Long overdue, a Snowy Owl has finally shown up in York Region this winter. Keith Dunn found (and photographed) one on Ravenshoe Road Saturday afternoon around 4.20 pm. It was west of Lake Drive, perched on a TV antenna on the north side of Ravenshoe Rd., which runs east-west along the southern boundary of Keswick. Turn west from Leslie and follow the road down the big hill, past the baseball diamonds and out into the agricultural flats. An unexpected sight on Friday afternoon (4:30 p.m.) was five Trumpeter Swans flying southeast over Hwy. 404 and Vandorf Road. On Saturday afternoon my family and I had great looks at a Pileated Woodpecker excavating a huge hole in a pine tree in the northwestern part of the Eldred King Tract (one of several York Regional Forests). This forest sits between McCowan and Markham Roads a few kms north of the Wellington/Aurora Road. Another Pileated was observed in Aurora's Sheppard's Bush woodlot this past week - likely a resident bird. On Friday Norm Murr had a Northern Flicker, a flock of 30+ American Robins, and a pair of Cooper's Hawks at the David Dunlop Observatory in Richmond Hill. He also observed three White-tailed Deer: two bucks and a doe. Ron Fleming, Newmarket _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list ONTBIRDS@hwcn.org For instructions to join or leave ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdssetup.php ONTBIRDS Guidelines may be viewed at http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdsguide.php
