Gatineau Park and Wakefield

Thursday, Feb 17. 7:45 am

I picked up Nina at home and then we met Bob and Rick at the Coliseum.

We all went with Bob. Our first stop was Bate Island where we saw a few ducks - Mallards, Common Goldeneye and a male Common Merganser.

We drove up through Gatineau Park to Chelsea, turning at Pine Road to Cross Loop, then Cowden. We go out and hiked as far as the bridge. Bob remarked that all the houses have now been demolished by the NCC. They were all expropriated in the 1970s for a zoo site, which never went ahead.

We saw and heard several Common Ravens. Rick could hear a woodpecker tapping rather loudly, but we could not locate it. He figured it was a Pileated that he saw fly overhead. There were tons of Blue Jays in the fields and we saw one Hairy Woodpecker fly in, then another one. There were also some Common Redpolls in the treetops. Nina spotted a White-breasted Nuthatch, and we all got on it.

Down by the bridge, Rick heard Bohemian Waxwings, and sure enough, a small flock flew overhead.

We returned to the car and proceeded along Cross Loop Road. Bob showed us his old house, which is now empty and used for radon gas monitoring experiments. Just before the covered bridge, we saw two Mourning Doves by the side of the road.

We got out and scanned the fields. Another group of Bohemian Waxwings flew over and Bob spotted a Northern Shrike in the distance. We motored on, and Bob saw another Northern Shrike. We turned left onto Hwy 105, then into Subway for coffee and a bathroom break.

We turned onto Hwy 366, then right on Ch. des Erables towards Rupert, and Bob's next house (we never did make it). We saw bunch of Rock Pigeons on a barn, but none of the three Bald Eagles that Bob and Nina had seen before showed up this time. We turned right at Rupert and made our way back to the main highway via Ch. Shouldice and Ch. MacLaren.