Snowy Owl still at Downsview - Apr 18, 2014

[Rotarran]

I was quite shocked to see a Snowy Owl today at Downsview Park and in plain view.  It was basically at the bottom of the biggest hill just across the train tracks.  Here's a pic:


Also of note were some Swamp Sparrows, a Kingfisher, the Winter Wren again and a couple of Caspian Terns harassing some Canada Geese.  

I don't know what was more shocking, seeing the Snowy or almost not seeing one Red Tailed Hawk all day.  

Complete checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S17948284

[Dinusaur]

Wow, that's quite a find. I wonder if it is the same owl we saw earlier in the season or is it a different one migrating back from south and making a stop-over. You got a great set of birds. I went there this afternoon around 5 after the light drizzle; saw my first savannah sparrow.

[thouc]

The one I saw at Downsview in the winter was a much more heavily barred Snowy Owl than this bird.

[Rotarran]

Yeah I went through my photos of Snowies from this winter @ Downsview and both Snowies I observed looked quite a bit different than this one.  I do think it's very likely that it's one passing through from somewhere further south.

[Dinusaur]

I saw him this morning, sitting on the top of a grey building just south of the soccer field and east of train track. And there's no sign of red-tailed hawks; saw two kestrels, a lot of tree swallows and savannah sparrows. Couldn't find the winter wren or the swamp sparrows.

[Napper]

Yeah, I saw what looked like a Snowy On the Windsock beside the runway during that snowy morning last week it was 5:40 am.

The windsock is on the airport side of the fence looking East from the Fire station on Beffort Rd.

The Owl was facing the wind with tail feathers up trying to hold on or just about to take flight.

There were at least two Snowy's at Downsview all winter,  One was pure white, the other heavily barred.

Napper  :|

[Rotarran]

The two I saw and photographed earlier in the winter are the following:

Dec 8, 2013


March 16, 2014


Definitely don't think it's the 2nd one.  The 1st one is possible, but only if its plumage whitened in the nearly 5 month difference and gained a substantial amount of weight.  Anything is possible I suppose but we also have to take into consideration that a Snowy hasn't been seen for over a month at Downsview until yesterday and it was the younger and more heavily barred one at that.  So the time difference is likely even greater.  At the moment I'm leaning towards it being a north-bound migrant from one of the Lake Ontario bays that has decided to make a stop-over at Downsview.