Of the various migration cues that get birds moving at this time of year, warmer weather has not been one of them in this area; icy conditions and bitter north winds still held sway in the flatlands west of Newmarket this morning. Nevertheless, the Snowy Owls that spent the winter here appear to be making a quick exit. Of the six birds that took a liking to the tundra-like landscape beside Hwy. 400 during January and February, only one individual was evident when I scoured the area this morning. This bird was on the west side of Jane Street and east of the highway, sitting in the middle of the snow-covered fields north of Woodchopper's Lane. Hopefully Dan Bone and his group from the Kawarthas has better luck there this afternoon. Interestingly, two Rough-legged Hawks were present today; this is a species that has been very scare in York region this winter. These birds are passing through York region after wintering somewhere else, now heading back to breeding grounds in the far north. Horned Larks were doing likewise, many of them getting into the territorial spirit, performing aerial jousts with each other and doing some stiff-tailed posturing for either rival males or potentially-interested females. There were also a few Snow Buntings still lingering in the area. Of the Rough-legged hawks, one was a light-phase bird hunting south of King Street and east of Keele, while the other was a dark juvenile hunting at Keele and Hwy. 9. All of these areas are just east of Hwy. 400 and just north of Hwy. 9 in the agricultural flatlands west of Newmarket. Ron Fleming, Newmarket From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sat Mar 4 13:25:44 2006 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from smtp103.rog.mail.re2.yahoo.com (smtp103.rog.mail.re2.yahoo.com [206.190.36.81]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 56AF063E7E for <[email protected]>; Sat, 4 Mar 2006 13:25:24 -0500 (EST) Received: (qmail 147 invoked from network); 4 Mar 2006 18:25:22 -0000 DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=s1024; d=rogers.com; h=Received:Message-ID:From:To:Subject:Date:MIME-Version:Content-Type:X-Priority:X-MSMail-Priority:X-Mailer:X-MimeOLE; b=zEVsNo6mG46aJbBSfdnwXttBJJi+8r+WP6zXmAkRPfAadW5rHyJoMmmqh/EqVeklrUGEjSWwWQifODoqxka3dLyKCno6rpeiJ14oF3Up+zfwyuBsqf6E3D4a8pAc5QmjZqkzYFwItBijdw9Yd1jorhC/Zfou+5qJ7FzOC2AfyNQ= ; Received: from unknown (HELO bowlesoffice) ([EMAIL PROTECTED]@72.142.86.200 with login) by smtp103.rog.mail.re2.yahoo.com with SMTP; 4 Mar 2006 18:25:21 -0000 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "Robert Bowles" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Ontbirds Sightings" <[email protected]> Date: Sat, 4 Mar 2006 13:27:17 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2527 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2527 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.1 Subject: [Ontbirds]Owls In Simcoe County X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 04 Mar 2006 18:25:44 -0000
This morning there was a Great Gray Owl at the forest edge along hwy 169 = and Ramara conc. 9 just south of Udney in Simcoe County. It has been = seen in this area in the early mornings and late evenings for the last = three days. This is the 10th Great Gray Owl reported for Simcoe County = this winter which is a large drop from the 400 that I tracked last year = in our area. We have had up to 6 Snowy Owls reported this winter mainly = in the Strongville Road area south of Edenvale on highway 26 west of = Barrie. There have been many reports of Barred Owls this winter and I = observed one this morning at Ramara conc. 9 and Sideroad 20 sitting in = full view in a tree along the road. This is the popular Muley Point area = where there were so many Great Gray Owls observed last year but none = have been seen in this area this winter. The echo flight from last year = that looked like it may happen earlier in the winter never really = happened. Few Great Grays were seen in this area from late January up to = today. Bob Bowles Orillia, Ontario From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sat Mar 4 14:46:41 2006 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from BAYC1-PASMTP12.BAYC1.HOTMAIL.COM (bayc1-pasmtp12.bayc1.hotmail.com [65.54.191.172]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6A54C63EF2 for <[email protected]>; Sat, 4 Mar 2006 14:46:13 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> X-Originating-IP: [64.231.83.244] X-Originating-Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Received: from skinner ([64.231.83.244]) by BAYC1-PASMTP12.BAYC1.HOTMAIL.COM over TLS secured channel with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.1830); Sat, 4 Mar 2006 11:50:39 -0800 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "Dave & Carol Skinner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Date: Sat, 4 Mar 2006 14:46:57 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1506 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1506 X-OriginalArrivalTime: 04 Mar 2006 19:50:39.0156 (UTC) FILETIME=[E993DF40:01C63FC4] Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.1 Subject: [Ontbirds]Golden Eagle SW of Strathroy X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: Dave & Carol Skinner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 04 Mar 2006 19:46:42 -0000 Took a drive west of Strathroy this morning. Drove south on Sexton Road = (dividing line between Lambton and Middlesex counties) to Calvert Road. = Calvert runs SW of Strathroy towards the Glencoe/Alvinston area. I was = on Sexton, just a few miles north of Calvert (actually the first hollow = north of the point where McDougal meets Sexton), when I saw the juvenile = Golden Eagle. It was being mob by crows (LOTS of crows in this area = today) and dive-bombed by a Red-tailed Hawk. Also saw Wild Turkeys not = too far north of there. There were many hawks, both Red-tailed and Rough-legged, along Calvert. = Also spotted a Short-eared Owl (flying fairly high) along Calvert = between Sexton and Tait's Road. Horned Larks everywhere. Dave Skinner Strathroy, Ontario From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sat Mar 4 15:17:36 2006 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from nasc-out-2.nasc.inter.net (nasc-out-2.nasc.inter.net [203.176.60.254]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6B99D6441B for <[email protected]>; Sat, 4 Mar 2006 15:17:12 -0500 (EST) Received: from ip-110.55.99.216.dsl-cust.ca.inter.net ([216.99.55.110] helo=hppav) by app2.nasc.inter.net with asmtp (Exim 3.36 #2) id 1FFdBc-00018n-00 for [email protected]; Sat, 04 Mar 2006 15:17:08 -0500 From: "Rick Lauzon" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "ONTBIRDS reporting" <[email protected]> Date: Sat, 4 Mar 2006 15:16:06 -0500 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2911.0) Importance: Normal X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2919.6600 Subject: [Ontbirds]B. Waxwing, GGO, P. Grosbeak - Bobcaygeon X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 04 Mar 2006 20:17:36 -0000 What was probably just one flock of 60 Bohemian Waxwings was seen in Bobcaygeon early this morning. They appeared to be feeding on Buckthorn. One sighting was at Juniper Park Rd and Park St(County road 24)on the north side. This location is over the causeway to the S/W of town. A similar flock was later spotted on West St, south of CR#8. I found the Great Gray Owl (reported on Mar 2nd) at Anderson Line and Cosh's Rd. It was perched (at 9:20 AM)in the third birch north of Anderson, on the east side of Cosh's. This location is about a mile north and west of Bobcaygeon. The Pine Grosbeaks were harder to find. I found only two at the Kimble farm at 447 highway 49 (which runs north out of town). This location is maybe 2k further north from Anderson Line. They were feeding in the lower branches of a large crab apple about 70 feet west of the highway. The tree has lots of fruit on it, and it looks like groups of Grosbeaks have been working it over for a while. Yesterday, Mar 3rd at 5PM, the GGO was still in the field opposite #890 Highway 121 just north of Fenelon Falls. This bird was reported on Ontbirds Mar. 1. I also looked for the two other GGO's that had been reported Mar 1 & 2, but without success. -- Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 267.15.2/251 - Release Date: 2/4/06
