Amherst Island Trip 
February 25,1990 
Roy John 
Twenty-eight members of the OFNC braved a biting cold and unpleasant wind 
on February 25,1990 to visit Amherst Island. The first stop was at the village of 
Ivy Lea, on the shores of the St. Lawrence. There, despite our valiant efforts, 
we only managed to find a few ducks. 
Our suffering could only be overcome by a large (in some cases very large) dose 
of hot coffee and doughnuts. Thus fortified, we caught the ferry to Amherst. At 
first it began to look quite bleak, then we saw a group of windblown Horned 
Larks at the road edge. A little farther someone spotted our first hawk - a 
Rough-legged Hawk. We all tumbled out of the bus to get a better look, and dis¬ 
covered there were three Rough-legs putting on quite an aerial show. Then a 
splendid male Northern Harrier, with prey in his talons, came sailing by. As 
Colin scanned the field by the Harrier, he saw some brown, motionless lumps - 
Short-eared Owls. Every time we looked we seemed to find more, until even¬ 
tually, we counted 16 birds! One co-operative bird was so close that we actually 
saw his “ears” and yellow eyes. 
By scanning the lake-shore ice I was able to pick out what was to be our only 
Snowy Owl, a juvenile bird with much barring. It was sitting at the ice edge 
trying to warm up in the sun. 
We tried the traditional hot spots in the woods for the small owls but without 
any luck. This was the first time we missed the Saw-whet Owls on this annual 
club trip. However, one lucky member did find two shy Long-eared Owls. We 
all felt that the Short-eared Owls alone made the trip worthwhile. 
Spring Thaw with Owl 
Any bird that measures the 
fall of a drop of water 
peering studiously down at 
the soft plink in the snow 
then briefly glancing up 
as if daring me to criticize 
merits a lot of respect. 
Robert Nero 
18 
