OFO Outing to Ottawa West with Mark Gawn & Bob Cermak

Saturday, January 22; 8:00 am

There was a very large crowd today, in spite of the frigid temperature. We carpooled a bit, but there were still 10 cars!

Our first stop was Hilda Feeders, where we noticed quite a few Common Redpolls, a few American Tree Sparrows and American Goldfinches, some Blue Jays, a Downy and Hairy Woodpecker, and a Northern Cardinal.

From there we went to March Valley Road, where we saw 8 to 10 Bohemian Waxwings, some feeding on buckthorn. A little further along, an adult Bald Eagle was perched near the road, but flushed to the back still in view. Even further back, high in the top of a tree was a Northern Shrike.

 

We carried on to 6th Line Road, then turned down Berry Side Road, where we saw 2 Red-tailed Hawks, one on each side of the road. We turned west on 5th Line Road, then north on Thomas Dolan to Dunrobin Road, which we followed to Constance Bay, to the street where Bruce Dilabio's parent live. Across the street, there were a bunch of feeders where a Red-bellied Woodpecker has been seen regularly (but not today). A Pileated Woodpecker did fly across for a brief view. We stayed for 30 minutes, but the star attraction did not show up. There were some more Common Redpolls high up in a tree, but, once again, no Hoarys. Some of us wandered down to the other end of the road where I saw a Dark-eyed Junco at another feeder.

We move on to Jeff Skevington's, but only American Crows and kids arriving for a birthday party greeted us. So we returned to Woodlawn and went out to Kinburn, along our frog monitoring route. Past Kinburn, near the 417, there was a field on the left with a few dozen Horned Larks.

By this time we were past due for a bathroom break, so hightailed it for the Eagleson Road Tim Hortons. It was noon, so we got a bite of lunch as well and showed out photos to some of the interested participants.

We proceeded south on Eagleson and turned onto Rushmore. Bob had seen 5 Gray Partridge here the day before, but they could not be relocated. A Red-tailed Hawk was busy feeding on something in a low tree, while American Crows sat in the upper branches.

We decided to do a loop on Shea, Brownlee and back to Rushmore. On Brownlee, we had a good flock of Lapland Longspurs, some close by on the road. There was also a fly-past of a small flock of Snow Buntings.

Our last stop was at Trail Road, at the dump. A Red-tailed Hawk was perched really close to the road, but as I aimed the camera, it took off to the fence in back. Then Jen spotted another Red-tailed Hawk back there too. The only gulls we saw were a couple of Great Black-backeds.