The Ottawa River Migratory Corridor - Ottawa West with Tony Beck

Thursday Sep 2, 7:30am

Today it was Rick, Heather, Chris, Tony, Nina and me. We met at Andrew Haydon Park, east. With the low river level, we were able to walk right out to where a couple of other birders were photographing sandpipers. It turned out they were five Baird’s Sandpipers, and with the good light, we were able to photograph them too.

We of course saw other things too – Killdeer, Semi-palmated Plovers, Least Sandpiper, Great Blue Heron, Mallard, Great Black-backed Gull, Ring-billed Gull & Herring Gull.

Two American Crows were chasing a Sharp-shinned Hawk, or was it perhaps a juvenile Cooper’s Hawk.

We moved on to Shirley’s Bay and, at the parking lot, we saw a Northern Cardinal, an American Robin, a Hairy Woodpecker, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, a Downy Woodpecker and a small flock of Cedar Waxwings. The three woodpeckers were in the same tree!

We hiked along the shore to the dike, spotting an adult Osprey along the way. Tony also heard a Veery calling. When we got to the dike, Rick spotted an adult Bald Eagle way off in the distance. It didn’t take long to spot a Whimbrel and get it in the scope.

We also saw Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal and an immature Bald Eagle. Tony could hear Bobolinks overhead. A spotless Spotted Sandpiper came in fairly close, as did a Merlin.

We counted 13 Great Egrets way off in the distance. More Baird’s Sandpipers flew back and forth. We saw several Belted Kingfishers and a Sharp-shinned Hawk.

We got into a bunch of Warblers, mostly Palm and a single Wilson’s. There were Eastern Phoebes there too. Tony spotted a House Wren, which finally came out into the open. Heather was delighted by a Viceroy butterfly.

We kept going on the dike. We could see a male Wood Duck, then 3 Wilson’s Snipe and 2 Black-bellied Plovers. There were lots of Double-crested Cormorants. Another Bald Eagle flew out onto the river.

On the way back, we saw one of the Great Egrets fly in much closer.

Then we saw more Northern Parulas and another Wilson’s plus a Black and White and a Yellow-rumped Warbler.. A couple of Belted Kingfishers kept flying overhead. Tony pointed out 2 Wilson’s Phalaropes.and we saw a female Northern Harrier cruise the far shore.

We took the trail out to the road. We saw a deer, another Northern Parula, a Northern Flicker, a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and a Scarlet Tanager.