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Outdoors in the Land O'Lakes - February 28 2008

Over-Wintering Bald Eagles on Lake Ontario

Outdoors in the Land O'Lakes by Lorraine Julien

Instead of my usual column, the Frontenac Stewardship Council, on behalf of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Bird Studies Canada, has forwarded the following information regarding Bald Eagles for your information. More detailed information is available at the FSC website address shown below. The following reformatted Fact Sheet was provided by Bird Studies Canada:

Lake Ontario is an ideal place for Bald Eagles to spend the winter. They can often be seen around ice-free waters in groups, feeding on some of their main winter food: deer carcass or waterfowl. These eagles have often traveled from far-away northern places, and good over-wintering habitat is critical to their survival.

What should I do if I see a Bald Eagle in the winter?

  • Do not approach roosting eagles, whether on foot, vehicle, snowmobile or boat

  • Do not get close to eagles. Use binoculars for a better view.

  • Report locations with four or more eagles between December and March, as this may reveal an important winter roost site.

  • Look for and report coloured leg bands

If you see four or more eagles in one location, this could indicate important over-wintering habitat. Please access the following website where a survey form will be available to report your observations and also a letter from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources which gives an overview of the project.

www.ontariostewardship.org/ontariostewardship/home/osFSCIndex.asp

For more information, you can also check out the following:


Observations: It would seem as though winter may be finally drawing to a close as bird activity seems to be really increasing based on a flurry of messages from readers recently:

  • Bald Eagle - Rick and Jody Foran observed a Bald Eagle on Family Day, February 18 near their cottage on Farm Lake.

  • Northern Goshawk - Pat and Randy Shirley reported seeing a Northern Goshawk near their home on Sunday Lake during the storm on February 1. They also reported that a pair of Barred Owls had a nest last year near their home and successfully raised one youngster.

  • Barred Owl – Jon Davidson has sent me a great picture of a Barred Owl which he photographed near Station Road, Maberly. Karen Thomson has also sent a picture of a Barred Owl which was taken in December along Wolfe Swamp Road. Perhaps we can include these pictures in an upcoming column when there is space.

  • Saw Whet Owl – Debbie Twiddy recently had a Saw Whet Owl visiting her feeder near Bellrock.

  • Golden Crowned Kinglet – Ron Hipfner saw a Golden Crowned Kinglet in early February about 6 km. north of Sydenham and heard at least one other nearby.

Please feel free to report any observations to to Steve Blight at natureobservations@rogers.com or Lorraine Julien at outdoor1@look.ca