Kingston, Ontario - winter owl trip report
The 2004 - 2005 great owl irruption continues as the owls make their way east. This trip is part II for me after a sojourn to MN in early Dec.
Dates: Friday, Jan.28 to Sunday, Jan. 30, 2005.
Participants: David LaPuma, Inga Parker, Ben Baiser, Chris Herz, Diane Boyd, and myself - Sandra Keller in two vehicles. Also known as the "Gang of six" for reasons I probably won't fully reveal!
Our gracious and patient hosts: Joel and Marian Ellis of Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Thanks so much for taking us around to the birds Joel! And thanks for the hospitality Marian. Above and beyond.
The owls: 2 Snowy, 1 Boreal, 1 Hawk, and 3 Great Gray. 5 Pine Grosbeaks. 3 Northern shrikes. 33 species in all. Other highlights would be the Common Mergs at the ferry terminals, the 2 Rough-legged Hawks, the many Tree Sparrows, a lingering Brown Thrasher, Black-capped Chickadees eating out of our hands, and many Snow Buntings on Amhurst Island. A Kestrel 10 ft. from our cars on Wolfe Island.
The background: Joel intrigued me on his stories of Amhurst Island. He invited me up last April. I accepted. Little did we realize that this would be the best owl irruption in 25 years! No Great Grays in the area for the last 8 years.
The weather: ground was snow-covered after the 1-23 storm that hit the entire east coast. It was much warmer than it had been though. Was below zero some days before we arrived. Our weekend was around 30 degrees during the days. Warm!
The details: I am not 100% sure of the timing from south Jersey as I picked up Chris, drove to Diane's in Hillsborough, we switched to her comfortable Dodge Caravan, then headed to 81 and north. Took 8 hours to come home doing that in reverse - gives some idea of timing. Rt. 81 heads straight to the US - Canada border and the owls. Rt. 401 west after that to Kingston. Easy. Right. Probably not a good idea to let me navigate in the future! Points for Marian for waiting up till midnight until we finally showed up. Should have been in by 10:30 at the latest on Friday. At least David and crew made a good impression by arriving at a reasonable hour. Lasted for a few hours till they managed to break one of the beds! Very prepared of Joel and Marian to have a 2 x 4 handy! On a more serious note, thanks to everyone for the advice and web sites sent to me the week before. Take 2 forms of picture id, remember that not all areas take American dollars, but most do, gas is around $2.80 a gallon give or take, so fill up right before entering Canada. You will have to fill up a couple more times at least, so be prepared for the cost. We went around 1200 miles from my house back to my house. Bring seed for the chickadees. It is quite a treat to have them eating out of your hand!
Here are some web sites for those planning a trip:
http://www.birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/ONTB.html#1106093674
- Ontario Birds.
http://www.amherstisland.on.ca/ -
info for ferry service, etc. for Amhurst Island.
http://pages.ivillage.com/joey_2002/
- info on Owl Woods on Amhurst Island.
http://members.rogers.com/larry.neily/birding.htm
- a site for Ottawa birding.
http://www.ofo.ca/ - Ontario Field
Ornithologists.
Be sure to research what's been around as locations for the owls and winter
finches have been changing. They move around.
Sat - Jan.29 - morning - Amhurst Island - I was a bit shocked at the frozen
lake, not knowing the area, I even thought for a few moments that we couldn't
get across! Not true - the ferries are part ice-breaker. 
I have never been up here to Amhurst Island and didn't know how the birding
"worked" so to speak. I thought once the owls got here, they stayed.
Not true in a big way! One - they do move onwards off the island and two - they
move around to different day roost areas quite frequently! Joel actually comes
here 3 times a week to see what's around - that's how much it changes. Well,
unfortunately, the past few days not much was around! We did encounter other
birders coming out of Owl Woods who had just seen a Boreal Owl. That lightened
the load on my heart at least! One was here! Took awhile to find. It was in a
dense stand of Short-needled Pine Trees about 15 ft. above the ground and 6
inches from the trunk. Ben - here after forever known as "Boreal Ben"
- found it -after another of our party walked right under it! Don't worry Mike -
it wasn't me - if there's one around in NJ on 2-13 in my area, I will find it! 
If we had continued searching, a Saw-whet Owl was further down the woods. Found
by other birders. But time seems to fly in Ontario with the short day length and
the great distances. It was time to move on and check the island for Snowy Owl.
Not today for us. Since no Great Gray on the island, once we were back on the
mainland, we went looking. It was already mid-afternoon. For those planning a
trip up here, please keep that in mind: time does get eaten up. Owl Woods has to
be searched every day since the owls do move around. Plus driving and looking
around the rest of the island. One Northern Shrike was on County Rd. 14 north of
Highway 2. We had 3 Great Grays around the town of Enterprise. We had an owl on
each road we traveled around Enterprise including county road 14. Many more are
in the vicinity. We met up with another couple - Major and Diane Bowes whom Joel
promised to lead to a Great Gray. All three owls we saw were actually not the
one that Joel was taking us too! More had come in. David and I took some good
digiscope shots - like I was able to in MN - but Diane had really nice equipment
and got some fantastic shots that she agreed to allow me to use in my trip
report. These next two pics are taken by Diane and cannot be used without her
permission. 
My favorite birding moment from the trip was when our first Great Gray caught
something, killed it, then proceeded to eat it. The whole process took 30
seconds. Flew off its perch down to the snow, caught it, flew back up, killed
it, then swallowed it in two seconds and two gulps! What a sight! Diane caught
some of it. 
.
The five Pine Grosbeaks flew into a tree right here and began to feed. Sometimes
you just get lucky!
That was it for the day. Back to Joel and Marian's for beer and dinner. Thanks
again Marian - I have rarely eaten so well on a birding trip! She even went out
and bought soy milk for Chris and myself.
Sunday - Jan. 30 - morning - a two hour drive to Welcome near Port Hope for
the Hawk Owl. Just head west on 401 to exit 461. Then head north. Make a left on
Highway 2 and go about ½ mile. Start looking! 
This is a busy road for those going after the owl. Watch yourselves. Enjoyed the
Owl and took pics for 30 minutes or so. 
.
Here are David, Inga, and Ben enjoying the Hawk Owl. Then headed back to the
Kingston area. Drive times! If we had seen the Snowy Owl in the Kingston Field
Naturalist property on Amhurst Island. we would have stopped at a feeder near
Kingston for Redpolls and Siskins. But owls were first on this trip. We spent
the afternoon on Wolfe Island where we saw a Snowy Owl. The second Snowy for the
trip was found by David and crew back across the border in NY somewhere. And
what a picture he got of it! On your web site I presume, David? Too late for the
Redpolls at the feeder after we got back to the mainland, so just hit Joel's,
loaded the cars and started the journey home. Left at 3:45PM.
Thanks again to the rest of the "Gang of six" and Joel and Marian.
Yes, I will be back for Amhurst Island again. In a few years. And I promise not
to leave anything behind like this time! Mail whenever. 
.
Myself, Diane, Chris, Ben, David, and Inga. Thanks to a fellow birder - George
from Toronto - we met at the Hawk Owl spot for taking the shot. Getting a group
shot isn't easy!
Questions, comments, etc. please email me below.
Sandra Keller
skeller@snip,net
Barrington, NJ