Shorebirds and Waterfowl - The Eastern Lagoons - Ottawa East with Tony Beck

Thursday Oct 7, 7:30am  We met at Petrie Island – Rick, Bob, Nina, Tony & me.

There were some nice male Wood Ducks in the west marsh today along with the usual Mallards and American Black Ducks. There were also some shy Green-winged Teal.

On the east side, we noted many European Starlings, Dark-eyed Juncos and a few Yellow-rumped Warblers. We proceeded down to the beach to look for the immature Laughing Gull which had been reported the day before; but it had departed.

Tony did spot a Semi-palmated Plover and two juvenile Sanderling running along the beach, which I spent considerable time photographing.

We moved back along the road and saw a Downy Woodpecker, a Blue-headed Vireo and Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets.

Hiking back by the causeway, we saw a Song Sparrow and a Hermit Thrush.

We flushed a Great Blue Heron, and saw a Red-tailed Hawk being harassed by American Crows. We could hear a number of Red-winged Blackbirds and American Robins in the bushes.

We tried to park at the Park & Ride, but it was full again. So we went to Tim Hortons, had a coffee, and left my van there for the rest of the morning.

Our next stop was Giroux Ponds, where we saw an American Kestrel hovering over the fields. It was being mobbed by some little birds, perhaps pipits.

At the ponds, there was as ingle Hudsonian Godwit – a rarity in Ottawa. Sharing space on the gravel spit were several American Golden Plovers and Black-bellied Plovers and a few Dunlin. There was also a White-rumped Sandpiper.

There was also a Great Blue Heron, a Blue Jay, a couple of Common Mergansers and a Pied-billed Grebe.

We went to Embrun Sewage Lagoons next, where we saw a Ruddy Duck and some Northern Shovellers.

  In the far cell, we saw a couple of Redheads, two White-winged Scoters, some Ring-necked Ducks, and a Blue-winged Teal.  We could make out some Lesser Scaup and a Gadwall.

We went back via Milton Road, but did not see any Sandhill Cranes this time. We returned to Giroux, but could not relocate the Godwit. We did see a huge flock of shorebirds flying to the east and come down in a field. We drove over to investigate, but could only find a few Kildeers.