[Ontbirds] Newmarket area birds

[RON FLEMING]

Found my second Snowy Owl of the season around noon today.  It was an adult 
male, sitting on the ground about 400m north of Woodchopper's Lane and the same 
distance west of Jane Street in the Holland Marsh vegetable fields.  This open 
area of flat farm fields is on the east side of Hwy. 400, less than two kms 
north of Hwy.9 (which is Davis Drive in Newmarket).  Also present in the same 
vicinity was a first-year Northern Harrier hunting on the west side of Keele 
Street, just south of Strawberry Lane and an American Kestrel sitting on the 
roadside wires along Wist Road, which parallels Hwy. 400 on the east side of 
the highway.
 
Newmarket is directly north of Toronto, about halfway to Barrie.
 
Ron Fleming
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[Ontbirds] Newmarket Area Birds

[RON FLEMING]

On a relatively mild February afternoon signs of spring were definitely in the 
air.  In the Holland Marsh vegetable fields west of Newmarket I had my first 
Horned Larks of the year today (two birds doing their tinkly songs at the west 
end of Emma Road) and, at the nearby Cawthra Mulock nature reserve, I had four 
Brown Creepers within 50 metres of each other, calling (but not singing yet) on 
the sunny southern edge of a coniferous stand.  Chickadees were singing their 
spring greetings of "Hey Sweetie" and the local crows were capering like 
dervishes in the sky.

After striking out in my efforts to find the Snowy Owl that has been hunting 
west of Dufferin Street this month, I took one last stab at it late in the 
day.  
Unfindable earlier, the bird was perched conspicuously atop the last building 
on 
Emma Road (a long gray warehouse/garage on the north side) when I pulled up at 
4:00 p.m.  There was also a Raven calling at this location (there have been two 
visiting the Holland Marsh area since December).

Ron Fleming, Newmarket

Newmarket is about halfway between Toronto and Barrie.  The Holland Marsh 
fields 
are just east of Hwy. 400 and north of Davis Drive/Hwy. 9.  Emma Road runs west 
from Dufferin Street, about 3 or 4 kms north of Davis Drive.
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[Ontbirds] Newmarket Area Birds

[RON FLEMING]

Spring was definitely in the air on this glorious Sunday afternoon.  Unable to 
stay indoors, I did a circuit of the Newmarket area with my dog, Sam, to see 
what was out and about.  We stopped for a walk at the Cawthra Mulock reserve on 
Bathurst St. and had a Pileated Woodpecker, then we lucked into an unlucky 
Great Horned Owl trailing a smoke cloud of screaming crows as it flew just over 
the treetops.
 
In the nearby Holland Marsh we had very nice looks at two Snowy Owls, one on 
the east side of Aileen Street, the other on the east side of Jane Street (both 
of them sitting in the fields north of Woodchopper's Lane).  Whether these are 
the birds who wintered here or two others passing through I'm not sure.  Just 
west of Hwy. 400 an adult Cooper's Hawk was sitting in a tree in the front yard 
of a house on Canal Road.
 
With accipiters in mind, I checked on the White-crowned Sparrows that have 
wintered along Devald Road just south of Canal and found three of them 
amidst the flock of American Tree Sparrows they've kept company with over the 
last four months.  They were on the south side of the road, hiding among the 
weeds and old vehicles by the roadside west of Day Street. 
 
Driving up to the Ravenshoe Road area in southwest Keswick I added numerous 
Horned Larks, several lingering Snow Buntings, two more Snowy Owls, and a 
light-morph Rough-legged Hawk - all along the muddy strip of Yonge Street that 
runs south from Ravenshoe.
On a circuitous route home, I added three Wild Turkeys in a field west of 
Warden Avenue a few kms south of Davis Drive.
 
 Ron Fleming, Newmarket
 
Newmarket is located in York Region, directly north of Toronto and south of 
Lake Simcoe.
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[Ontbirds]Newmarket Area Birds (York Region)

[RON FLEMING]

Although cold temps had firmed up the muddy surface of Hochreiter Road (east of 
Bradford/west of Holland Landing) enough to make it driveable this morning, a 
skin of ice 
  on the flooded fields apparently prompted last weekend's visiting waterfowl 
to search for open water elsewhere.  Only about 50 N. PINTAIL out of a group 
that exceeded 300 on Sunday afternoon were present today and ALL of the swans 
from last week (approx. 40 Tundras and 3 Trumpeters) were gone.  This left only 
four GW TEAL, a pair of BUFFLEHEAD, and four BLACK DUCKS to find open water not 
claimed by the ubiquitous Mallards and Canada Geese.  Warmer temps and spring 
rains may once again set the stage for migrant waterfowl in the weeks ahead, 
but today the duck show on Hochreiter was quiet.
   
  Still, the sun was bright, the sky was blue, and a male RED-BELLIED 
WOODPECKER gave me an adrenalin jolt by "kwirring" loudly from a tree near the 
roadside, then flying to an even closer perch to grant me better views.  This 
species is not rare here, but it is not an everyday sight.  It is the first I 
have seen since last autumn.  
   
  Despite the morning chill, most of the ice in the Holland Landing lagoons 
turned out to be melted and there were some waterfowl swimming in the first two 
cells: WOOD DUCK (6), RING-NECKED DUCK (2), COMMON MERGANSER (2), HOODED 
MERGANSER (2), and - of course - several more Mallards and Canadas.  In the 
trees west of the ponds there was one very vocal PILEATED WOODPECKER and one 
drumming YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER (my first of the spring).  Two BROWN CREEPERS 
were singing their high, sweet songs from the flooded hardwood bush on the 
north side.
   
  Northeast of this location by 3 or 4 kms, the 2nd Concession (Main Street out 
of Newmarket) also held some good spring arrivals north of the Queensville 
Sdrd.: TREE SWALLOW (1), NORTHERN FLICKER (2), NORTHERN HARRIER (1 male), 
AMERICAN KESTREL (1 female spooking the Killdeer on the sod fields), and a 
COOPER'S HAWK doing a display flight above the distant trees to the west 
(scoped, of course).
   
  The MacKenzie Marsh in north-central Aurora was also largely free of ice 
today.  Several ducks were there including three pairs of Ring-necks, a pair of 
Hooded Mergs, and a pair of Common Mergs.  The Cawthra Mulock reserve continues 
to host some transient GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS while Eastern Phoebes were 
proclaiming territory in three different places.  I almost stepped on an 
AMERICAN WOODCOCK in the woods near the orchard.  Turkey Vultures continue to 
tilt their way across the sky across York region, clearing flight paths for the 
Broad-wings, Osprey, and other hawks still to come.
   
  Ron Fleming, Newmarket
   
  Newmarket is halfway between Toronto and Barrie.
   
   
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Subject: [Ontbirds]
Hamilton Naturalists Club Birding Report - Thursday, March 29th,
2007
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On Thursday, March 29th, 2007 this is the HNC birding report:

OSPREY
CASPIAN TERN
YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER
EASTERN PHOEBE
TREE SWALLOW
CHIPPING SPARROW
FIELD SPARROW

Snow Goose
Cackling Goose
Tundra Swan
Wood Duck
American Wigeon
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Harlequin Duck
Wild Turkey
Horned Grebe
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Northern Goshawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Rough-legged Hawk
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon
American Woodcock
Sandhill Crane
Iceland Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Long-eared Owl
Northern Saw-whet Owl
Northern Shrike
Tufted Titmouse
Brown Creeper
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
Hermit Thrush
Eastern Meadowlark
Rusty Blackbird
Purple Finch


What a great time of year, migrants are appearing daily here in the HSA!

Among the new migrants appearing this week, the Niagara Peninsula Hawkwatch
at Beamer Conservation Area recorded its first OSPREY on Monday.  Other
raptors seen in the week were numerous Turkey Vultures, Bald Eagles,
Northern Har