Heedless of the vernal equinox, Old Man Winter has reasserted himself in this area, refreezing the flooded fields that held such a bonanza of waterfowl earlier in the week. The good news is that Hochreiter Road is now totally driveable; the bad news is that over two-thirds of the birds present between Monday and Wednesday are now gone. The most noteable species observed here earlier in the week - Tundra Swan and Snow Goose - were not around when I checked this morning at 10:00 a.m. In fact, the only open water for birds was in the southwest corner of the field. Everything else was frozen. Still present (and now concentrated in that SW corner) were numerous Canada Geese and five species of ducks: Mallards, (approx. 100), N. Pintail (approx. 150), Ring-necked Duck (approx. 60), Black Duck (12), and Bufflehead (2). For the record, 12 duck species were observed between Monday and Wednesday. A little further south and west of this location I found small groups of Hooded Mergansers and a pair of Wood Ducks in the now open water of the canal that encircles the vegetable fields south of Bradford. Ron Fleming, Newmarket Holland Landing is just north of Newmarket in York Region which, in turn, is north of Toronto and south of Barrie. _______________________________________________ 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/
