Ottawa Area Birding

August 19, 2025

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

Bill, Barbara, Craig and Ian met at my place and we drove to Moodie Pond, but not directly, road closure on Borrisokane Road, so we had to go through Half Moon Bay. Our first stop was at the water catchment pond in Half Moon Bay, where we saw lots of Mallards, Canada Geese and Ring-billed Gulls. We got to Moodie Pond and Bill found us three otters, unfortunately too far for photos. Hopefully Ian's video will be readable to all, fingers crossed. Nothing special on the pond, only species to be added were Double-crested Cormorant and a Cedar Waxwing wing that Barbara found for us.

Our expectations were high when we drove into the parking lot at Richmond Lagoons. But when we got to the first lagoon, no water, just almost dried up mud. We walked to the second lagoon, while there was water, not very much, more like puddles. Ian and I saw four Least Sandpipers fly over. When Bill and I set up our scopes, he said to me the Sandpipers will be back. Positive thinker. We did find four Least Sandpipers, we did not see them fly in, but pretty sure they were the same birds. We heard a Swamp Sparrow and one flew up to a tree, but we could not locate it. While Bill and I scoped the lagoon, the others walked down to the end of the path, Craig saw a muskrat and Ian saw a Black & White Warbler and I am not sure who saw the Common Yellowthroat. All in all a big disappointment, we were hoping to see lots of shorebirds and we saw 4. I left the others to walk to the vehicles, there I saw a pair of Northern Cardinals, a Song Sparrow and heard a single Black-capped Chickadee and a Red Squirrel chatting away.

Where to go next, let's go to the stormwater pond, south of Richmond. There we saw a Killdeer, Great Blue Heron, one Tree Swallow and one Barn Swallow. We then drove down Richmond Road to Green Street and the Jock Trail to Munster Road. We stopped because we saw two very noisy raptors and then they flew, we drove a little further and we saw this accipiter flying toward us overhead. We stopped and got out of the vehicles. The accipiter kept calling, Merlin identified as a Cooper's Hawk. I tried calling it, trying different calls, one produced results, the hawk came out calling and landed momentarily on a tree. I called and it responded by coming out to investigate. Obviously it was a juvenile and wanted to see its parent. This momma (me playing Merlin) did not produce any food for the juvenile. It knew better than to stick around, it kept flying back into the confers for protection. Must say I have never ever called in a raptor in my life, it was a pretty special encounter for all of us. We continued to Kettles, no sightings. We drove back and turned on to Soldiers Line, we saw three Eastern Kingbirds and a few Wild Turkeys.

Driving Down Munster Road we saw a couple of Chipping Sparrows and a single Eastern Phoebes. We turned onto Richmond Road and yes more road work. While waiting I saw a Red-tail Hawk high in the sky. Then at another road work stoppage , I saw a woodpecker fly in, it was brown, can't be a Hairy Woodpecker. As we were motioned by, Ian very nicely drove slowly and I got one photo of the bird, it isn't the greatest photo, but the woodpecker turned out to be a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, female.

We turned onto Conoly, hoping we would see something in the marsh area, nope, pretty dried up. We stopped at the stop sign and there attached to power lines was a wasp nest. Strange. We headed to Emerald Meadows Storm pond - the first order of business was lunch. While we were eating lunch Craig pointed out a caterpillar - later identified a Virginian Tiger Moth caterpillar. Some call this caterpillar a yellow bear caterpillar - their bristles are ot poisonous, but if human skin comes into contact with the caterpillar, it could cause an irritation. A dog came along and brushed the caterpillar, it stopped its determined walk for a bit, but soon resumed its walk. Lunch entertainment!!! Craig and Barbara walked over to an area where they could see the water, Craig reported a Great Egret and a Painted Turtle. walking along the path we noticed several bushes ladened with black berries. We wondered what they were - Chokeberries. They are edible although they are named for their astringent, mouth-puckering quality when eaten. They are also known as aronia berries and are commonly consumed after processing them for jams or juices.

We drove over to another viewing area of the Stormwater Pond. There we saw a Spotted (spotless) Sandpiper on the water lilies, it was busy catching flying insects. I looked up what Spotted Sandpipers eat -- small molluscs, aquatic and terrestrial insects. The Great Egret flew in. We checked out the other side of the road, no nothing. Walking back I noticed a black bug with red legs, a cool looking bug. My app identified it as a Genus Harpalus - common name for Ground Beetle. With some research it looks like it is a strawberry seed beetle. But I could be totally wrong. If anyone can give me more information it would be appreciated (pix attached). It was a good thing we were focused on the beetle because when walking to the vehicle I saw a Belted Kingfisher annoying the Great Egret. Locals told us the Belted Kingfisher is seen in this area very regularly.

We checked out Ottawa Beach. We heard a different song from the Red-eyed Vireo. Without Merlin I would never have known it was a Red-eyed Vireo singing. We walked the path to the beach, there were people playing in the water, so we went west and found some Least Sandpipers. In the distance we also saw one Herring Gull along with Canada Geese and Mallards.

While at Ottawa Beach, we saw some Pickerelweed and some Duck Potato blooming. I really have not taken note of the Duck Potato, other names of the plant are Broadleaf Arrowhead, Indian Potato and Wapato. This plant produces edible tubers that have traditionally been extensively used by the Indigenous people of North America.

We thought it might be useful to check out the west side of the park. Barbara and Craig walked over, while the rest of us drove. Bill and I brought our scopes, oh we got to see some good birds - juvenile Black-crowned Nightheron and a Green Heron along with another Great Egret, Great Blue Heron and Wood Ducks. Then we noticed some shorebirds - Least Sandpipers and Semipalmated Sandpipers. While we were looking at the birds in the water a Red-winged Blackbird flew in, its red on the wing was very small and it was missing many of its head feathers. Ian went to photograph it and it flew to be replaced by two other Red-winged Blackbirds, but they were not interesting looking. These three Red-winged Blackbirds were the only ones we saw all day. Migration.

Time to go home leaving Bill, Barbara and Craig at Andrew Haydon Park.

Birding is so much more than looking at birds.