Martin Mallet, Sara Calhim and I did a very quick late afternoon and evening run to Amherst today, hoping to run into the Hoary Redpoll and get me a 2009 Boreal Owl as I've been playing owl tag with them since New Year's. We were successful at finding Boreal - 1 individual along the south edge of the Jack Pine Plantation, pretty much due south of the main pathway into the plantation. I found the bird around 515 but by the time we found Sara to show it to her it had left (~6pm), probably having started its evening's hunting. There was also the Barred Owl just south of the main entrance into the plantation. We did not find any other owls, but given the failing light I would not claim to have covered the property as thoroughly as usual.
Other birds included a few Common Redpolls at the nearly empty feeders at Owl Woods (no Hoary, but not an exhaustive search due to darkness), a flock of American Robins near the Jack Pines, the vocal Ring-necked Pheasants that greet all current Owl Woods visitors, and a Snowy Owl in flight along South Shore Rd. There are now a lot of gulls along the ferry channel and today an adult Glaucous Gull joined the usual suspects near the mainland ferry dock. Directions to Amherst Island: (from Bruce Dilabio) Located 18 km. west of Kingston. Exit off Hwy. 401 at exit 593 (County Rd. 4, Camden East) and drive south to the very end (Millhaven). Turn right on Hwy. 33 and drive 100 metres until you see the sign for the Amherst Island ferry. The ferry (20 minute trip) leaves the mainland on the half hour and leaves the island on the hour. Cost is $8.00 Canadian round trip. There are no gas stations on the island. There are restrooms on the ferry and at the island ferry dock. Good birding, Chris Kimber MSc. Candidate Dept. of Biology Queen's University Kingston,ON neongol...@gmail.com _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list ONTBIRDS@hwcn.org For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
