Mike Van den Tillaart and I drove the Holland Marsh vegetable fields west of Newmarket this morning to find a Snowy Owl for his wife. To her great pleasure we discovered one on top of a post along Aileen Street, then - to our great pleasure - we proceeded to find four more. Three were along Woodchopper's Lane - two on the ground south of that road, the other on a tree close to its west end - and another was on a post along Tornado Drive, which is further to the northeast. We also had some Horned Larks along Woodchopper's - great to hear their tinkly calls rising up from the fields with the promise of spring. The immature White-crowned Sparrow that has wintered along Devald Road was present again today in the company of numerous American Tree Sparrows, House Sparrows, Juncos, and Goldfinches. There were also three or four Common Redpolls present - all of these passerines gathering near house #223. The Holland Marsh vegetable fields described above are situated on the east side of Hwy. 400, just north of Davis Drive/Hwy. 9. Woodchopper's Lane is accessible by turning north onto Jane St. from Hwy. 9 and driving about 4 kms. to the T-intersection at Woodchopper's. Turn west. A scope certainly helps in finding these owls as they only perch on roadside posts from time to time - most often they are sitting out in the fields, looking like the white pails and silver canisters that also vie for one's attention out there. Newmarket is directly north of Toronto, halfway to Barrie. Ron Fleming, Newmarket _______________________________________________ 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/
