Having sung my "Auld Lang Synes" in Mississauga on New Year's Eve, I made two unsuccessful attempts to kick off 2005 with a Great Great Owl by visiting Rattray Marsh on New Year's Day. I was there in both the early morning and the late afternoon, "networking" with birders and some photographers, and it seems that the bird was not observed that day. Ironically, in some very nasty weather conditions (i.e. ice, ice everywhere), I lucked into two Great Grays in my own area on this second day of the new year and, as a bonus, got my first Snowy Owl of the winter. Freezing rain made roads very treacherous in most parts of York and Simcoe Regions this morning, but the York-Simcoe Naturalists' Christmas Bird Count (results of which are not yet finalized) went on nevertheless. A committment to help with this count is what prompted me to finally brave the roads from noon until 4:30 p.m. I observed the Snowy Owl in the Holland Marsh area just south of Bradford and northwest of Newmarket. It was sitting in a field about 200 metres straight east from a "perma-parked" white Ford pick-up truck just south of #937 Simcoe Road, not far from Jonkman's Corners. Not far north and east of this location, I observed the first of two Great Gray Owls. The bird was hunting in the hydro cut on the north side of the road, across the frozen canal near house #2437. Scoping southwest from here, the Snowy Owl previously mentioned could also be seen and, not far from it, a female Northern Harrier was actively hunting over a long line of cattails (presumably a frozen watercourse). Interestingly, there was also a Ruffed Grouse eating cranberries in a bush on the north side of the canal about 3 kms west of this location. The second Great Gray Owl that I saw was sitting at the roadside on a hydro wire across from #20640 Bathurst Street North. The bird eventually flew straight east into the bush, following what appeared to be a snowmobile or ATV track. Near the northern end of this little-travelled section of Bathurst there was also an adult Northern Shrike (one of three shrikes I observed for the day). Three other Great Grays were observed for the York-Simcoe count, two by Peter Wukasch along the 2nd Line west of Gilford (a small town north of Bradford) and another by James Kamstra, who also had a Snowy Owl near Keswick, about a km south of the western terminus of Ravenshoe Road where Yonge Street makes a cameo appearance in the middle of nowhere. DIRECTIONS: Canal Road is most easily accessed by exiting Hwy. 400 (if you are northbound from Tornto) directly onto Canal Road about 5 kms north of the Davis Drive/Hwy. 9 cut-off that leads into Newmarket. This road, as its name suggests, follows the canal steadily eastward (and westward, for that matter... but you want east). At the second bridge crossing (called Jonkman's Corners), Simcoe Road intersects with Canal Road. The Snowy Owl was south of this; the Great Gray was east. The northern extension of Bathurst Street cannot be reached by following it straigh north from Newmarket because it dead ends a few kms past Green Lane. You have to take the latter street eastward to Yonge, then go steadily northward until you get to the second set of lights, which indicates Bathurst Avenue's continuation. Turn right, quickly jog left, then Bathurst sraightens out and runs north/northwest. The brushy habitat and bush along this stretch of road looks very good for Great Grays. Ron Fleming, Newmarket
