Yes, the snow and the cold winds do blow, BUT I was rewarded today/Friday with a) several sortees by 2 different N.Shrikes AND, at 1045 I heard a commotion behind me; looking around I saw this marvelous hawk sweeping down the pathway toward me, as all of the squirrels and feeding passerines "froze"-- a dark-morph ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK glided just above my head, continuing eastward over the wetlands, perching briefly on an alder tree, then lifting off to come back westward. Other than that great incident the only other raptors were 1 adult Red-tailed, a male N.Harrier , 1 resident Harrier and 1 Cooper's. IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THEM, COME DOWN THIS WEEKEND !!-- I counted over 30 from the viewing platform, and another 20 from the north platform--- pyramidal muskrat push-ups are being revealed as the cattails die down. As I said, come see them, AND offer an opinion as to what they bode for the wetlands. I did NOT see or hear Crossbills this AM. The official close to the 2005 Raptor Watch is Wednesday, Nov.30. Hall's Rd. leads south from Victoria St. in southwest Whitby-- drive down to the second roadside parking area. Doug Lockrey, coordinator CMRW www.pickeringnaturalists.org