Woodland Trails and Open Fields - Ottawa West with Tony Beck

Tuesday Oct 6, 7:30am

We met at the Jack Pine Trail and ventured into Stony Swamp. We quickly spotted a Ruby-crowned Kinglet and heard a Red-breasted Nuthatch. Things were quiet for a bit, and then Tony heard then spotted a Purple Finch perched high up in the open.
From the second stretch of boardwalk, we saw some Mallards and a single Green-winged Teal. We could also hear a White-breasted Nuthatch. Then a late Solitary Sandpiper flew in, and also a Belted Kingfisher. Continuing along the trail, we heard a Greater Yellowlegs, a Brown Creeper and a Pileated Woodpecker. We cut back to the feeder area and saw a White-throated Sparrow and a Golden-crowned Kinglet on the way back to the cars. We decided to make a stop at Burnside Pit. There were four gull species, Bonaparte, Great-black Backed, Herring and Ring-billed. A nice male Ring-necked Duck was attended by a couple of females. Several Pied-billed Grebes could be seen, and also a Double-crested Cormorant. Tony spotted a little Downy Woodpecker fly across the road and land in a bush nearby.

We decided to cruise the back roads around Richmond, to see if we could find any unusual geese among the flocks of Canadas. We made several stops to scan the fields without turning anything up. On Brownlee Road, we saw a White-crowned Sparrow a Song Sparrow, a warbler (Palm?), and a Yellow-rumped Warbler in the bushes beside the road. Tony scoped a Savannah Sparrow and we had an American Pipit fly over. We cruised several more back roads closer to North Gower, seeing only a few more Pipits.

So we went back to Burnside Pit, where the light was now better. Tony spotted a single Snow Goose and we scoped it. There were three Lesser Scaup females, and several distant Ruddy Ducks. Somehow, Tony spotted a Red-tailed Hawk far on the other side of the pit, and got it in the scope.

A couple of American Coots briefly emerged from the reeds, and then we saw three Cackling Geese among the Canadas. Finally I saw a Greater Yellowlegs near the Coots, and spotted a Great Blue Heron camouflaged up on the shore.