Migrants and Nesting Birds - Ottawa West with Tony Beck

Monday, May 9, 7:30am

Today there were two new ladies, Pat and Margaret, as well as regulars Heather, Michael, Rick, Russell, Nina and Tony

A Baltimore Oriole greeted us at the parking lot at Andrew Haydon Park.  We also had Warbling Vireos, Black-capped Chickadees and Wood Ducks.

 

This time in the flooded area between sections of the park, we only got Common Grackles, European Starlings and Red-winged Blackbirds.  A Song Sparrow was singing from a low branch.

Once again, the pond had lots of Lesser Scaup.  A Yellow-rumped Warbler was singing overhead.  And a single Brant was swimming with the Canada Geese.  A male Merlin blasted past overhead.  Nina went o look at the cute goslings which were very young.

 

 

 On the river, we saw a Double-crested Cormorant by the far shore and four Great Blue Herons migrating together.  Tony spotted a drake Red-breasted Merganser moving quickly away, but Russell and I took off and got some good shots when it turned back briefly.

We moved to the hiking/ski trail off Carling near Grandview.  We got a Killdeer flying away, a Black-throated Blue Warbler, American Goldfinch and Black-capped Chickadees along the trail in the same tree.  A White-breasted Nuthatch flew in too.

We heard a Field Sparrow (ping pong ball).  Tony played the tape, and it flew back and forth checking us out, but did not really come into range.  We saw a Purple Martin and Tony heard a Brown Thrasher, which we soon spotted at the top of a tree.  We managed to annoy a Blue Jay.

We moved to Shirley's Bay, and right away, spotted two Red-necked Grebes.  On the far shore there were Buffleheads, Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked Ducks and Common Goldeneye.  We also saw a Common Loon.

We hiked around the roads playing the tape at various places.  We got another White-breasted Nuthatch to come in along with a House Wren and Downy Woodpecker.  As we got to Hilda, Rick spotted an American Redstart, which did not stick.

Under the Hilda feeders we got good numbers of White-throated Sparrows and a few White-crowned Sparrows, as well as Brown-headed Cowbirds.  The famous melanistic Eastern Chipmunk also put in an appearance. We saw a Turkey Vulture and Cooper's Hawk in the distance, then a Pileated Woodpecker did a quick fly-past.

 

 

Just as we were thinking of wrapping it up, we saw a Black-and White Warbler and a Nashville Warbler across the road.  A Great Blue Heron flew across high in the sky.  Returning to our vehicles, we saw a Killdeer by the boat launch and an Osprey back of the parking lot.