There were at least 600 Tundra Swans in the fields west of Bathurst and north of Hochreiter Road this afternoon. This area between Holland Landing and Bradford is always worth checking for migrating waterfowl in March (at least for Newmarket area birders) as it yields many duck species each spring. We always get some Tundra Swans going thorugh but today's total was unusually high. Earlier in the week swan numbers ranged between 50-150. On Friday nine Snow Geese were also present but I have not seen them since. I'll post a more comprehensive report about other interesting York Region birds tomorrow. To get to the section of Bathurst described above you need to (a) travel north along Yonge Street in Newmarket and keep going almost to Bradford. Turn right at the lights for Bathurst St. North (it gets interrupted further south in Newmarket proper so you can't access it there), then a quick left or (b) take "Hwy" #88 west into Bradford from Hwy. 400 and keep going east all the way through town and onward until you come to the lights for Bathurst and turn left, then left again. Bathurst St. N. soon crosses a RR track and runs straight north - go all the way up past Queensville Sdrd. and through a wooded stretch. When you get past the last woodlot look west into the fields - a scope is definitely an asset! Ron Fleming, Newmarket _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
