Short-eared owls are one of the target species for our winter raptor tour. (©Aaron Winters)
A quick update — we have a couple of spots still available for the winter raptor fundraising tour we’re running at the end of the month with Destination: Wildlife, from Jan. 31-Feb. 7 in upstate New York and southern Ontario. (These dates are a slight shift from what we originally proposed, so doublecheck your calendars.) You can find costs and a detailed itinerary here. A portion of the tour fee is a tax-deductible donation to Project SNOWstorm, so you can support our work while watching rough-legged hawks, northern harriers, short-eared owls and (we hope) snowy owls, too.
3 Comments on “Still Time to Join Our Winter Raptors Tour”
Yay! We are so excited for this winter adventure
…..and honeymoon
#raptorsorbust
Wow – that’s an amazing way to celebrate a honeymoon! Congratulations!
Many thanks for a wonderful inaugural Winter Raptors Tour to upstate New York and Ottawa, Canada! We had a great time and learned a lot. We met in Saratoga, New York and drove north to explore Point Peninsula and the Ashland Flats Wildlife Management Area. Then we crossed the border into Kingston, Canada for exploration of Amelia and Wolf Islands, then onto to Algonquin Provincial Park!
Although the snowy owls never did not show up, we got great views of short-eared owls (14 at one time!) hunting in an open field. Cooper’s, sharp-shinned, red-tailed hawks, Northern harriers, American kestrels and more showed off their hunting techniques as we watched. And then there were the swans (trumpeter and whistling) a myriad of ducks ( I love the long-tails!), wintering songbirds, and so many others.
One highlight was the surprise appearance of a flock of snow buntings rising up from an “empty” field! We watched breathless as they seem to hop-skip en-mass across the flat, snowy landscape.
Later we headed to Canada’s Algonquin Provincial Park to check out birds of the boreal forest. There we got surprisingly close up views of red AND white-winged crossbills side by side! They stayed well long enough for our guide, Kim Rising, to give us a good overview in their similarities and differences. We even found a black-backed woodpecker and caught a spruce grouse placidly making its way along the forest floor.
All in all it was a wonderful time – we learned lots about snowy owl wintering habitat, saw a plethora of bird species, enjoyed new friends (and great cuisine in Kingston) and most importantly: we raised money for Project SNOWStorm for the continued study our beloved snowy owls! And next year, hopefully, the snowies will be back!! We will be. Join us for fun and to help Project SNOWstorm!
Many Thanks to Project SNOWstorm, our guides, our new snowy owl-loving friends and all who made this wonderful trip possible.