I decided to brave the weather at Amherst Island, and although I ended up soaked for the first half of the day, the sun broke through and the skies cleared.I located 2 LONG-EARED OWLS in the large pine plantation. They were both very shy and didn't allow me to watch them for long. I also came across a blue jay doing a fairly decent imitation of a northern saw-whet call. Unfortunately, no saw-whets were to be found.Hawks were in good numbers, with five AM. KESTRELS, seven NORTHERN HARRIERS (including a juvenile hunting with an adult female), two light-morph and one dark-morph ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS, and of course RED-TAILED HAWKS everywhere (about 6 total, some very vocal).In songbirds there were two FOX SPARROWS hanging out by the feeders. AM. GOLDFINCHES and WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS could be heard and seen flying overhead.As a side note, for anyone interested in going to the Owl Woods on Amherst, from Nov. 17 to Dec. 6 the private property portion of the Woods (the most lucrative portion) will be closed to the public for deer hunting. It will be re-opened again after Dec. 6. This has been posted near the feeders, so please respect the signs.Good birding!PatDIRECTIONS (courtesy NeilyWorld): Amherst Island is approximately 2.5 hours south of Ottawa and 16 km west of Kingston, Ontario. Take Highway 417 from Ottawa west to Highway 416 (exit 132). Follow 416 SSE 80 km to Highway 401. Turn right onto 401 and go 128 km to exit 593. Exit south on County Road #4 (formerly Highway 133) and proceed 9 km to Millhaven on Lake Ontario. Turn right or west on Hwy 33 (Bath Road), watch for the ferry dock in 200 metres. A round-trip on the ferry costs $5.00. It leaves every hour on the half-hour from 7:30 AM onward. The first ferry in the morning is an exception leaving ten minutes earlier than thereafter, at 6:20 AM. There are no gas stations on the island, so make sure you have enough before crossing _________________________________________________________________
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