The first year Laughing Gull is still at its usual spot in Coburg harbour as of midday on Friday October 9th. It is most often on the grass by the main parking lot on the west side of the harbour, and often in among the Mallards waiting there for handouts. The bird is quite drab and worn, as is the "grass" beside the parking lot. Usually it is easy to find, but sometimes it blends in with the ducks and then suddenly seems to appear from nowhere! It is the first March record for Northumberland County and probably one of only a few March records for the whole of the province.
Also on the harbour ice intermittently have been some interesting gulls, including an adult Thayer's, an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull, and a few assorted Glaucous and Iceland. Several White-winged Scoters including some males in fresh breeding plumage have been visible at very close range and one male Black Scoter was with them a few days ago. A small flock of Redheads is regular, and a Ring-necked Duck stayed a short while earlier in the week. Directions: Exit Hwy.401 at Exit 474, Division Street. Follow Division St. south to where it ends at the harbour, then drive west around the harbour to the main parking lot on the west side. Margaret Bain Cobourg, ON [EMAIL PROTECTED] From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fri Mar 9 11:55:55 2007 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from web88007.mail.re2.yahoo.com (web88007.mail.re2.yahoo.com [206.190.37.194]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 2431A638B0 for <[email protected]>; Fri, 9 Mar 2007 11:55:55 -0500 (EST) Received: (qmail 69406 invoked by uid 60001); 9 Mar 2007 16:55:55 -0000 DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=s1024; d=rogers.com; h=X-YMail-OSG:Received:Date:From:Subject:To:MIME-Version:Content-Type:Content-Transfer-Encoding:Message-ID; b»k1Q507/VSg09Kz4iTlQNI41OUv07Eymj/vVVVfCch92N4pLyhDD4cmYsVemPwAFfWgm9AcH0hXQScml0+6DAy9jTaQ1lLIQuKM/YPQN+A4gxzzAszHJDIai+avW85LNEMJsWWTQ9XUUZkIp27zwCUjubFmWsFdH0VGbM7Pkn0=; X-YMail-OSG: kf0lm00VM1nM.05IleLCHaNJHfeXfAWPt.CSnr96_bGWY51ell8hLJKh7Ysvj.bJN.DtQlmh4ud9cqV1bTHM_GoiSYGkRCXPC6Uaz8komMvQUX5wp3tp32HpOpFGe3G1k_plAHABW7buFpo- Received: from [74.120.216.165] by web88007.mail.re2.yahoo.com via HTTP; Fri, 09 Mar 2007 11:55:55 EST Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2007 11:55:55 -0500 (EST) From: RON FLEMING <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: OFO Bird Sightings <[email protected]> MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.1 Subject: [Ontbirds]Snowy Owls Holland Marsh X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 09 Mar 2007 16:55:56 -0000 Prompted by recent inquiries and Bruce Wilson's post from yesterday, I checked the Holland Marsh vegetable fields for owls this morning. I did not see the bird reported by Bruce near Hwy. 400, but did observe two Snowy Owls much farther east. (For various reasons I believe Bruce's bird to be a third individual). The first snowy that I saw was sitting on top of a wooden hydro pole just north of where Keele Street meets King Street. Keele turns east at King but a short extension of it runs north into the Hol Mar property (marked as such by a weatherbeaten circular sign), which has a long garage on the west side and various rusty trailers on the east side. The owl - a barred female-juvenile type - was on the post closest to the pale blue shack that sits at the north end of the property. The time was 8:30 a.m. Travelling south, I took Keele to Strawberry Lane, then turned east and stopped across from property #195 (green emerg sign) to scope the fields on the north side of the road. Although there are numerous red herrings (white herrings?) in the landscape such as plastic bags, silver cans, owl-shaped snow drifts, and white pails, I was able to turn one anomalous lump into an adult male Snowy Owl. (It proved its status as an owl by preening and turning its head around several times). The bird was sitting on the ground straight north from a silver can that looked like an old-style milk container. Its location in the field was bounded on the west by a ramshackle red shack and on the east by a stop sign in the distance. A scope was a definite necessity for this bird. The time was 8:40 a.m. After searching unsuccessfully for the owl that Bruce saw beside the Hwy. 400, I drove around to the north side of the Holland River which, though barely visible, runs through the middle of the vegetable fields and separates York Region from Simcoe County. The first snowy (female/juvenile) should have been even easier to see from the short extension of Keele Lane which runs south from Tornado Drive, but by the time I got over there it was no longer sitting on the pole. I could not rediscover the adult male despite scoping south from Tornado Drive. I believe these two birds are the same ones I saw two weeks ago (Sunday, Feb. 25th)... but could be wrong. Regardless, I hope these birds linger in the marsh for a few more weeks before heading north. There were still numerous Snow Buntings and Horned Larks to be seen at various places in the "Holland Marsh". The most reliable spot continues to be the east side of Jane Street just south of Woodchopper's Lane. For the record, I once again checked for the Snowy Owl near Ravenshoe Road in southwest Keswick but, like the Toronto Maple Leafs, I was shut out again. Ron Fleming, Newmarket The Bradford section of the Holland Marsh is just west of Newmarket. It is most easily accessed by driving north on Hwy. 400 and taking the Canal Road exit a few kms north of Hwy. 9. Turn right (east) on Canal Road and follow it about 3 kms to Tornado Drive, then turn right. Once you pass Jane and Hazel Streets it is good to start scoping southward, especially when you get to Keele Lane. Alternately, you can take Hwy. 9 east from the 400 and turn north along Jane Street. This soon takes you to Woodchopper's Lane. Keep your eyes peeled for buntings and larks in the fields. Jog west to where Jane continues north, then continue up to Edward Street, follow it across to Aileen, then north to Strawberry Lane. Strawberry runs east to Keele, then Keele runs north to King (which in turn runs east to Dufferin...). Ravenshoe Road can be reached by travelling north on Leslie Street, past Newmarket and Queensville to the south end of Keswick. Turn left (west) at the lights, go down the hill past the baseball diamonds, and keep going into the vegetable fields. A short section of Yonge Street (where the Keswick owl is most often seen) runs south from Ravenshoe and dead ends at another section of the once vast Holland Marsh, but this time on the east side of the Holland River. There were buntings and larks in this area too.
