I apologize if it appears that I am labouring the point regarding GGOWs in York
region. Birders who want guaranteed satisfaction with this species should
really sample the Simcoe county bonanza by driving up to Orillia with
directions from Bob Bowles' reports on this web site. For a variety of owl
species, Hall's Road (Whitby area) and Amherst Island (Kingston area) still
sound good. Based on the fact that some GTA birders do follow up on these York
region reports, however, I send this update as a courtesy.
Not really hell-bent for owls this morning, I took my golden retriever for a
walk and was surprised to observe numerous Great Grays hunting between 6:15 and
7:15 a.m., especially in the vicinity of Holland Landing. Within one "block"
bounded by Doane Road on the south, Queensville Sdrd. on the north, Bathurst
Street on the west and 2nd Concession on the east I had five birds. The most
productive area was on the west side of the 2nd Concession just south of
Queensville Sdrd. where two birds were easily seen perched on the big, rounded
drumlin at the roadside and another was perched along the snowmobile trail
running east toward Yonge Street (a beautiful sight against a backdrop of
silver frost and the westering moon).
There were three more Great Grays hunting along Dufferin Street on the western
outskirts of Newmarket at 7:30 a.m. when I crossed paths with local birder
Keith Dunn. He informed me of the GGOWs he had observed on his way down from
Keswick this morning and at least two of the birds he mentioned did not overlap
with the ones I had seen, bringing the total up to ten individual owls.
To top things off, as I returned from my weekly Sunday morning hockey game in
Richmond Hill at 11:00 a.m., I observed an 11th Great Gray Owl for the morning
perched on the west side of Keele Street just north of Cavell Road, which is
well north of King City. Also, on the way down to Richmond Hill before the
game, I had one adult Northern Shrike perched near the entrance to Phyllis
Rawlinson Park, which is on Leslie Street north of Elgin Mills in northeast
Richmond Hill.
I felt guilty for having seen so many GGOWs this morning because yesterday I
received a cell- phone call from a group who had been criss-crossing the
Holland Marsh in search of Great Gray Owls because of some of my postings. I
drove out to meet them and we had a little convoy of cars in a conga line for
awhile but, unfortunately, I could not help them turn up a single bird! The
fact is, as Doug Lockrey has noted about Hall's Road, owl searching after 7:45
a.m. has yielded very limited results lately; even dusk has taken a serious
back seat to sunrise. Easily 90% of the sightings made by Keith Dunn and
myself over the last three weeks have been before 8:00 a.m.
It will be interesting to see how much longer these owls will linger in
southern Ontario before
heading north to their proper homes.
Ron Fleming, Newmarket
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Subject: [Ontbirds]Great Gray Owls on north shores of Lake Simcoe
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The Great Gray Owl numbers are still stable (up to 250) in the 10 =
hot-spot areas from Midland, Elmvale, Moonstone, Coldwater, Orillia, =
Oro, Carden, Barrie, south to Bradford. The best of these locations is =
still Muley Point. Morning counts seem more stable with 12-18 Great =
Gray Owls and 1-2 Barred Owls being observed. However, evening counts =
can vary widely from 5-32 Great Gray Owls and 0-3 Barred Owls depending =
on conditions. Some evenings there are 28 owls hunting and the very =
next evening there are 5-7 owls but the conditions seem similar to =
evenings where I have counted 28-32 owls hunting. Saturday morning we =
counted 18 Great Gray Owls and Saturday evening only 5 Great Gray Owls. =
I believe the reason that owls were not hunting Saturday evening but =
sitting back in the trees was due to the cold wind from the west from =
4-6 p.m. There are 3 Snowy Owls along Strongville Road west of Barrie =
along both Strongville and conc. 7 but sometimes down to conc. 6 in the =
area of the little airport. The Northern Hawk Owl in Bracebridge was =
not seen on the unusual perch on Robert Dollar Drive on Saturday or late =
last week. The Varied Thrush and Harris's Sparrow at the Orillia =
feeders are stilling being observed and Mike at the Siberian Inn B & B =
on Line 10 of Oro-Medonte just north of Old Barrie Road now has 600 =
Common Redpolls coming to his feeders and at least 2 Hoary Redpolls =
where seen in these flocks on Saturday.
There have been at least 26 Great Gray Owls killed by collisions with =
cars this winter in this area. Friday, and injured bird was picked up =
on Muley Point Road and transferred to the OSPCA in Midland. It was =
examined and seems to have no injuries but it had blood on the upper =
mandible. All these owls were healthy and weighed 1.0 - 1.6 kg. =
Shortage of food supply does not seem to be a problem this winter for =
the owls and they have been observed catching and eating lots of prey =
during their hunts. Conditions have changed on Muley Point Road as =
local, curious or casual observers have had their fill of observing owls =
and most of the observers are now either birders or nature photographers =
resulting in little or no close approach of observers to the owls. =
Another observation is that American plates outnumber Canadian plates on =
vehicles stopped along the roads in this area on weekends. I talked to =
one photographer from Rhode Island after she had spent every daylight =
hour of every day for the complete week at Muley Point observing the =
owls. I had told her on her first day to the area that you can get to =
know the owls really well and how they hunt by just sitting quietly and =
watching them. She told me after her 7th day that I was right and she =
could predict the movement and action of the owls from the manner of =
which they were acting. It has been a learning experience with the owls =
for many of us this winter but is now soon coming to an end.
Bob Bowles
Orillia, Ontario
Directions to Muley Point from hwy 11 in Orillia. From the south on hwy =
11 take the second exit (4th from the north) to Orillia (hwy 12 South) =
and follow hwy 12 through Atherley to Uptergrove. Continue along hwy 12 =
to the large Catholic Church on the left (St. Columbkille) and turn =
right onto Muley Point Road. Follow Muley Point Road south to the store =
at McRae Park Road/conc. 9 (good for owls) and then continue south to =
conc. 8. Muley Point Road goes right to Bonnie Beach Road (good for =
owls). Take conc. 8 west to sideroad 20 (owls) and follow it around to =
conc. 7. Turn left on conc. 7 and follow it north (more owls) to =
sideroad 15. Turn left on sideroad 15 and follow it back to hwy 12. =20
=20
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Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2005 13:56:49 -0500 (EST)
From: Randy Horvath <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Subject: [Ontbirds]ROSS'S GEESE still present in Windsor
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Greetings all, and especially to the geographically challenged. (Marianne Reid
had to hurriedly dash off yesterday's post for me.) Peche Island lies in the
Detroit River opposite Windsor. Anyway, the pair of Ross's Geese I located
there yesterday afternoon were still present this morning, easily visible from
the Lakeview Park Marina, located at the intersection of Riverside Drive East
and Riverdale Road in the city's east end, where Little River empties into the
DR. There are scores of Canada Geese and other waterfowl present with which to
make side by side comparisons, and it was nice to see them swimming together
amidst the Redheads, Canvasbacks, mergansers, etc. I also got to see them fly
when a Canada Goose bullied them.
I strongly suspect these birds to be the same pair that Dean Ware found this
past Tuesday at Jack Miner's Sanctuary in Kingsville. There is also a Snow
Goose present, an apparent intergrade, and I would not be surprised to find a
Pied-billed Grebe or Ruddy Duck later this week.
If anyone from Michigan should want to see these birds, Lakeview Park Marina is
just under 6 miles east of the Detroit-Windsor tunnel. Just stay on Riverside
Drive East until you see a little lighthouse, then turn left.
Good birding!
Randy Horvath, Windsor [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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From: Matthew Baker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Subject: [Ontbirds]Ross' Geese - peche island and little river
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adding to randy's last post,
i observed the ross' geese at noon sunday, but they quickly
disappeared. a quick drive up riverdale (which runs due south from the
marina), and a quick left at little river road i found the birds again
about 100 feet from the bridge over little river. they were with a
group of canada geese and mallards. i had amazing views of the birds
at pretty close range. they stood on the shore briefly, fed together,
etc. eventually the whole flock was flushed by some people walking
along the river, and the whole group of geese and both ross' flew
right over my head. quite a sight to see those 2 white geese in with
all the canadas.
thanks randy & marianne!
lake view marina: 2 km east of lauzon road, turn left at riverdale.
little river park: from the marina, go 1km south then left at little
river road.
-matt baker
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Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2005 18:30:49 -0500
From: Joan Winearls <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Subject: [Ontbirds]Pickering, Ajax- Pine Grosbeaks, Merlin
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This a.m. we were lucky enough to see 3 or 4 Pine Grosbeaks at the
entrance to Claremont Conservation Area (one road north of Highway 7 at
Greenwood (7th Concession Rd.) and just west of county road 31 (Westney
Rd.). Unfortunately they all flew off.
In the afternoon we also saw a Merlin perched on the TV aerial
of a house on Range Road just west of Lakeridge Road almost at Lake
Ontario in Ajax. (Lakeridge is the first road west of Hall's Road).
J. Winearls
B. Kalthoff
