Back on November 15 Bruce Brydon observed a Snowy Owl south of Ravenshoe Road in SW Keswick - the earliest arrival on record for this region. In the days since then several local birders have tried to rediscover the bird but with no success. Still, some raptors have provided consolation. On Tuesday afternoon Keith Dunn had both a Merlin and a Northern Shrike along Ravenshoe Road then, when he and I crossed paths, we discovered a light-morph Rough-legged Hawk and a Northern Harrier along Yonge Street south of Ravenshoe. Hoping to find a Snowy Owl in the vegetable fields south of Bradford last weekend I "settled" instead for two Red-tails, a male American Kestrel, a Sharp-shinned Hawk, and a beautiful adult female Cooper's Hawk perched along Edward Street. I finally notched my first Snow Buntings of the winter Tuesday in south Keswick (John Watson and Keith Dunn had these birds a full three weeks ago in the same area) then - this morning - was pleasantly surprised to find four of them on the soccer field behind the school I teach at in suburban Newmarket. Ron Fleming _______________________________________________ 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/
