Around 5 pm today, there was a Snowy Owl on a roadside pole along Ste. Rose Rd, north of Concession 19. In the same vicinity were roughly a dozen Horned Larks, and a smallish flock of ~50 Snow Buntings. Also my first two Song Sparrows of the year, flitting along the ditch on the east side of the road.
Along Cty Rd 24 just west of Blue Corner Rd was a nice dark morph Rough-legged Hawk (relatively few seem to be around eastern Ontario this winter compared to recent years), and a bit further east, just before L'Orignal, two Gray Partridges flew out of a ditch just before dusk (roughly around #1420 on Cty Rd 24). I've seen hardly any Red-winged Blackbirds or Common Grackles yet in either Montreal or Ottawa, but there were several hundred (~90% RWBL) along the backroads between Casselman and Hawkesbury. I also briefly checked out Milton Rd / Frank Kenny on the east side of Ottawa in the morning, but there was (not surprisingly) very little flooding yet, and 2 Black Ducks were the only signs of life I could spot. Good birding, Marcel Gahbauer Montreal [EMAIL PROTECTED] DIRECTIONS: For the Snowy Owl location: exit Hwy 417 at exit 58, go north to the bend and turn right on Conc 20. Continue a couple of kilometres to Ste. Rose Rd, turn left. To continue to the Rough-legged Hawk and Gray Partridge: north on Ste Rose Rd to Cty Rd 3, east to Cty Rd 9, left (north) to Cty Rd 10, right (east) to Cty Rd 15, left (north) to Hwy 17, right (east) through Alfred to Cty Rd 15, left (north) to Concession 4, right (east) on Concession 4 until it merges with Cty Rd 24, which will take you into L'Orignal ... at which point you'll probably need a map to get home :-)
