Following the untimely demise of one of our BOREAL OWLS, the other 2 seem to have packed up and left as well. There were 3 present on Wednesday, January 19 prior to the kill, only one reported on Thursday and Friday, and since then nothing. I did a complete search on both Saturday and Monday and failed to find one. There were several field trips on Sunday none of whom apparently were able to find one either.
The conditions for the past 2 days have not been particularly good with heavy snow making it hard to get a good look at most of the trees. Still Karen and I did turn up 6 SAW-WHET OWLS both Saturday and today. There are still numerous LONG-EARED and SHORT-EARED OWLS about as well as many hawks and a few eagles. Two HERMIT THRUSHES continue to be seen as well as a few GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS. Today there were 2 CARDINALS at the feeders as well as DOWNEY and HAIRY WOODPECKERS and the RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER. Still no definite ID on the predator but my own opinion is either a GOSHAWK or a PEREGRINE FALCON both of which have been reported on the Island. So far, we have identified a Junco, a Starling, the Boreal Owl, a Long-eared, and a Short-eared Owl as victims of this unknown predator. The Short-eared Owl carcass that we found on Saturday was almost complete except for a large hole in its back. My favourite interpretation of this is that it was the Short-eared Owl that took the Boreal, and the 2 remaining Boreals ganged up and took it from behind and then lit out for the hills. As of today, the south approach to the Owl Woods is still drivable but it won't take much more to close it to regular traffic. Alex and Karen Scott _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
