Yesterday evening I looked unsuccessfully for the Yellow-throated Warbler at Shirley's Bay. My sense of disappointment was alleviated considerably by the presence of two of my favourite bird species:
1) A couple of Great Horned Owls were calling back and forth from the woods west of the road/track down to the dyke. Luckily, a side trail led me directly to one of the owls, who was perched prominently on a bare tree. He let out an impressively powerful hoot just as I arrived. I'm so used to the Britannia pair of Great Horneds, who are essentially oblivious of humans, that I was surprised when the owl flushed once he noticed to me. Of course (at least in my experience), Great Horned Owls are usually rather shy of people. 2) Back at the main road, I was intrigued to see at least two woodcock fluttering about in the more open area. If you were to suggest, based on the birds I saw, that I was perhaps at this site a bit late in the day (not to mention 24 hours too late as well) to see the warbler, I could only agree with you! Note: In the partially dry "bay" on the west side of the dyke there were 2 great egrets and a colossal number of ducks, but only 1 shorebird that I noticed (greater yellowlegs). Paul Matthews Ottawa From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tue Sep 27 17:52:57 2005 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from taiga.com (mail.taiga.com [204.11.32.182]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B1FD664636 for <[email protected]>; Tue, 27 Sep 2005 17:52:57 -0400 (EDT) Received: (qmail 13449 invoked by uid 30); 27 Sep 2005 21:44:46 -0000 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: 27 Sep 2005 17:09:46 -0400 Subject: [Ontbirds]HSR: Holiday Beach (27 Sep 2005) 52 Raptors X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2005 21:52:58 -0000 Holiday Beach Migration Observatory Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 27, 2005 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 0 158 158 Osprey 0 68 68 Bald Eagle 0 40 40 Northern Harrier 2 321 321 Sharp-shinned Hawk 40 3712 3712 Cooper's Hawk 0 147 147 Northern Goshawk 0 1 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 1 1 Broad-winged Hawk 8 7835 7835 Red-tailed Hawk 0 144 144 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 2 1281 1281 Merlin 0 68 68 Peregrine Falcon 0 17 17 Unknown 0 8 8 Total: 52 13801 13801 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 11:00:00 Total observation time: 4 hours Official Counter: Betty Learmouth Observers: Jim McCoy Visitors: A couple were on hand from the U.K. as well as visitors from Windsor and Detroit. Weather: Winds today were light from the Northwest swinging to the South at 10:30 am. Temperatures were in the low twenties with no cloud cover. Raptor Observations: Despite a promising weather forcast, the migration today was light with Sharp-shinned Hawks and a few Broad-winged Hawks Non-raptor Observations: Blue Jays were noted throughout the watch with a tally of 6,725. Other species noted were a single Red-breasted Nuthatch, flocks of American Goldfinch and Cedar Waxwings. Soras called from Big Creek Marsh. Predictions: Weather for tomorrow is to be sunny with increased cloudiness in the afternoon with winds from the South. Winds are presently from the West. =======================================================================Report submitted by Betty Learmouth ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Holiday Beach Migration Observatory information may be found at: http://hbmo.org/
