Some "winter" specialties have shown up in York region this week. This morning in southwest Keswick, Keith and Christopher Dunn had an adult SNOWY OWL and several SNOW BUNTINGS. Acting on Keith's tip, I rediscovered both species around noon; both were on the east side of Yonge Street's little-known and less-travelled northern extension, south of Ravenshoe Road's western terminus. On the way up to Keswick I did a quick check of Bathurst Street North between Holland Landing and Bradford. There was not much to be seen birdwise, but I did get my first NORTHERN SHRIKE of the "winter season". It was on the north side of the short road into Albert's Marina. Keith, his nephew Christopher, and Julia Marco had a very interesting raptor at Cranberry Marsh late yesterday afternoon: As they were standing on the south platform around 4:00 p.m., a dark raptor flew into the marsh area from the northwest, moving low; they at first assumed it would be the female harrier they'd seen earlier, but the bird had no white rump, was heavily streaked underneath, had a different flight than a harrier, and had a falcon's shape, "like a Merlin but much larger". The bird zoomed eastward toward the many ducks in the distance and was lost from view. All three of them believe it to have been a dark phase GYRFALCON and hope that East Toronto-Oshawa-Whitby area birders will keep their eyes peeled for this bird (not that birders would need much encouragement for such a rarity). As all three quickly recalled, Norm Murr had a gyr at the spit two weeks ago... Ron Fleming, Newmarket Directions: SNOWY OWL and BUNTINGS - Keswick is north of Newmarket. Take Leslie Street north to Ravenshoe Rd., turn west and follow Ravenshoe to where it ends. Turn south on Yonge Street (a short and rather desolate line segment of that much longer thoroughfare) and drive to its end (approx. 2 kms), keeping your eyes peeled for a big white shape in an otherwise brown landscape. At noon today the bird was directly east of a seemingly perma-parked white trailer and a white truck that said "Smitty's Produce" on the side. The buntings were flying back and forth across the road and often landing right in front of my van. N. SHRIKE - Take the northern extension of Bathurst Street between Newmarket and Bradford and continue north, well past Queensville Sdrd. At the sign for Albert's Marina turn right (east). The bird was about halfway down this short road, hunting on the north side. FALCON at CRANBERRY MARSH - This productive birding area is just east of Toronto, accessed by getting onto the Bayly Road just west of Whitby. Bayly parallels the QEW on its south side. Just west of Lynde Shores Conservation Area you will see Hall's Rd. Take this small lane south toward the lake. There are two lookouts you can walk to by parking at the little pull-off areas and walking a short distance east along the pathways there. From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sun Nov 20 18:22:55 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 BAE1463ACA for <[email protected]>; Sun, 20 Nov 2005 18:22:51 -0500 (EST) Received: (qmail 24145 invoked by uid 30); 20 Nov 2005 23:21:10 -0000 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: 20 Nov 2005 18:11:10 -0400 Subject: [Ontbirds]HSR: SMRR- Lake Erie Metropark (20 Nov 2005) 57 Raptors X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 20 Nov 2005 23:22:55 -0000
SMRR- Lake Erie Metropark Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 20, 2005 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 12 1000 104526 Osprey 0 2 241 Bald Eagle 0 6 177 Northern Harrier 1 18 570 Sharp-shinned Hawk 5 67 8517 Cooper's Hawk 10 105 850 Northern Goshawk 1 7 37 Red-shouldered Hawk 4 81 956 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 91089 Red-tailed Hawk 21 850 7685 Rough-legged Hawk 0 11 67 Golden Eagle 3 21 85 American Kestrel 0 4 1743 Merlin 0 3 74 Peregrine Falcon 0 4 51 Unknown 0 0 0 Prairie Falcon 0 0 1 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 10 Total: 57 2179 216679 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Jeff Schultz Observers: Calvin Brennan, Dave Mendus Visitors: Alan Ryff Dave English Charlene Borchers Weather: Todays conditions were very similar to yesterday with clear conditions and light to moderate southwest winds. Raptor Observations: The movement was also similar both in volume and breakdown, highlighted by excellent views of several birds including one particularly cooperative sub adult Golden Eagle and an adult male Northern Harrier. Non-raptor Observations: Although away from the count area, it is worth noting that there are still a few Cave Swallows being seen accompanying some of the lingering Tree Swallows that are around the area. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Calvin Brennan ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) SMRR- Lake Erie Metropark information may be found at: http://www.smrr.net/
