Although spring is officially a month away, changes in day length are triggering movement in a lot of birds. Snowy Owls that were being readily observed in the Holland Marsh this winter appear to be starting to move out. Two that wintered in the vegetable fields south of Bradford the last six weeks have not been reported in six days now. Last weekend there were at least eight Snowies present between Newmarket and Keswick; this past week some visiting birders struck out completely in their efforts to find them. On Saturday I managed to rediscover four: one was at the north end of Bathurst Street near Holland Landing (west of the last storage building, sitting on the ground beside the irrigation ditch that runs perpendicular to the road), another was at the eastern end of Line 13 north of Bradford (basically across the river from Ravenshoe Road's west end), and two more were in the Ravenshoe Road area in southwest Keswick, one on the north side of the road along a snowmobile path, the other west of Yonge Street (already noted by several birders on this website). Species like Rough-legged Hawks and Horned Larks that were absent from York region for months have reappeared recently, the former species passing through on their way much further north, some of the latter back on breeding territory. Two light-morph Rough-legs were observed in the Ravenshoe Road area on Sunday as reported by the Alvo family and photographed by Tony & Joandice Marshall. On Saturday Lev Frid had a dozen Horned Larks feeding in the company of approx. 400 Snow Buntings at the horse ranch located on the south side of Hwy. 9 at Jane Street east of Hwy. 400. Smaller flocks of Snow Buntings were seen in the same vicinity (Holland Marsh vegetable fields/Canal Rd.) by several observers over the weekend. The larks I have observed out there are singing, which means they are the prairie race that breed locally (many thanks to Ron Pittiway for providing that info). Connie and Jack Walker also enountered Horned Larks this weekend - a small flock of 5-6 were on the south side of Davis Drive just east of Hwy. 404. On Sunday the Walkers also observed a Common Raven at Herald Road & Hwy. 48, a Northern Shrike at Kennedy and Davis Drive, and - best of all - a Barred Owl perched on a 40 km/h sign south of St. John's Sdrd. along Kennedy Road. I went after the latter bird on Monday and got great looks at the sign. Consolation for missing the owl was another Raven vocalizing loudly while flying past the radio tower at the nearby Porritt Tract. Other interesting birds I happened upon this weekend were an adult Northern Shrike along 13th Line north of Bradford and a male American Kestrel beside Hwy. 400 south of Canal Rd. (both Saturday), plus a Merlin perched on a satellite dish Monday morning along St. John's Sdrd. near Bayview Ave. Allan Roitner observed a Northern Mockingbird in south Pottageville on Sunday while returning from Cold Creek CA near Bolton where the Varied Thrush is still lingering. East of Aurora a pair of Wood Ducks continues to visit the open section of Al Johnston's pond along Bethesda Road west of McCowan (thanks, Connie, for checking!). Ron Fleming, Newmarket York Region is directly north of Toronto and south of Lake Simcoe. Bradford is in the southernmost part of Simcoe county. Northern Shrikes were noted by several birders who contacted me this weekend. while Allan Roitner _______________________________________________ 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/
