Sunday, Jan 10 8:00 am
About 15 hardy souls met at Lincoln Heights Shopping Centre and organized car pools. Bernie presented a couple of options from which we chose to go to the Québec side to look for eagles and other raptors.
To give time for the thermals to develop, we stopped at Deschenes Rapids to check for ducks. There were a fair smattering of Common Goldeneye and a single male Hooded Merganser. A lone Canada Goose appeared to have lost its mate to a predator. 
After scoping by the river, we were quite chilled, so a stop at Tim Horton’s was welcome.
From there we headed out to the Eardly-Masham Road, rendezvousing at the restaurant at the corner, where we noted a number of Blue Jays and Common Ravens. We drove up into the Gatineau Park, stopping only once to view a Red-tailed Hawk.
We made three stops inside the park, but it was deadly quiet. So we returned to the base of the escarpment to look for eagles.
We took Bradley Road, then Kennedy, 6th Concession and Wilson. We stopped at a feeder and observed a Hairy woodpecker, lots of Blue Jays and Black-capped Chickadees, a few American Goldfinches and a Mourning Dove.
On to Steele Line, bordering the escarpment. Finally the caravan of vehicles pulled up opposite a farm house, where Bernie pointed out two perched Bald Eagles in a tree beside the farm, one full adult, and the other a second or third year.
There was a flock of about 300 Snow Buntings at the same location. 
The younger eagle took off and flew over the road towards the escarpment, where we saw another Bald Eagle perched on high. Then Bernie saw a fourth, far in the distance.
We turned down Chemin Lac des Loups to check another feeder, but the results were not thrilling, unless you like Hairy Woodpeckers.
We retraced our steps to check for more eagles, meeting Bob Cermak, Chris Lewis, Bob Bracken & company en route. Bernie got a hot tip from them, so we proceed directly to Bradley Road and stopped at a distant feeder. We were rewarded by the presence of about 15 Evening Grosbeaks. Much joy, as the winter finches are exceedingly scare this year.
We continued on Bradley past Eardley-Masham Road, where we saw three White-tailed Deer cross in front. On the right side, there were more deer and about 60 Wild Turkeys in the field.
That was the end of our day, but on turning the car around ,we spotted another Red-tailed Hawk up on the escarpment.
About 15 hardy souls met at Lincoln Heights Shopping Centre and organized car pools. Bernie presented a couple of options from which we chose to go to the Québec side to look for eagles and other raptors.
To give time for the thermals to develop, we stopped at Deschenes Rapids to check for ducks. There were a fair smattering of Common Goldeneye and a single male Hooded Merganser. A lone Canada Goose appeared to have lost its mate to a predator. After scoping by the river, we were quite chilled, so a stop at Tim Horton’s was welcome.From there we headed out to the Eardly-Masham Road, rendezvousing at the restaurant at the corner, where we noted a number of Blue Jays and Common Ravens. We drove up into the Gatineau Park, stopping only once to view a Red-tailed Hawk.
We made three stops inside the park, but it was deadly quiet. So we returned to the base of the escarpment to look for eagles.We took Bradley Road, then Kennedy, 6th Concession and Wilson. We stopped at a feeder and observed a Hairy woodpecker, lots of Blue Jays and Black-capped Chickadees, a few American Goldfinches and a Mourning Dove.
On to Steele Line, bordering the escarpment. Finally the caravan of vehicles pulled up opposite a farm house, where Bernie pointed out two perched Bald Eagles in a tree beside the farm, one full adult, and the other a second or third year.
There was a flock of about 300 Snow Buntings at the same location. The younger eagle took off and flew over the road towards the escarpment, where we saw another Bald Eagle perched on high. Then Bernie saw a fourth, far in the distance.We turned down Chemin Lac des Loups to check another feeder, but the results were not thrilling, unless you like Hairy Woodpeckers.
We retraced our steps to check for more eagles, meeting Bob Cermak, Chris Lewis, Bob Bracken & company en route. Bernie got a hot tip from them, so we proceed directly to Bradley Road and stopped at a distant feeder. We were rewarded by the presence of about 15 Evening Grosbeaks. Much joy, as the winter finches are exceedingly scare this year.
We continued on Bradley past Eardley-Masham Road, where we saw three White-tailed Deer cross in front. On the right side, there were more deer and about 60 Wild Turkeys in the field. That was the end of our day, but on turning the car around ,we spotted another Red-tailed Hawk up on the escarpment.
Its nice to see the photos of people birding.
ReplyDeleteWe aren't the only crazy ones out there willing to endure harsh winds and cold temperatures for the chance to get a brief view of a beautiful bird.