Today we drove out to the heronry south of hwy 9 and west of hwy 27, north of
Toronto, and were pleased to see that the herons have arrived back. Several
were sitting, singly or in pairs, atop the 20 - 25 nests in full view from the
road.
Go west on hwy 9 from hwy 27 to the 11th concession of King Township. Turn
left ( south ). Drive about 2 -3 k to just north of the 17th sideroad. House #
1565 is on the right. Across the road is the heronry.
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Subject: [Ontbirds]Great Gray Owls - Ottawa
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Hi.
I read Paul Matthews email to Ontbirds dated April 4th, 2005 about
sighting a single Great Gray owl on Dunrobin just north of Kilmaurs Road on
Sunday, April 3rd, 2005.
I didn't see any Great Gray Owls on Monday, April 4th in that area but it
was windy so that may have played a part.
However, I saw 2 Great Gray owls on Tuesday, April 4th. The first one was
perched on a fence post by the side of the road near 1192 Kilmaur. The area
would be from there on the left side down to say 1247 Kilmaur on the right
side). It didn't look like a large one. It flew off the post and down into
the grass next to the post. I saw the owl turn a few times looking left and
right while on the ground. I saw the owl look down and I thought it had caught
something and heard some rustling (must have been moving its talons or
something). Unfortunately, a few seconds later it flew back up onto the post.
I have never heard a Great Gray owl make any sounds the whole time I've been
observing them the past 3-4 months or so. But after this owl flew back up onto
the post it made some faint sounds (not sure if the video picked it up). While
I was looking at this owl I caught another Great Gray owl fly by on my left
side and it landed on a post (along the same line of posts) about 50 yards or
more from the owl perched by the side of the road.
I didn't have a camera with me but I did video-tape the 2 owls.
Eventually, the owl by the side of the road flew across the street into the
woods. I was there from about 6:40pm or so until shortly after 7 (maybe
7:10-7:15pm). I was able to park my car by the shoulder (near house 1192
Kilmaur) and watch the owl for quite some time and video-taping it.
I went back today. This time I saw a Great Gray owl on the left side of
Dunrobin road (facing west) just before where the skidoo trail is. It flew a
bit from fence post to fence post. This time I had my camera with me and took
a few photographs. At one point the owl was on the ground just off the
shoulder of the road (saw this after I drove back after checking out a few
other spots in that area). The owl eventually flew into that snowmobile area.
It was alert and hunting (didn't see it catch anything but it did dive to the
ground). This Great Gray owl also looked larger than the one I saw yesterday
(the one perched by the road...didn't get a good look at the other one but did
video-tape it).
I did check out March Valley Road on Monday and Tuesday and saw no Great
Grays. Last time I saw one on March Valley road was late last Thursday.
While out at Dunrobin and Kilmaur area I did see some hawks (took some
pictures but no ID yet) hunting in the fields (where the Great Gray owls were
seen hunting back a month or two).
So, a few lingering Great Gray Owls are still around. But I wonder what
will happen to these owls (most "seem" to have left the area or moved somewhere
else) and when they will be heading back north (especially since it is getting
warm now...temps went up to around 17*C today but it was raining later in the
day toward evening which may explain why I didn't see the 2 Great Gray Owls I
saw yesterday on Kilmaur Road itself)?
