5111rd@nvuxr.UUCP (R. DITCH) (03/04/88)
New Jersey Audubon Society's Owl Haven Nature Center recently ran an impromptu van trip to Ontario to look for owls and other winter species in the vicinity of Amherst Island. We left on Friday morning, February 26, and returned in the afternoon of Monday, February 29. The group consisted of 10 people; we traveled about 1400 miles total. Although the trip list totaled only fifty species for the four days, it included close views of five Snowy Owls (one in close pursuit of a Kestrel that had just caught a vole in the owl's territory), four Short-eared Owls, at least thirty Rough-legged Hawks, one Saw-whet Owl, a Boreal Owl, three Northern Shrikes, hundreds of Common Redpolls, and two dozen Gray Partridges. The trip favorite, however, was a Northern Hawk-Owl that put on a splendid display chasing another Kestrel for about an hour. Richard Ditch Bellcore Red Bank, NJ (201) 758-2284