Hello Birders
Today Mary Schuster and I started the day off at Hall's Road, Cranberry
Marsh to see the SNOW BUNTINGS. We were treated to a flock we estimated at
2000 at the very south end of the road near the lake. They were roosting in
the trees to the west of the field, and periodically lifted off in a
glittering white cloud in the sun. Fantastic. Mary was able to pick out 1
LAPLAND LONGSPUR amongst them. Also in the field on the west side of the
road, Mary spotted a NORTHERN SHRIKE, sitting on a wire. At the feeders was
the usual cast of characters, including COMMON REDPOLLS, RING-NECKED
PHEASANT and our first RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS of the year.
(A note of caution, at least 2 cars went into the ditch on Hall's Road
today and had to be towed out. The ditch is filled with snow and the road
looks wider than it is)
Next we headed out to Newcastle to look for the Hoary Redpoll at Markus
Lise's feeders, with no luck. We did, however, have 12 species of birds
there, not bad considering 2 of them were COOPER'S HAWK and RED-TAILED
HAWK, which, along with 3 cats, were patrolling the yard.
Next we headed up onto Durham's country roads looking for winter finches,
waxwings or more buntings, but what we found instead were 76 WILD TURKEYS
in a corn field on the east side of the 6th Concession, south of Goodwood
Rd (Durham rd 21). They were feeding in the late afternoon sun, digging
down through the snow. They were having trouble walking on the snow, and
kept sinking to their bellies. We had watched them for about 15 minutes
when an alarm call went up and they all ran or flew to the cover of the
trees. Looking up to see what a turkey would be afraid of, we were amused
to see it was a DARK PHASED ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK. A pretty good way to end a
very nice day of birding.
Directions:
To Cranberry Marsh: It is at the foot of Hall's Road, which runs south off
of Victoria Street in Whitby, between Lakeridge Road and Brock Street. Exit
the 401 at either Salem Road in Ajax, or Brock Street in Whitby, then head
south to Victoria Street (called Bailey in Ajax). From Salem go east, form
Brock go west to Hall's Road.
To Markus Lise's house, as in his post earlier today: Take exit # 410 off
Hwy # 401 Mill St. S. My feeders are 500 m. before the lake.
To the Wild Turkeys: The 6th concession is the northerly continuation of
Wesney Road in Ajax. The turkeys were south of Durham Rd 21 (Goodwood Rd).
Good Birding
Carol
Carol Horner
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Carol Horner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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