Fellow Birders, This afternoon, an adult Golden Eagle was sitting in the field adjacent to the corner of the East Quarter Line Rd. and Concession A., just west of Port Rowan, probably investigating some carrion. 5 Turkey Vultures were also in the area. Earlier that day an adult Bald Eagle was in the same field.
Last night, (March 17) a Cackling Goose was observed at the Bird Studies Canada headquarters. There are a large number of Geese around so it's worth giving them a second look. Although Tundra Swans do not appear to be at their peak, highest counts in the past few days have been anywhere from 5000 to 7000, mostly on Big Creek and in the surrounding corn and soy bean fields. The mouth of Big Creek has also been quite productive for waterfowl, mostly Canvasbacks and Redheads. For more details on the current bird activity at Long Point or a number of other bird observatories across Canada, check out the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network Sightings Board at http://www.bsc-eoc.org/national/cmmnsightings.html Stu Mackenzie LPBO Program Coordinator Long Point Bird Observatory c/o Bird Studies Canada P.O. Box 160 Port Rowan, ON N0E 1M0 (519) 586-3531 ext. 223 (BSC Office) (519) 586-2885 (Old Cut Field Station) Toll Free: 1-888-448-BIRD e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Concession A, intersects Hwy# 59 coming south into Long Point about 1km north of Front Rd. or Reg. Rd. 42. From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fri Mar 18 18:00:20 2005 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: ontbirds@hwcn.org Received: from tomts5-srv.bellnexxia.net (tomts5.bellnexxia.net [209.226.175.25]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id ECB8E63C1A for <ONTBIRDS@hwcn.org>; Fri, 18 Mar 2005 18:00:19 -0500 (EST) Received: from [69.158.10.127] by tomts5-srv.bellnexxia.netESMTP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> for <ONTBIRDS@hwcn.org>; Fri, 18 Mar 2005 18:06:48 -0500 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 18:06:37 -0500 From: Tim Foran <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 0.8 (Windows/20040913) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: ONTBIRDS@hwcn.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: [Ontbirds]352 Raptors at Beamer Today! X-BeenThere: ontbirds@hwcn.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 23:00:20 -0000 After a sluggish start due to weather, the count was good today at Beamer Park, near Grimsby. Highlights included: 7 Bald eagles, 1 Male Harrier, Coopers Hawks, Rough Legged Hawks, and a Turkey Vulture almost completely white on one side of its body. To get to Beamer CA, take the QEW to Exit 72, follow Christie St./Mountain St. to the top of the escarpment, turn right on Ridge Road West, and go 1.6km to Quarry Rd. Turn right on Quarry Rd. and drive 100m to the conservation area. Parking is normally available inside the park. If parking at the entrance or on the roads, do NOT leave valuables in your car. From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fri Mar 18 19:43:49 2005 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: ontbirds@hwcn.org Received: from web88006.mail.re2.yahoo.com (web88006.mail.re2.yahoo.com [206.190.37.193]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with SMTP id A14DE634A1 for <ontbirds@hwcn.org>; Fri, 18 Mar 2005 19:43:49 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Received: from [70.24.83.31] by web88006.mail.re2.yahoo.com via HTTP; Fri, 18 Mar 2005 19:50:18 EST Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 19:50:18 -0500 (EST) From: RON FLEMING <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: OFO Bird Sightings <ontbirds@hwcn.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.1 Subject: [Ontbirds] Long Point to Fisherville to Newmarket - Sandhill Cranes, Snow Goose, Short-eared and Snowy Owls X-BeenThere: ontbirds@hwcn.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2005 00:43:50 -0000 Ian Cannell and I did a full day of birding today, starting at Fisher's Glen on Lake Erie, crossing westward to Long Point, doubling back to Fisherville later on, then eventually heading north to Newmarket. The overlap between early-arriving migrants from the south and late-lingering visitors from the north allowed for sightings of a wide range of bird species. . Interesting spring arrivals along the Lake Erie shore included: Fisher's Glen - KILLDEER (2), RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER (3), WILD TURKEY (9), HORNED LARK (6), plus numerous Grackles, Brown-headed Cowbirds, and Red-winged Blackbirds (by day's end we had seen literally hundreds of the three latter species, especially RWBB). Turkey Point to Long Point - SANDHILL CRANE (4), BALD EAGLE (1), RING-NECKED PHEASANT (1 male), TUNDRA SWAN (7000... they just kept coming in!), NORTHERN PINTAIL (25), REDHEAD (100+), CANVASBACK (100+), NORTHERN HARRIER (2). At Big Creek on both sides of the Long Point causeway the water was open, so many waterfowl were concentrated in that area, allowing for very good looks at the species above as well as 3 HORNED GREBES and 2 AMERICAN COOT. The bay was still frozen. Port Dover - There was a single SNOW GOOSE keeping company with the many Canada Geese at Silver Lake, which is most easily scanned from Silver Lake Market just north of Nelson Road on St. Patrick Street. Fisherville - We observed ten SHORT-EARED OWLS at 3:30 in the afternoon on the north side of Concession 6 Road, between Regional Roads 53 and 12. There were also numerous Red-tailed Hawks in the area and four ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS (2 light-phase and 2 dark-phase). On the eastern side of Road 12 we observed a NORTHERN FLICKER, about halfway between Regional Roads 12 and 20, near house #654. Newmarket - Back in York Region in better time that we expected, Ian and I did a quick circuit north of Hwy. 9 between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m., taking Keele Street north to King St., then east to Dufferin Street and back south to Hwy. 9. We saw two GREAT GRAY OWLS (one about .4 kms north of 9 on the west side of Keele, the other on Dufferin Street at the western edge of the open field that is just north of Miller Sdrd. on Dufferin. We also saw the SNOWY OWL that has been making itself so scare this winter in the "Holland Marsh" vegetable fields just south of Bradford. It was on the north side of King Street, looking straight north from the gap between houses #596 and #570 with the big green water tower in the background. A scope was necessary. This bird would likely be much easier to see from Canal Road just east of Jonkman's Corners, but Ian had to get me home to my wife and kids for dinner. Ron Fleming, Newmarket DIRECTIONS: The quickest way to get to Long Point is to take Hwy. 403 west past Hamilton, then Hwy. 24 south all the way down to Lake Erie. Take note that the exit for Hwy. 24 North comes much earlier than the exit for Hwy. 24 South if you are coming from the east. Once you are through the town of Simcoe (which has at least 3 Tim Horton's), look for the signs leading to Fisher's Glen, Normandale, Turkey Point, Port Rowan and Long Point. You can do a pleasant lakeshore drive, casually birding along the way if you have the time to. If you are on a schedule, go directly to Long Point, where the biggest concentration of birds is. Travelling east from Long Point (again, if you have time), stay on Front Street/Lakeshore (it goes by both names, depending on where you are at). You can follow this to Normandale, then you have to do a little hairpin turn that takes you up a small hill to Fisher's Glen. Take the first right and when you go down the small hill to where the Ruffed Grouse sign is, start looking and listening for birds - there is a short but good stretch along this section. Turn left and go up the hill to find Front Street again, then follow it to Radical Road and take it right into Port Dover (though a visit at the lake in Port Ryerse can be good). To get to Fisherville you can follow #6 north from Port Dover to #3, then take a right on 3 and follow it to Balmoral. Turn south on Regional Road 53 and drive down to Concession Road 6. Turn left (east) and start looking for hawks and owls, especially around house # 343 and eastward. Newmarket is halfway between Toronto and Barrie between Hwy. 400 and 404 along Hwy. 9.
