Great horned owl, Snow buntings at the Spit, Feb 16 (pic)

[Andreas Jonsson]

Having failed to find the Western grebe at Ashbrisges Park this morning I decided to head over to Leslie Street spit and ended up spending the entire day there in beautiful weather. I ended up vernturing off the beaten path quite a bit. For example I had a close look at the Cormorant and Night heron colony, as it is now accessible during the "off-season". It is truly an amazing place. I recommend anyone who hasn't been down there yet, to have a look.

Birds. Not a whole lot, but a few nice ones:

Great horned owl [pic below]
Snow bunting (4) [pic below]
White-winged scooter (20)
Am. tree sparrow (20)
Am. kestrel (3)
Red-tailed hawk (one individual seen on three occasions)

[Howieh]

My son and I also were at the spit on Monday and both of us got some pretty good shots of the GHO. Unfortunately we went to the Bluffs first and by the time we got to the spit it was after 4pm. We 'power walked' to the Yacht club road, hoping the sun wouldn't be too low if and when we found the GHO, and our luck was in. I stopped once to 'shoot' the kestral who was about halfway to the owl and two people reported seeing the snowy owl but it was getting close to sunset so we didn't bother looking for him. Weather (and wife!) permitting we may try again this weekend.