I spent a few hours birding the northwest part of York Region with Rob & Angie Mueller today. Along Ravenshoe Rd. in SW Keswick we had one Snowy Owl at the western end of the road and, perched on its favourite TV antenna, a female Cooper's Hawk (it is a local bird that has wintered in this area). Travelling south from Ravenshoe we had another Snowy that was perched on top of a pole just east of Yonge Street. There was also a flock of 40 Snow Buntings that stayed in the field not far from us.
I scoped the buntings at great length because Bruce Brydon had two Lapland Longspurs in this area yesterday but I didn't manage to find the much less common longspurs. For the record, Bruce also had a Northern Shrike here yesterday. On the east side of Yonge there were three more Snowy Owls but views of them - even with a scope - were far less satisfying as they were a signficant distance away from the road. On my way back to Leslie Street I was shown a sixth Snowy Owl by a nice couple who were parked about halfway along Ravenshoe. Heading back to Newmarket I had excellent looks at a Common Raven along Woodbine Avenue just north of Davis Drive. Yet another Snowy Owl was present in the vegetable fields south of Bradford. It was sitting in a field on the west side of Aileen Road between Strawberry Lane and Edward Street. I was pleased to read later on this website that the Carleys were able to relocate a flock of Pine Grosbeaks at the Seneca College campus in King City. I hope to find them later this week! Lorena Campbell had a small flock of them (9-10) at her feeders in Willow Beach (Sutton area) on Monday. Ron Fleming, Newmarket York Region is halfway between Toronto and Barrie. _______________________________________________ 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/
