Richard Pope and I went to Wolfe Island today, Saturday March 7, did not see the Gyr from the 11.30am ferry despite excellent visibility, birded the island, then had one last check of the offshore ice on our way to the 4.30pm ferry, which we missed because we found the Gyr on a kill on the ice just west of the old winter ferry dock, close to Wednesday's postings and Anne Anthony's sighting earlier in the day. So it seems that the Gyrfalcon is still successfully hunting in the channel between Wolfe Island and the Kingston mainland.
Directions: from the Marysville ferry dock turn left and go east on Hwy.96 2.4km to the junction with Hwy 7051; turn left (north) on 7051 and go 1km to the Y junction signposted Joy Road, keep left here and still going north, pass the junction with Langdon Road to where the road ends near the water's edge. The Gyr was about 200 metres directly offshore from the end of the road and well studied in our scopes from 4.20-4.40pm, but by then it was raining and the light was fading, and attempts at digiscoping were not very successful so we did not stay longer. Highlights from the rest of the island: 2 small almost pure white adult male Snowy Owls and one larger immature female Snowy all near the west end of the island. At least 8 Rough-legged Hawks, only one of them dark morph. 4+ Red-tails. 2 American Kestrels. Several flocks of Red-winged Blackbirds and at least 2 Common Grackles. Scattered Horned Larks. One flock of about 30 Snow Buntings with at least 2 Lapland Longspurs. A pair of ravens near the east end of the island. Directions: The Kingston ferry dock is at Barrack and Ontario Sts. in downtown Kingston. The service is basically hourly but "on-the-hour" and "on-the-half-hour" shifts through the day, so best to check the schedule on http://www.wolfeisland.com/ferry.php Margaret Bain mjcb...@sympatico.ca Cobourg _______________________________________________ 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/
