of the other OBRC members. Enjoy the spring birding season! Ken Burrell 2016 OBRC Chair kenneth.gd.burr...@gmail.com _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide Visit the OFO Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists
