Since Christmas - the sky having finally cleared of reindeer - there have been
several interesting sightings made in York Region north of Toronto. Denise
Potter's discovery of a BARRED OWL in the middle of suburban Richmond Hill
(Dunlop Observatory property) was a highlight on Dec. 27th, especially since
her husband Rod shot and posted footage of the owl as it perched behind a veil
of slowly falling snowflakes (Denise's post may still be sitting in your cache
of unopened ONTBirds messages if you missed it).
Just prior to Christmas (Dec. 23rd to be exact), Mike Van den Tillaart
observed a MERLIN at George Richardson Park in northeast Newmarket and, shortly
afterward, a GREAT BLUE HERON in an open section of the East Holland River.
Mike also noted that PINE GROSBEAKS and COMMON REDPOLLS are continuing to make
appearances in his neighbourhood northwest of Davis Drive and Leslie Street.
This has been an excellent winter to observe both species.
On Dec. 27th and 28th Bruce Brydon had a RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER visit his
feeder in Holland Landing. A short distance northwest of Holland Landing, Mike
V., Dorothy Brace, Marion McLeod and I observed a mixed flock of BOHEMIAN
WAXWINGS (20) and CEDAR WAXWINGS (40) on Bathurst Street just south of
Hochreiter Road on Dec. 29th while participating in the Bradford area CBC. We
also had a NORTHERN SHRIKE on the 2nd Concession (which is the northern
extension of Newmarket's Main Street) just north of Doane Rd.
Also observed on Dec. 29th was a flock of approx. 200 COMMON REDPOLLS along
Strawberry Lane in the southernmost section of the "Holland Marsh" (now all
agricultural fields) east of Hwy. 400 and just south of Bradford. In the same
vicinity, we had a male AMERICAN KESTREL yelling "Killy, killy, killy" to the
west wind and, almost hidden in the woods on the north side of Canal Road, four
WILD TURKEYS. Snowy Owls and Rough-legged Hawks continue to be conspicuously
absent from this area and from the usually productive west end of Ravenshoe Rd.
in Keswick. Two SNOW BUNTINGS made a cameo appearance for us at the latter
location on Saturday.
A hearty trek across the width of Newmarket's Cawthra Mulock reserve
(Bathurst across to Dufferin Street) that same day yielded surprisingly few
birds, but three GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS enlivened one stretch of conifers with
their fiery crests and high-pitched calls.
At the opposite physical pole from diminutive kinglets was a pair of
impressively large subadult BALD EAGLES observed and photographed by Lorena
Campbell on Dec. 30th along Lake Drive just southwest of Jackson's Point.
Large sections of Lake Simcoe have remained open to date and Bald Eagles have
been reported on both sides of Cook's Bay over the past three weeks. For the
record, the Great Gray Owl observed by Lorena east of Newmarket earlier in
December has not been seen since. I made my fourth futile foray for the bird
yesterday and had to settle (fairly contentedly) for a flock of 28 PINE
GROSBEAKS feeding in some tamaracks on the west side of McCowan Road just south
of Davis Drive.
Out of region but worth mentioning is Garth Baker's sighting of two EASTERN
BLUEBIRDS at the South Simcoe Arboretum near Guildford on Sunday. Guildford
sits on the west side of Cook's Bay (southern extension of Lake Simcoe) across
from Keswick. Garth also had a BARRED OWL near Lefroy last week but I do not
have any more specific details than that.
For what it's worth, I encourage York Region residents who read this post to
either (a) post your sightings on this excellent ONTbirds website (the main
source of information for birders in Ontario) or (b) e-mail me of your
sightings so that I can roll them into some reasonably representative York
Region reports. This area gets some pretty good birds so, if you observe
something interesting, share your knowledge. The chain of information is only
as good as the links that bind it...
Ron Fleming, Newmarket
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