I know birders are likely getting tired of the Amherst posts but some changes yesterday are worthy of mention. 22 members of the Ottawa Field Naturalists' went to Amherst for the day. For me, the most impressive aspect of the day was in the last hour. Between 5 and 6 pm we saw most of the 18 Snowy Owls that we observed over the course of the day. They were in every spot that we stopped to look, sometimes 2 or 3 per location. We covered the South side of the island in this hour so there are undoubtedly over double this number on the island right now. This was my first trip to the island where I have not seen Short-eared Owls. They may be in the large marsh in the SW corner of the island where the Northern Harriers were seen, but we were not there late enough in the day.
Also of interest is the possible resurgence in small owl numbers on the island. We saw 3 Northern Saw-whet Owls and 3 Boreal Owls. Perhaps they are starting their late winter build up on the island. They were mostly in the Jack Pine stand. Only 1 Boreal was in the Cedars along the entry path. The Barred Owl also provided us with a few looks. We did not find the Long-eared Owls despite rather thorough searches although at least one other group mentioned seeing some. Also of interest was a Red-bellied Woodpecker near the Owl Woods feeders, an exilpes Hoary Redpoll at the feeder with several Common Redpolls, a Yellow-rumped Warbler and several American Robins in the same area, and a Peregrine Falcon on a kill (seen from the ferry at 9:30 am). We also saw about 25 Rough-legged Hawks, 30 Red-tailed Hawks, 3 Northern Harriers and 1 American Kestrel. Directions to Amherst Island: (from Bruce Dilabio) Located 18 km. west of Kingston. Exit off Hwy. 401 at exit 593 (County Rd. 4, Camden East) and drive south to the very end (Millhaven). Turn right on Hwy. 33 and drive 100 metres until you see the sign for the Amherst Island ferry. The ferry (20 minute trip) leaves the mainland on the half hour and leaves the island on the hour. Cost is $8.00 Canadian round trip. There are no gas stations on the island. There are restrooms on the ferry and at the island ferry dock. Good birding, Jeff Jeff Skevington, Research Scientist Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada K.W. Neatby Building, C.E.F., 960 Carling Ave. Ottawa, ON, K1A 0C6, Canada Work Phone: 613-759-1647, FAX: 613-759-1927 Home Phone: 613-832-1970 e-mail: [email protected] alternative e-mail: [email protected] __________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Canada Toolbar: Search from anywhere on the web, and bookmark your favourite sites. Download it now at http://ca.toolbar.yahoo.com. _______________________________________________ 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/
