The Northern Hawk Owl was easily seen this morning from the car pool
parking lot just south of the 401. I arrived around 8:50 am to find
it sitting on the highest evergreen on the east side of the road.
After a few minutes it flew to the hydro wires parallel to the parking
lot. With a scope you could easily see the dark patterns on the
sides of the head and the black frame around the face. The yellow
eyes seemed to look right through you. It flew down to the ground
and attempted a catch in the snow covered field south of the parking lot,
but it missed and returned to the top of a utility pole. Shortly,
it dropped closer to the ground, did a circuit and flew back up to a more
northerly pole. It sat for a while and then proceeded to hover over
the grass near the utility pole, but did not attempt a catch. It
returned to the utility pole where it sat for quite a while, all the time
turning its head very quickly to survey the area. There were
several good views as it flew near eye level to various perches.
The black body outline was clearly visible in flight as were the details
of its back and long tail. It was as if the little guy was saying
"watch me, I'm so pretty". I left around 9:40 and the owl
was perched once again across the road just past the off ramp of the
401.
It is certainly worth the trip. Take a scope with you for
particularly good close up views. For those with GPS, I was located
at N 43.49002
°
W079.98724
° in the car pool parking
lot.
Here are the directions copied from a previous message.
Directions: From the 401 exit at Guelph Line (312) and go south to Reid
Rd which parallels the 401 immediately south of it. It has been seen
along Reid Rd from Guelph Line to the window shop.
Bill Brown
N 43°11'40.2"
W080°22'43.4"
Email at Home: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Email at Work: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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LINKS OF SPECIAL INTEREST TO RAPTOR ENTHUSIASTS
The Niagara Peninsula Hawk Watch:
http://www.freenet.hamilton.on.ca/link/niaghawk/index.html
The Hawk Cliff
Foundation:
http://www.ezlink.on.ca/~thebrowns/HawkCliff/index.htm
The Hawk Migration Association of North America:
http://www.hmana.org
Bird Studies Canada
http://www.bsc-eoc.org
Ontario Field Ornithologists
http://www.ofo.ca
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bill Brown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
