Hello birders. The warm sun on Friday, Mar. 28 was a lovely respite from the winter-like chill of recent days, and the birds were celebrating with a lot of activity in sheltered spots. Loads of Robins poking around for worms and larvae in exposed patches of grass. Some late Horned Larks flushing from the roadside on Glen Morris Road west of St. George, and Sheffield Road north of Hwy. 5. An Eastern Bluebird has been claiming its territory for the last week at the corner of Hwy. 97 and Sheffield Road, east of Cambridge, playing sentry on the power lines right at the corner. Spotted a bashful Northern Shrike sitting at the top of an old apple tree at the side of Sheffield Road just north of Hwy. 5. And, on the other side of the road, what looked like a Northern Goshawk slowly flapped and coasted, following the contours of the tiled fields before disappearing into trees in a northwest direction. It was a new species for me, sorry to be unsure of the identification. Quite a marvellous sight. It was regal and lovely with soft grey on its back and a white breast, as big as a red-tailed hawk, with a small head, a noticeably long tail, a black streak through its eye and a white spot on its nose. At one point it was less than 20 feet from my car. Also notable were a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers in the Hanlon Creek Woods behind Moss Place in Guelph, first observed Mar. 23. They could be a returning pair that last year were living a bit further southeast in the same forest. Canada Geese claiming nesting territory in random spots on the still-frozen holding ponds in south Guelph, noisily drowning out practically everything else. Spring must be here.
Carol Parafenko Guelph _________________________________________________________________ Enter the Hunt & you could win a 2008 Eclipse Spyder! Click here to enter! http://g.msn.ca/ca55/213_______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For instructions to join or leave ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdssetup.php ONTBIRDS Guidelines may be viewed at http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdsguide.php
