Good Morning, There has been a white dove feeding with Mourning Doves the past 2 days. Here is a description of the dove: - White in colour with a black neck band around the sides and back of the neck. - Appears to be slightly larger than the Mourning Doves that it is feeding with. - Orange/red legs with a dark coluored beak( not black). - No other spots or markings on the head or body. Any help in identifying this bird would be appreciated. Thanks, John Matthews From "ronaldj..fleming"@sympatico.ca Sun Sep 19 10:58:31 2004 Return-Path: <"ronaldj..fleming"@sympatico.ca> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from tomts16-srv.bellnexxia.net (tomts16.bellnexxia.net [209.226.175.4]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E16E3483FD for <[email protected]>; Sun, 19 Sep 2004 10:58:30 -0400 (EDT) Received: from sympatico.ca ([216.209.164.85]) by tomts16-srv.bellnexxia.netESMTP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Sun, 19 Sep 2004 11:01:34 -0400 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Sun, 19 Sep 2004 10:58:14 -0400 From: "Ronald J. Fleming" <"ronaldj..fleming"@sympatico.ca> X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.05 [en]C-SYMPA (Win95; I) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: ONTBIRDS <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: [Ontbirds]York Region Birds X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: "ronaldj..fleming"@sympatico.ca X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 19 Sep 2004 14:58:31 -0000
Although construction continues each weekday at the MacKenzie Marsh in Aurora, evenings and weekends find it surprisingly serene and good for birding. The landscape is compromised by cranes, dirt mounds and machinery, but due to the lack of traffic and construction activity at these times, usually-furtive marsh birds can often be observed out in the open. This morning I observed ten Common Moorhens, 8 Pied-billed Grebes, 4 Green Herons, 4 Great Blue Herons, and several Double-crested Cormorants, some of them at unusually close range. Absent were the usually present Black-crowned Night Herons, which may have already moved south. To access the marsh, it is easiest to take Yonge Street north through Aurora and turn east onto St. John's Sideroad. You can park just past the construction pylons or just before them (as long as your vehicle is out of the way) and walk down the road. There is a long metal divider that cuts off some viewing on the south side, but at the eastern end of it, you can cut in for better looks at the south pond. The area just behind the metal "wall" can be very good for Green Heron. All of these birds, of course, will soon be heading south. At the "Vivian Forest", as it is often called (it is actually the North Tract), I heard then observed a Red-shouldered Hawk on the west side of McCowan Road yesterday morning. Later, as I hiked eastward from McCowan, a cacophany of cawing alerted me to a mob of crows pursuing a Great Horned Owl. The owl and its unholy mob moved northeast over the treetops while several Red-breasted Nuthatches "yanked" in unison at the passing commotion. There were numerous White-throated Sparrows foraging in the understory. The North Tract is situated between Hwy. 48 and McCowan Road on the east and west, Davis Drive and Vivian Road on the north and south, respectively. There is a main parking lot that runs into the forest from McCowan. (Although they are hard to find, this is one of the better locations in the Toronto area to look for Northern Goshawk.) York Region is just north of Toronto. Ron Fleming, Newmarket
