Today at 2:15 PM from the shore near Hutch's at Van Wagner's Beach I watched two Short-eared Owls circling high and swooping low, very far out over Lake Ontario in a brisk northeasterly breeze. At first they were so distant they were barely visible, and somewhat perplexing to identify even with a scope, but eventually they circled their way quite close to shore (well within the wave tower). I watched them for at least 20 minutes, and they were still likely in the area exhibiting the same behaviour as I left at 2:45 PM. Gavin Platt noted a single SEOW circling high at the same location on Oct. 15 and speculated it was a migrant. Today's birds were presumably also migrating, but they certainly didn't give a hoot about taking the shortest route from point A to point B, nor of any potential perils of flying over the cold waters of Lake Ontario for such an extended period of time. I also had one very distant jaeger. Good birding, Jarmo Jalava Van Wagner's Beach is reached by taking Centennial Parkway north from the QEW to Van Wagner's Beach Road and heading northwest. Any location along the beach provides good viewing, but a preferred location these days is the Lakeland Centre at about 1.5 km point. _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup
