Greetings! Went to Port Colborne today and found an area that was devoid of life only two weeks ago to be teeming with waterfowl. The spot is located behind the Hospital at 260 Sugarloaf St. You can take the road to the west of the hospital that says hospital traffic only because it goes around behind where there is a large gravel parking lot with a small hill where you can see the whole harbor perfectly. Please note there is a helicopter pad near this area so it is best to park away from it for safety reasons.
The section of water all the birds were in today, around 3 pm, is one that is protected by a large breakwall from the rest of Lake Erie. There were the following, all in one area: Trumpeter Swans (at least 20 immediately visible but there could have been more, because a lot of them were sleeping and looked just like large white mounds so some could have been Mutes); Mute Swans, Canvasback, Redhead, Greater and Lesser Scaup, Goldeneye, Bufflehead, Common Mergansers, Mallards, Great Black-backed Gulls and Ring-billed Gulls. There was also a huge raft of waterfowl out farther in the water closer to the breakwall, but I sadly only have bins at this time, so without a scope, I was unable to indentify them. Many of the birds seem to stay fairly close to the shoreline in this spot, so by standing on that hill, you can get very close looks at a lot of them. From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Wed Jan 5 00:25:46 2005 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from tomts5-srv.bellnexxia.net (tomts5.bellnexxia.net [209.226.175.25]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C70A69F89F for <[email protected]>; Tue, 4 Jan 2005 18:26:01 -0500 (EST) Received: from emachine.sympatico.ca ([64.231.22.131]) by tomts5-srv.bellnexxia.netESMTP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> for <[email protected]>; Tue, 4 Jan 2005 18:27:48 -0500 Message-Id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 6.1.2.0 Date: Tue, 04 Jan 2005 18:27:56 -0500 To: Ontbirds <[email protected]> From: Carol Horner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.1 Subject: [Ontbirds]Amherst Island Owls today X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 05 Jan 2005 05:25:47 -0000 Hello Everyone Mary Schuster and I headed off to Amherst Island today. There were very few hawks to be found on the island. We saw 4 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS, 1 dark phase, and 2 RED-TAILED HAWKS and that was all. Far fewer than any other winter I have been there. The woman in the general store (where they sell good hot coffee) told us that there are very few hawks this year, because there are very few voles. We still managed to come up with 4 owl species though. At the eastern side of the KFN property at the east end of the island, we saw a very heavily marked SNOWY OWL. In the owl woods we found 3 very skittish LONG-EARED OWLS in the pine woods, at least 2 NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWLS (1 heard) in the cedar woods (we saw Saw-whets in 2 different trees in the same copse, but couldn't relocate the first after we saw the second, so possibly the same one) and of course we were successful with our main target of the day, 1 BOREAL OWL in the cedar woods (a lifer for Mary!). Also of interest, on the far side of the pine woods we saw 2 female PINE GROSBEAKS. Another pair of birders told us they saw a GREAT GRAY OWL in the vicinity as well, but we didn't see it. On the way home in the near dark we stopped in Port Hope to try for the HARRIS'S SPARROW and the NORTHERN HAWK OWL, both of which we were told were present today, but we didn't see either in the fast fading light. Amherst Island Directions as per Alex Scott Amherst Island is 16 km west of Kingston. Take exit # 593 from Highway 401, proceed south on County Road #4 (formerly Highway 133) to Millhaven on Lake Ontario - the ferry dock is 200m west on Hwy 33 (Bath Road). A round_trip costs $5.00. The ferry leaves every hour on the half hour from 6:30 am onward. To get to the "Owl Woods" after getting off the ferry: When you get off the ferry and drive up to the stop sign, proceed straight through on Stella Forty-foot Rd., to the south end, at the lake. Turn left, and drive to the intersection of the Marshall forty-foot Rd. (immediately east of 2090 South Shore Road). Proceed 1.3 km north to the S-curve. Walk north-east on the trails. Note: the main ferry, Frontenac II is now back in service. Port Hope Directions as per Margaret Bain: For the hawk-owl, exit Hwy.401 at Welcome/Port Hope, Exit 461, go north about 1km to a flashing light and turn left, west, onto Hwy.2. #3966 is less than 2 km along here, just west of where Kellogg Road runs north. For the sparrow, turn north on Kellogg Road as described above and go north for about 3.5 km to the green gate. Good Birding Carol Carol Horner dendroica at sympatico dot ca Toronto, Ontario Canada From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Wed Jan 5 01:41:16 2005 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from web61302.mail.yahoo.com (web61302.mail.yahoo.com [216.155.196.145]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with SMTP id DADA9A0112 for <[email protected]>; Tue, 4 Jan 2005 19:12:57 -0500 (EST) Received: (qmail 70240 invoked by uid 60001); 5 Jan 2005 00:14:45 -0000 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Received: from [65.93.89.9] by web61302.mail.yahoo.com via HTTP; Tue, 04 Jan 2005 19:14:45 EST Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2005 19:14:45 -0500 (EST) From: Scott Fairbairn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.1 Subject: [Ontbirds]great gray owls and barred owls X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 05 Jan 2005 06:41:17 -0000 I finally got out to enjoy the owl irruption yesterday, and what a great day it was. The first stop was the North Trail on Halls Road. We were checking out the birds at the feeders when a Barred Owl flew in and landed 15 feet away! He completely ignored us and proceeded to watch the grass in the ditch for voles. He moved around a few times and caught a vole right in front of us. This bird must be extremely used to people as we returned three more times that day and each time he landed on a perch that was within 15 feet and proceeded to ignore us in his search for the voles that were eating the birdseed. We also found one great gray owl off the south trail at cranberry marsh that was in an apple tree south of the trail where it forks. The bird was invisible without binoculars. At Thicksons Woods, there was one bird at the west end of the sewage plant about 20 feet north of the fence. This bird was originally well out in the field but after we observed it for 20 minutes or so it flew right at us and landed on a steel post about 20 feet from where we were standing and proceeded to ignore us as well. In the field on the west side of the road towards the lake , there were up to four great grays at a time that seemed oblivious to the many observers. On numerous occasions , a bird flew in and landed right beside people. One bird a little further down the main trail landed on a log to eat a vole. There were probably ten people standing there to watch it. The local people were quite interested in these birds and even invited us in to there backyards to see a great grey owl perched high in their yard. All in all a great day and contrary to some reports, the birds that I saw really didn't seem bothered by the multitudes of people walking around. Cranberry Marsh hwy 401 east of toronto to salem rd, south to victoria and then east to Halls Road(very easy to miss this turnoff). The Barred Owl is a regular around the feeders at the North trail (don't be surprised if it lands right beside you!) Thicksons Woods hwy 401 east of toronto , past salem rd to thicksons road and south to the lake. There is parking at the field on the right just before the lake. The field in front of this parking are had 4 owls at once yesterday. Just north of the parking area is a road heading east, look in the field to the north, and follow the road and trail around the sewage plant. --------------------------------- Post your free ad now! Yahoo! Canada Personals From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Wed Jan 5 03:10:42 2005 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from cathy.bmts.com (cathy.bmts.com [216.183.128.202]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 82F12A1153 for <[email protected]>; Tue, 4 Jan 2005 20:26:22 -0500 (EST) Received: from computer (cvx-os-ppp0889.bmts.com [216.183.144.127]) by cathy.bmts.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with SMTP id j051RAeF004683 for <[email protected]>; Tue, 4 Jan 2005 20:27:12 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "Ethan Meleg" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Ontbirds" <[email protected]> Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2005 20:28:06 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2919.6600 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2919.6600 Subject: [Ontbirds]Great Gray Owls - Bruce Peninsula X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: Ethan Meleg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 05 Jan 2005 08:10:43 -0000 Hello birders, Two Great Gray Owls were found today on the Bruce Peninsula. One flew into the side of a school bus (really) but survived the accident. I later saw it alert and perched in a tree back away from the road. Owl 1 - Tobermory (the one that hit the bus): Take Highway 6 up the Bruce Peninsula into Tobermory. On your way into town, turn right on Dunks Bay Road. Go about 1/2 km to the junction of Centennial Road. The owl was in the field on the left. Owl 2 - Miller Lake (found by John Haselmayer) Take Highway 6 up the Bruce Peninsula. The owl was seen on the side of the highway at the TimBr Mart store, near Miller Lake. Sandy Dobbyn reported seeing a flock of 100 Bohemian Waxwings along the Dyers Bay Road on the weekend. There have been no further reports of the Northern Hawk Owl that was in this area before Christmas. Happy birding! cheers, Ethan Meleg (Tobermory) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
