A small group went out this morning with Tony Beck. It was raining hard so birds were hard to find.
We saw a group of 40 sandhill cranes near Navan, at Smith Road and Milton Road (area 8 on map): http://ca.geocities.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/merblu8.htm. They were feeding along the tree line and in the fields. Later, to our surprise, we saw a female snowy owl sitting on the ground in the middle of the 417 east bound on-ramp at Casselman. She just sat there watching the cars go by. We checked out the spot on our way home later (about an hour) and she was still there. (http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=map%20casselman%20ontario&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wl). Finally, we found approximately 500 snow geese, including a large number of juveniles, mixed with Canada geese, in the fields around the Ste-Rose (Ste-Rose Road and Concession Road 20). Despite the rain, we also saw five northern rough-legged hawks (one dark morph), several red-tailed hawks, three northern harriers and one coopers hawk in the eastern Ottawa fields. A group of 20 long-tailed ducks flew by at Petrie Island. A lifer for me! Sue Milks _______________________________________________ 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

