The most notable birds in York Region over the past week have been SNOWY OWL and BALD EAGLE. Keith Dunn had a female/juvenile Snowy on Ravenshoe again this past Saturday (he first found what is probably the same bird on Jan. 5), then Bruce Brydon found an adult male along Ravenshoe Road on Sunday. As his message to me says: "For the first time I found it on one of those giant irrigation structures. I have never seen them use those for perches. It was on the first one on the north side. However, it left and flew to a hydro pole directly north of the Yonge St./Ravenshoe corner." The section of Ravenshoe Road described above runs west along the southern border of Keswick. It is as far west as you can go without ending up in the Holland River.
On nearby Lake Simcoe, Bruce also had 50 Common Mergansers, 25 Common Goldeneye, 2 Bufflehead and 1 Bonaparte's Gull at Jackson's Point harbour on Sunday. There was no open water last week but now, once you pass Snake Island, the lake is mostly open off shore. Lorena Campbell has had good luck with Bald Eagles along the southern shore of Lake Simcoe recently, photographing at least three different birds - two immatures and one adult. These birds were seen on January 9th, 11th and 12th. Lorena's photos can be seen on the Simcoe Nature Board (easy to Google and find). The best way to search for eagles in this area is to follow Lake Drive north of Keswick and follow the scenic route all the way to Sibbald Point, stopping to scan the lake at various lookouts. On Saturday at the David Dunlop Observatory in Richmond Hill, Martin Chen had a flock of approximately 50 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS. Also on Saturday, Denise Potter had a small flock of EVENING GROSBEAKS visit her feeder on Pugsley Avenue just north of Major Mackenzie Drive in Richmond Hill. This species came through in late autumn and has been very hard to find ever since, so Denise's sighting is encouraging. On Jan. 10th Norm Murr had 11 PURPLE FINCHES at a feeder on Bridgeport St. at Mill St. and 2 PINE GROSBEAKS along Lucas St. at Benson Ave., both locations being in Richmond Hill. Gene and Charlene Denzel also had PINE GROSBEAKS (15) while hiking at Bindertwine Park in Kleinburg on the weekend. The birds were in the company of 30 Cedar Waxwings. On Sunday, Bruce Brydon had 2 COMMON RAVENS fly over him at the top end of the 2nd Concession north of the Holborn Rd. both of them croaking away. Ron Fleming, Newmarket York Region is north of Toronto. It runs south from Lake Simcoe. If you need any more specific directions than those shown above, reply to sender. _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For instructions to join or leave ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdssetup.php ONTBIRDS Guidelines may be viewed at http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdsguide.php
