Hi there, Pete Chapman found a Townsend's Solitaire today, about 3 pm, along the Ausable River at Hungry Hollow, in Middlesex County. It was feeding on juniper berries (what else) in a small patch of juniper, on the south side, high up on the riverbank(the bank is 30m high), along Hungry Hollow Rd(runs parallel to the river), just 20 m from the intersection with Sylvan Rd. Sue and I found it later, about 200 m along Fossil Road(runs parallel to the river), on the other side of the river, in a large patch of juniper. We had refound it by 4:15 pm. On the way home, we found a Snowy Owl, along Seed Road, just north of the intersection with Cuddy Road. This was about 5:15pm. It started out on the east side, by the road, but our approach in our vehicle, prompted it to fly across the road and settle on a hawthorn bush (ouch) far off in the west field. Note that at dusk, this is an area, Seed and Cuddy, where we often get Short-eared Owls floating about, both on Seed and Cuddy, but always near the intersection. The weather over the next few days being possibly not good, we will try to update about these birds later. Good Birdn Pete Read
Directions: Townshend's Solitaire... Go west on highway 402, past Strathroy turnoffs, to county road 6 turnoff, Kerwood Road. Go north on this road to County Road 12, Townshend's Line (what a huge coincidence, eh). Turn west, left, and continue on Townshend's Line, about 3 roads, to Sylvan Road. Turn north, right, and this is the little hamlet of Hungry Hollow. Continue to the bridge, and park on Sylvan just past the bridge. Fossil Road, unmaintained in the winter, is on the west side of the road, and parallels the river on the north riverbank. It is down that side, where Sue and I saw the bird, about 200 m along, in the large patch of juniper. Pete saw it on the south side of the river, along Hungry Hollow Road, which parallels the river on the south side, and he saw it just west of the intersection with Sylvan, so look there if it is not on Fossil. So both sides of the river, are possible for this bird. Snowy Owl... This bird was on Seed Road. We were returning home following Townshend's Line, County Road 12, eastward from Hungry Hollow. The last road before the intersection of Townshend and highway 81, is Seed Road. Heading south from the intersection of Seed and Townshend, look for the owl on either side, in the stretch just before Cuddy Road. The exact spot along Seed where we saw it was where a gully system is on the east side of the road, lined with small trees and shrubs. It then flew across to the west side, all the way out to the hawthorns, well across the field. If coming from London, use highway 22(Egremont?). Seed is about 3 roads west of highway 81 intersection. Go north one intersection from 22 on Seed, to Cuddy, and after continuing through the intersection look on either side of the road.
