Toronto Ornithological Club

The Toronto Ornithological Club (TOC) was established by Toronto area birders in order to facilitate cooperation and communication concerning ornithological studies within the Toronto area and between Toronto and other ornithological centres. The club maintained records of bird sightings each year in Toronto and adjoining areas until 2011. Present records by members are now submitted to E-Bird. Meetings generally include a short paper on an ornithological topic by one of the members or a guest speaker.

The formation of the TOC was first proposed in the fall of 1933 by Jim Baillie, Ott Devitt, Stu Downing, Bill Emery, Hubert Richardson, and R. Art Smith, who met to discuss the purpose of such a club, its proposed constitution, and to draw up a list of possible members. The first meeting was held on January 5, 1934; in addition to the founders, the meeting was attended by Albert Allin, Ed Deacon, John Edmonds, J.H. Fleming, Paul Harrington, Cliff Hope, Bob Lindsay, Thomas McIlwraith, Ross Rutter, Terry Shortt, Lester Snyder, Herb Southam, Murray Speirs, and Stuart Thompson. The charter members immediately voted to make J.H. Fleming an honorary member.

The TOC was managed by an Executive Council, with the secretary-treasurer responsible for collecting membership dues, paying bills, attending to correspondence, reading the roll-call at meetings, and appointing a chairman for each meeting. Women were not permitted as members until 1980, when Phyllis E. Mackay joined the Club. The TOC did not have a president until Hugh Currie’s appointment in 1991. It was at this time that Currie rewrote the by-laws creating and defining the post, as well as setting out the roles for the rest of the executive. Currie served until January 2000. He was followed by Marcel Gabhauer (2000-2002), Don Burton (2002-2005), Bob
Carswell (2005-September 2007), Margaret Kelch (acting President, 2007-2008), Kevin Seymour (2008-2013), Anne-Marie Leger (2014-2016), John Nishikawa (2016-2019), Justin Peter (2019-2020), and Emily Rondel (2020-present).

The Toronto Ornithological Club was incorporated by Ontario letters of patent of incorporation on November 23, 1987 and holds Ontario Corporation Number 741676. The original letters patent were amended by supplementary letters patent dated July 28, 2004, giving the organization charitable status so that it could receive donations and issue tax receipts to donors.

In 1934, the TOC ran its first ‘Fall Field Day’, during which the members went birding in different areas of York County. By 1944, the Fall Field Day was being held in the Durham region. The Field Day traditionally ended with a social gathering; from 1944-1979, the ‘round-up’ was held at Alf Bunker’s home in Ajax.

In 1958, the TOC took over the management of the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) from the Brodie Club. The purpose of the CBC was to count as many birds as possible within a 30-mile radius of the Royal Ontario Museum. In 1989, the area was reduced to 7.5 miles, centred on the ROM.

The first Reporting Guidelines were issued by the Bird Records Committee in 1989-1990, establishing the format for sending in monthly bird sightings to the editor of the Newsletter. Early attempts to start a TOC journal had been unsuccessful, but in 1990 the first TOC newsletter was issued, with George Fairfield as editor. It published the monthly bird records as well as other articles.

The first Bird Checklist for the GTA to be published by the TOC was issued in 1996. In 2000, the checklist and reporting guidelines for bird sightings were updated by Glenn Coady & Roy Smith, and published as the Greater Toronto Area Checklist and Reporting Guidelines.

A short-lived journal, Toronto Birds, was produced by the Bird Records Committee from January 2007-February 2011, and incorporated the ‘Greater Toronto Area Bird Report’ that had formerly been included in the Newsletter. The journal also included more scientific articles on bird sightings and populations.

The TOC held its 700th meeting in November 2002, and on January 5, 2009, celebrated its 75th
anniversary.

The TOC Historical Membership List, 1934-2008, compiled by Joan Winearls and Barbara Kalthoff, was issued in electronic form for that anniversary.

The 800th meeting of the Club was celebrated on November 12, 2012

04/15/2024. E. Thomas. Administrative history updated.