Looking for Snowy Owls

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Took my 5 year old to Col Sam Smith Park this AM in search of a snowy owl... no luck :-(

He REALLY wants to see his favourite bird! Any suggestions of where and when to look is VERY MUCH appreciated!

Also anyone know of more of an online realtime Toronto bird sighting page? ebird seems to lag by a few days...

Thanks!
Bernard

[Rotarran]

You can try your luck at Downsview Park.  There are 2 known Snowies there.  

Or if it doesn't matter to him whether he sees them in the wild or not, you can go to the Toronto Sportsmen Show which has a raptor display set up by the Canadian Peregrine Foundation.  They have several birds of prey on display including the Snowy Owl, Great Horned Owl, Bald Eagle, Red Tailed Hawk, and a few Peregrines.

[JW Mills]

You can check Ontbirds.
While it is not Toronto-specific, some reports are posted the day of the sighting;
http://ontbirds.ca/pipermail/birdalert_ontbirds.ca/

[Trillian Flummox]

It's very sweet that your son is so keen, but how is he with binoculars? I know my own kids had trouble with binoculars until they were at least 8. As you may know there are lots of Snowy Owls to be found in Ontario this winter and many have been reported on ebird, but they are usually very skittish and will not allow anyone to approach too closely before flying away. Without binoculars or a spotting scope, they usually just look like a white/grey lump in the distance. If you are trying for any of the birds reported along the shores of Lake Ontario, they are most often found on marina docks (e.g.: Col.Sam's and Bronte Harbour in Oakville) or on the tips of jetties. Birds in farmer's fields can be hit or miss - sometimes they are close to the road on a fence post, but more often they are way out in the safety of the field. There is of course a beautiful resident Snowy at the Toronto Zoo. The enclosure allows for very good views. There is also probably at least one at the Mountsberg Conservation Area's Raptor Centre, but you might want to call to be sure.

As Zed has already suggested, you can try Ontbirds for additional reports. This is the primary resource in Ontario for rare bird reports and is used by most birders. Here's a link to the subscription page if you'd like to have reports emailed directly to you as they become available: http://ontbirds.ca/mailman/listinfo/birdalert_ontbirds.ca

Best of luck finding a Snowy Owl - and welcome to the forums!

Kris Ito

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Thanks all. Yes my son is ok with binocs and we are really eager to see a wild Snowy. He has seen captive birds at the Zoo etc. and we are hoping to have a wild encounter this winter! The search continues...

[trafficdesign]

Great pic rodbender. When was this taken? DId you see them yesterday?

[Brian Bailey]

eBird is in real time.  The delay on species like Snowy Owl is because reports of species rare for the time or location are reviewed (by volunteers) before they appear on the public map. If you sign up for rare bird alerts (there are many timing and geographic options) you will see the rare bird reports before they are reviewed.  

I find it more useful than Ontbirds in many ways, because you see reports of continuing birds that may not get reported to Ontbirds after the first few days.  

I haven't personally seem a Snowy in the past week, but the most frequent reports in Toronto lately have been from Downsview Park and Tommy Thompson Park.  

Good luck!

BB

Sent from my birdroid using Tapatalk.

[btilc]

I went out to Downsview Park around  2:00pm this past Sunday (Feb 9th) and did a hike around the trail path. Here's what I saw...Hope this helps. Good luck.

[attachment=0:kxgx8dtm]Snowy Owl.jpg[/attachment:kxgx8dtm]

[nkwali]

I was out at Downsview park today and found a snowy on one of the mounds on the circuit trail.  
Not much else out at that time - around 2:30 pm.