Petrie Island & Migratory Staging Areas - Ottawa East with Tony Beck

Tuesday Apr 26, 7:30am

On this cold windy and wet day we had Peter, Bob, Heather, Tony and me.  I had to use the plastic sleeve to protect my camera from the drizzle.

There were a lot of Tree Swallows flitting around today.  We heard an American Bittern in the distance, and, incredibly, Tony got it in the scope.  Also at the back of the marsh were several Green-winged Teals and Wood Ducks.  The Heather saw a male Northern Shoveller and Tony saw a Gadwall and a Northern Pintail.

We heard a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker calling.  A pair of Mallards and a Great Blue Heron flew over.  Peter heard a Wilson's Snipe winnowing, then we saw a couple fly up.  On the other side of the causeway, we saw some Buffleheads and Ring-necked Ducks, also a Common Raven.  Then we saw a Beaver.

Tony got the American Bittern in the scope again, and we all had brief looks.  We saw some Common Mergansers and a Downy Woodpecker, and briefly, a Belted Kingfisher.  Then we saw three Downy Woodpeckers together and a female Brown-headed Cowbird.

We saw a White-breasted Nuthatch and heard several sapsuckers. Once again, we spotted several Wood Ducks.  We saw a couple of Hooded Mergansers and several Song Sparrows.

We saw many Tree Swallows and were able to pick out some Northern Rough-wing Swallows too.  We also saw Dark-eyed Juncos.  Then we saw a Common Loon flying and another one on the water.  There was also a distant Osprey on the Quebec side, then a Great Blue Heron in breeding plumage.

We decided to warm up by cruising he back roads.  We saw some Wild Turkeys on Giroux.  We got out in a heavy drizzle to kook at Fox Sparrows and some Rusty Blackbirds.  We saw one Field Sparrow and several American Tee Sparrows.  We saw a Killdeer, a Wilson’s Snipe, and a Savannah Sparrow.  At the ponds, we saw four Double-crested Cormorants, which I thought at first were loons.

The Greater Snow Gees were still at Frank Kenny by Bear Brook.  We could also see Green-winged Teals, Northern Pintails and American Wigeons in with the geese.  There were lots of blue morph geese mixed in.  On the way back, we saw a close Great Blue Heron at the corner of Wall Road.