On Friday, January 21, 2005: Carol Edwards and I did a bit of birding in the Whitby area, today.
Bitter cold weather played havoc with the batteries in the camera Carol was using to get some photos, so with only about three actual hours afield, we did well in the Whitby area. There was, at the southern end of Hall's Road, Whitby, on the east side, close to the lake, a BROAD-WINGED HAWK. It was perched in a tree, and flew north over the viewing stand, up the edge of the marsh, just a around one p.m. There were also several Northern Harriers...we believe five in all, coursing about, three seen at approximately the same time, also at the southern end of Hall's Road. Also on Hall's Road, perched at eye-level on the east side, south of the path to the north viewing station, was a very calm immature Sharp-shinned Hawk. Dead camera batteries, thanks to the cold, sent us for recharges, but late in the afternoon we counted three Great Gray Owls on Hall's Road, and either two or three on the town line, a short distance west of, and parallel to, Hall's Road. It was a brilliant, cloudless day, so the view from the town line had the sun at our backs. At the foot of Brock Street, Whitby, where it crosses the bridge (where the Sandhill Crane was not to be seen by us, although we were told by other birders that he will stand on the ice) there was a Belted Kingfisher perched on the wire above the bridge, west (downstream) side. At the meadow in Thickson's Woods we found a very cold, extremely fluffed Northern Mockingbird. The mockingbird was in the bushes at the southeast corner of the meadow, and we backed off so as not to disturb him, as he was resting...a round ball with the long tail sticking out. ________________________ Directions: Hall's Road runs south of the baseline (Victoria Street/Bayly Road) road just west of the causeway through Cranberry Marsh, west of Brock Street, which is in Whitby, accessible from HWY 401. Thickson's Woods meadow is at the bottom of Thickson Road, accessible from HWY 401, east of Whitby, west of Oshawa. With heavy snow forecast the actual road that borders the north side of Thickson's Woods, south side of the meadow, may be problematical on the weekend as it is not ploughed, but you can park in a small parking lot at the bottom of Thickson Road, near the lake, and walk back. Barry Kent MacKay www.metalorchids.com
