Season's greetings Ontbirders:
On Mon. Dec. 21 at 5:05 pm, I found a Short-eared Owl near Halls Road in Whitby. It was perched in a mid-sized (dead?) tree in a hedgerow on the west side of the road. The owl took off, apparently hunting, crossed the road, and was seen briefly with a second short-ear. One or both birds were heard vocalizing. Ten minutes later, I saw one bird (presumably the first one) back on its original perch. This site has been quite good for Short-eared Owls at dusk over the past decade or so, but the birds are not present every year. The other local site to search for them at dusk is along the Waterfront Trail just west of Thickson's Woods. I checked that site a week ago with no success. Also on Halls Road today I saw at least 6 Snow Geese (5 white phase and 1 blue phase) among ~5,000 Canada Geese. Check the fields to the west side, and the lakeshore towards dusk. A Northern Harrier (up to 3 have been seen recently) and a Rough-legged Hawk were present this afternoon. On Dec. 17, there were 14 American Robins along the road. Note also the feeding stations along the two paths on the east side of the road leading down to Cranberry Marsh. The marsh is now frozen. My recent visits to nearby Lynde Shores CA woodlot have yielded the usual feeder birds plus a Brown Creeper and a Swamp Sparrow on Dec 14, two White-throated Sparrows and 2 Red-winged Blackbirds on Dec 16, and an adult Northern Shrike on Dec 17. The woodlot is on the south side of Bayly St., 0.6 km east of Halls Road (pay parking). At the Brock St. bridge over Pringle Creek, I saw 3 Great Blue Herons to the east of the road and a pair of Northern Pintail to the west. The bridge is located 0.7 km south of Bayly St. In the non-avian category, recent observations include up to 6 White-tailed Deer (including a buck) and a Red Fox along Halls Road, a mink at the Pringle Creek bridge, and a beaver at Lynde Shores woodlot. Directions: Take Hwy 401 to Brock St., Whitby (Exit #410), go south 600 m to Bayly St. E, turn right (west) and go 3.3 km to Halls Road, turn left (south) and go ~500 m to a hedgerow on the west side of the road. One of the Short-eared Owls was perched in a mid-sized tree in the hedgerow, and both were seen flying across the road about 30 - 40 minutes after sunset. Good birding, Steve Steve LaForest [email protected] (905) 720-2784 Oshawa _________________________________________________________________ Eligible CDN College & University students can upgrade to Windows 7 before Jan 3 for only $39.99. Upgrade now! http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9691819_______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
