Wednesday, August 18, 2010
This time we brought our bikes to be able to cover the entire sector (one can take a pontoon ferry to the Plaisance sector, but we had enough without it).
Actually, it was quite a challenge to take scope, tripod, cameras, lunch and binoculars on our bicycles. We were laden down and moved rather slowly.
We stopped briefly at the first tower without going up. All was quiet in the ponds except for a Chipping Sparrow, a Song Sparrow and a Yellow Warbler. We did not bother setting up the scope at this time – it’s time would come. Barbara explored the Ottawa River shore too. We were just remounting our bikes when an American Bittern flushed from the river shore, right where we had been looking. A male American Goldfinch perched cooperatively on a cat tail at the side of the trail. 
We biked a km or so and came to a little bridge over a small river that enters the Ottawa. We dismounted as a Belted Kingfisher flew out of a shrub and down to the river. An Eastern Kingbird was on the next shrub. 
Then, unexpectedly, the American Bittern flushed again. This time I snapped a couple of really blurry photos. 
We also saw the first of many Great Blue Herons.
We biked along through a deciduous forest bordering the river, without seeing too much. We took the grassy side trail out to the second tower and got all our equipment and lunch out to have up on the tower. At first there seemed to be nothing, but we finally saw some distant Wood Ducks and a Painted Turtle. Then a juvenile Red-necked Grebe popped up in the distance, and an adult Pied-billed Grebe came much closer.
A female Northern Harrier and several Great Blue Herons entertained us on the far side of the lagoon.
We were joined on the tower by a francophone couple who had hiked from the pontoon landing. They knew nothing about birds, so were quite appreciative of the “crash course” and a chance to look at the grebes and a Belted Kingfisher in the scope. A Merlin came by and scared everything off.
We left them and continued the short distance to the end of the trail (pontoon landing dock). There were Cedar Waxwings in a tree near the dock and a Song Sparrow was flitting in the bushes beside it.
While biking back, a Northern Flicker jumped off and away, and also an unidentified shorebird. We almost went right past the Merlin that was perched in a dead tree. There were about 20 Ring-billed Gulls perched on a log at the mouth of the small river.
We returned to the first tower and got out the scope. There were several Wood Ducks, some Mallards and a couple more Great Blue Herons. There were seemingly hundreds of Tree Swallows feasting on the insect hatch that we had encountered on our bikes. With nothing else too exciting, we decided to call it a day and biked back to the car. We had covered a grand total of 22 km over a period of 5 hours.
This time we brought our bikes to be able to cover the entire sector (one can take a pontoon ferry to the Plaisance sector, but we had enough without it).
Actually, it was quite a challenge to take scope, tripod, cameras, lunch and binoculars on our bicycles. We were laden down and moved rather slowly.
We stopped briefly at the first tower without going up. All was quiet in the ponds except for a Chipping Sparrow, a Song Sparrow and a Yellow Warbler. We did not bother setting up the scope at this time – it’s time would come. Barbara explored the Ottawa River shore too. We were just remounting our bikes when an American Bittern flushed from the river shore, right where we had been looking. A male American Goldfinch perched cooperatively on a cat tail at the side of the trail. We biked a km or so and came to a little bridge over a small river that enters the Ottawa. We dismounted as a Belted Kingfisher flew out of a shrub and down to the river. An Eastern Kingbird was on the next shrub. Then, unexpectedly, the American Bittern flushed again. This time I snapped a couple of really blurry photos. We also saw the first of many Great Blue Herons.We biked along through a deciduous forest bordering the river, without seeing too much. We took the grassy side trail out to the second tower and got all our equipment and lunch out to have up on the tower. At first there seemed to be nothing, but we finally saw some distant Wood Ducks and a Painted Turtle. Then a juvenile Red-necked Grebe popped up in the distance, and an adult Pied-billed Grebe came much closer.
A female Northern Harrier and several Great Blue Herons entertained us on the far side of the lagoon.We were joined on the tower by a francophone couple who had hiked from the pontoon landing. They knew nothing about birds, so were quite appreciative of the “crash course” and a chance to look at the grebes and a Belted Kingfisher in the scope. A Merlin came by and scared everything off.
We left them and continued the short distance to the end of the trail (pontoon landing dock). There were Cedar Waxwings in a tree near the dock and a Song Sparrow was flitting in the bushes beside it.While biking back, a Northern Flicker jumped off and away, and also an unidentified shorebird. We almost went right past the Merlin that was perched in a dead tree. There were about 20 Ring-billed Gulls perched on a log at the mouth of the small river.
We returned to the first tower and got out the scope. There were several Wood Ducks, some Mallards and a couple more Great Blue Herons. There were seemingly hundreds of Tree Swallows feasting on the insect hatch that we had encountered on our bikes. With nothing else too exciting, we decided to call it a day and biked back to the car. We had covered a grand total of 22 km over a period of 5 hours.
It was deathly quiet at Bill Mason Centre. I played tapes but got no response. There were a few Eastern Wood Pewees in the forest at the back of the boardwalk, that’s about it.
We stopped at Blue Sea Lake at the creek and tried in vain to coax out a Sora or Virginia Rail. Barbara briefly spotted the Green Heron.
On the way back, we stopped for fresh bread, and the Eastern Bluebird was present again on a hydro pole. At the creek this time, Barbara spotted a young Hooded Merganser. 
The next morning out front of the cottage, we had not one, but two Pileated Woodpeckers. The second one was shy, but I think they were both males.
I only got a glimpse of the Scarlet Tanager, but those dark wings on a bright red bird make it hard to misidentify. There were both male and female Redstarts, and the Chestnut-sided Warbler was in the same bush. 
American Crow
We tried to sneak up on the raptors without luck, but came upon a bonus pair of Eastern Meadowlarks in the field. 
We finished at noon, as we both had to get back to town.
Most of the birds were Least Sandpipers, although there were a few Yellowlegs and other species which we could not identify since they were strongly backlit.
We also saw several Eastern Kingbirds, Red-winged Blackbirds, American Goldfinches. Wood Ducks, Mallards, Great Blue Herons, Barn Swallows and Song Sparrows. 
There was a Downy Woodpecker, a Hairy Woodpecker, a White-breasted Nuthatch and a pair of Belted Kingfishers. Jane saw a Wilson’s Snipe. 
We saw Yellow Warblers, American Redstarts, and at least one Black and White and Nashville Warbler. The ladies saw a Canada Warbler too. We heard a Warbling Vireo. 
There were several pairs of Baltimore Orioles and a bunch of juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers.
A couple of guys arrived with a small boat, which they put in. They seemed to have no gear other than a sheet of plywood, so we are not sure what they were doing or where they went.
We had a Belted Kingfisher fly past, and Barbara discovered some more Marsh Wrens in the dense vegetation. 
There were no Black Terns, which was somewhat surprising. After a lot of looking, we spotted a couple of immature Common Moorhens.
Turkey Vulture
American Coot
Mallard
Green Heron 
European Starling
There wasn’t much else, so we moved on to Chemin Galipeau, where we found a whole family of young Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. 
At Arsenault’s, we were surprised to see an Eastern Bluebird. 
The next day, at a party on the lake, we heard that a family of Merlins was on the next bay of the lake. So we headed over for a visit to Sandy & Roberta and guests John & Shaleigh. It took a while, but they did show up for some good views. 
Later that day, we did a loon count, and found no change. There was one pair with a single chick and another pair with two. The young are getting bigger, so will likely survive.
