NCC Woodland Trails - Ottawa West with Tony Beck

Tuesday Oct 5, 7:30am.  We met at Jack Pine Trail – Tony, Nina, Rick, Bob, Anne (a new birder) and me.

We started down the trail and soon saw a female Hairy Woodpecker and a Blue Jay and a bunch of American Robins. By the time we reached the feeders (no seeds yet), we had American Crow, Canada Goose and Rock Pigeon for the day list.

After a puzzling absence, Black-capped Chickadees showed up in droves. On the trail ahead, we could see lots of Dark-eyed Juncos and some White-crowned Sparrows. We heard then spotted a Brown Creeper. Tony got us on a White-throated Sparrow and a Blue-headed Vireo. Tony played the magic machine and a Red-breasted Nuthatch came in along with a couple of Blackpoll Warblers, and a female Purple Finch. We saw a Ring-billed Gull fly over and a Swamp Sparrow in the rushes.

We went onto the boardwalk where we saw a trio of Green-winged Teal departing and a bunch of Mallards coming in along with an American Black Duck. A Pileated Woodpecker flew past and a Red-winged Blackbird was perched in a tree in the swamp.

We finally saw a White-breasted Nuthatch and an American Goldfinch on the wing. We saw a second year Great Black-backed Gull fly over too. We saw many more White-crowned Sparrows as we went around the trail. We saw a Ruby-crowned Kinglet and heard Golden-crowned Kinglets. Tony heard a Winter Wren. We got much better views of a Blue-headed Vireo.

Bob spotted a Great Blue Heron and a Song Sparrow. Tony was sure he heard a Black-backed Woodpecker, but after much searching, we could not locate it.

We departed for Burnside Pit where there were quite a few Ring-necked Ducks. Tony pointed out a couple of Greater Yellowlegs flying in. We could see a Double-crested Cormorant and at least one Pied-billed Grebe and a Red-necked Grebe. We saw a Ruddy Duck, a couple of Redheads and some Lesser Scaup. A Red-tailed Hawk was patrolling the back of the pond.