Since this has not been a big winter for Northern Shrikes so far, I thought I'd mention that there is one that shows up from time to time (including today at noon) along the 19th Sdrd. between Keele and Dufferin between Hwy. 400 and Newmarket. This area is actually called Kettleby, a little hamlet on the Oak Ridges moraine, just south of Hwy. 9. It was an adult bird, sitting on the south side of the road in front of a beautiful rustic home about halfway across this rolling country lane. At 2:45 this afternoon I observed a Snowy Owl northwest of #105 Emma Road, a short dead-end lane that runs west from Dufferin Street about 3.5 kms north of Hwy. 9. The bird was sitting uncharacteristically high (about 100 feet up) on a steeple-like extension on one of the three metal hydro towers that march north toward Bradford in the fields there. I do not believe this is one of the two Snowies I saw further southwest yesterday afternoon because of the distance from those birds (which I believe have staked out hunting territories since their arrival in December) and the fact that this individual appeared much more heavily barred than yesterday's birds. As I was looking at this owl I was distracted by the calls of several birds flying by me, so I looked away and scoped them when then they landed on the road just west of me. They were Horned Larks, 23 of them to be exact. When I turned my attention back to the owl, it was gone and I could not rediscover it. In search of a Red-bellied Woodpecker reported by Margaret and John Catto last weekend, I drove futilely up and down Miller Sdrd. a few times, then tried for the same species near Bathurst St. and Graham Sdrd. I could not find the one reported there by Ron and Ruth Bonner either, but I did observe my second Cooper's Hawk of the weekend, this one on the south side of Graham Sdrd. near house #1150. Accipiterial consolation. Ron Fleming, Newmarket All of the places described here are within a few minutes driving of each other, located between Newmarket and Hwy. 400. Kettleby, as noted, is just south of Hwy. 9/Davis Drive while the other locations are in the southern extension of the once vast Holland Marsh. These places are just north of Hwy. 9. Newmarket is halfway between Toronto and Barrie.
