We met at the Park & Ride on Trim
Road. I was
first to arrive followed by Tony, Nina, Josh, Bob, Pavel, Antonia, Nikon Bob,
and three new birders just out for the day - Jacqueline and her husband, Chris
and her sister, Patricia.
Tony had spotted a Red-tailed Hawk as he drove in, and soon
had it in the scope.
There was a slight change of plans as Tony want to go west
to the Rockliffe Parkway to
look for a Great Gray Owl that had been reported. Sure enough, Tony spotted a photographer in
the files as we drove by. We had to park
a kilometre away and hike along the road, but it was well worth it. The owl was
still visible from the road.
We hiked in through the deep snow to get as close as we
dared. Suddenly, the owl rose up and we
saw a second one in behind. The two
interacted and one of them made a strange duck-like sound. They swooped back and forth a few times
before we decided it was best to leave them alone.
After hiking back to the cars, it was time for a coffee
break, so we went back to Timmy's on Trim Road
to muster for the rest of the outing.
But first, we scoped a Northern Shrike at the parking lot on the
parkway.
We went south on Trim Rd,
then onto Frank Kenny where we stopped to scope a beautiful light morph
Rough-legged Hawk. Tony said it was a
first-year bird - he could tell by the lack of banding in the tail feathers.
We carried on to Giroux Rd,
where we saw a couple of Horned Larks eating the grit on the road. A little further along Giroux, we saw a small
flock of Snow Buntings on the ground in the field. Tony scoped them and found a single Lapland
Longspur with them.
We then headed for Mer Bleue on Dolman
Ridge Road to check the feeders. We made one stop on Renaud to scope a second
Red-tailed Hawk.
At the feeders, we got Downy and Hairy Woodpecker, Blue Jay,
Black-capped Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch, American Tree Sparrow, Northern
Cardinal and Common Redpoll.
On the way back to the Park & Ride, Bob and I saw some
Rock Pigeons, American Crows and Wild Turkeys to round out the list.
