Kingston has been fortunate to have many birders sharing their enjoyment and study of the birds of the area. Our region suits many different species as we have both the watersheds and the forest and fields to support a wide vari ety of nesting as well as migrating birds. Records have been carefully kept and shared among the members of the Kingston Field Naturalists. These records started with an annual card file established by the late George M. Stirrett in 1948, and now consist of nearly half a million records! Over the years more and more has been learned of the patterns of migration and breeding of ‘our’ birds. More than two hundred species pass through in migration every spring and fall, some in the thousands. Several earlier comprehensive analyses and summaries of the status of the birds have been published. Helen Quilliam’s pioneering first (1965) and second (1973) editions of her “History of the Birds of Kingston Ontario” and Ron Weir and Helen Quilliam’s (1980) “Supplement to the History of the Birds of Kingston Ontario” were followed in 1988 by the first edition of Ron Weir’s magnificent “Birds of the Kingston Region”.
Since 1988 much further investigation and study has gone on often stimulated, conducted, led or coordinated by Ron himself, as well as many other active field birders. Field studies at Prince Edward Point have led to much new information. Some of the work in progress has been regularly published in the KFN’s quarterly bulletin The Blue Bill. Ron Weir has taken on the monumental task of updating and adding the plethora of new data that have been collected by a variety of observers over the years since the first edition. Ron has been meticulous in his research and the credit given for the sightings reported. He has included the data collected from Christmas Counts, banding, spring and fall round ups from all naturalists and clubs within the region. The comparative information gleaned from the local parts of the province-wide nesting studies of 1981–85 and 2001–2005 serves to highlight many significant changes.
This authoritative second edition incorporates the old and new information and assesses the changing status of Kingston’s 371 species of birds, based on the continued and comprehensive studies in the intervening nineteen years. This book too will surely do its part in encouraging people to enrich their lives by the understanding and enjoyment of wild nature.
