Welcome. You said you were originally from Oshawa BUT I'm wondering with a moniker like "ambleside birder" if you actually started out in England in a place called Ambleside in the Lake District?
Margaret, the birder from Brampton, ON, but originally from Bradford, Yorkshire and plenty time spent walking up the fells around Grasmere and Derwentwater etc. (I'm proud to say I've even been up Striding Edge on Helvellyn.)