I thought NY birders would find this post to the Ontario birding list by Bruce DiLabio of interest.
Good birding! Willie -----Original Message----- From: ONTBIRDS [mailto:birdalert-boun...@ontbirds.ca] On Behalf Of bruce dilabio via ONTBIRDS Sent: Monday, April 14, 2014 6:34 PM To: ONTBIRDS Subject: [Ontbirds] Eastern Ontario: Snowy Owl northbound Hi Everyone After an incredible winter with record high numbers of Snowy Owls numbers, these Arctic beauties are now returning north. Today, 7 Snowy Owls were observed in Ottawa, 4 were observed along the Ottawa River and another 5 were observed south west of Ottawa. All these birds were in areas that didn’t hold any long term wintering birds. Last week I observed 23 Snowy Owls in the Ste. Rose-St.Isidore area. Based on winter observations many of these birds were migrants. Overall it was an exciting winter in eastern Ontario for Snowy Owls and likely a record number for both the Ottawa-Gatineau district and eastern Ontario. Starting in mid November reports of Snowy Owls were reported and by early December it was apparent an irruption was taking place with many owls reported from suitable habitat across eastern Ontario and further south. This movement coincided with the high numbers on the Avalon Peninsular in Newfoundland. Using Christmas Bird Count data and personal observation from Brian Morin, Jacques Bouvier and myself I’ve estimated that there were 140+ in the Ottawa-Gatineau district and over 350+ in eastern Ontario west to Presqu’ile Provincial Park. An amazing winter for Snowys. Interestingly there were few birds found dead in an emaciated condition. In the Ottawa area at least 10 individuals were hit by cars and rehabilitated, and another few were found dead as road kill. All Snowys appeared to be surviving well for the winter on a variety of prey including Meadow Voles and other small rodents and water birds. It was a great winter to observe these birds and study behavior. Many individuals set up winter territories and were present for weeks at the same location. Another interesting observation was that the Snowy Owl is as nocturnal as any other owl. On many occasions during January and February I observed Snowy Owls hunting at night from telephone poles between 5:00p.m. and 12:00 midnight. Over the past 4 decades I never looked for Snowy Owls during the night and just considered them a diurnal owl. Between Carp and Kanata Ben and I observed at least 5 individuals hunting and these birds were very alert looking for prey not like the numerous birds we saw during the day that were more docile. All in all an exciting winter for learning! Good birding, Bruce -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
