Inspired by the huge numbers of Roughlegs, Redtails, Snowy Owls tallied on the Linwood CBC and with help of brilliant maps and directions from compiler Ken Burrell six of us made the 1½ hour trek from Toronto yesterday. Cruising sunny backroads mainly north of Linwood, west of Elmira we tallied only 14 Roughlegs (6 dark, 8 light, several black and white band-tailed adults), 10 Redtails and three Snowy Owls (two pure white males). Clearly recent snowfalls had driven most raptors farther south. One Northern Shrike (not recorded on the count). We also observed scattered flocks of Horned Larks ~300. One flock of ~300 Snow Buntings was feeding in a White Sweet Clover field with many individuals bouncing high up on the stalks. Seeing forty steaming horses and buggies parked at an Amish meeting house was the highlight for me. A pleasant birding diversion for a cold winter day.
GEo Bryant _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide Visit the OFO Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists
