Ottawa Area Birding: Kingston & Wolfe Island with JC Birding

March 17, 2021

Story by Jane

Bill and Barb met me at the park and ride, off the 416 at 7:30 and we proceeded down highway 15 to Wolfe Island. We made one stop at Portland, but the water was frozen, so we got to hear many Red-winged Blackbirds singing. While driving the highway we saw Wild Turkey, Turkey Vulture, Canada Goose, Kestrel (only Bill & Barb) and Common Grackle. We stopped just before the ferry for a 10 minute stop and we saw Trumpeter & Mute Swan, Hooded Merganser, Ring-necked Duck, American Wigeon, Mallard and Ringed-bill Gull.

We made it to the ferry and waited just 5 minutes to drive on. We were not permitted to get out of the car, so perfect time for a hot drink and a bite to eat. Just before Marysville, we stopped to see lots and lots of Common Mergansers and a couple of Common Goldeneye. A bit further, we added Red-breasted Merganser and Bufflehead. At one stop I said to Bill, oh I would like to see a Long-tailed Duck, he said he was hoping for a Redhead. (unfortunately only one of us got what we were hoping for).

We crossed the island and we didn't really see anything except American Crows, Red-wing Blackbirds. We actually stopped at a house with bird feeders. Our big find there was House Sparrow.

We continued on to where I 95 crosses onto the island, there we saw more Common Mergansers. Bill decided to set up his scope and check for ducks way out there. He says Long-tailed Duck way out, of course I go to my car and set up my scope. Wow, talk about Long-tailed Duck, there must have been more than 100 of them. They were far but who could miss the white heads and their long tails of the males, not good for a photo, but good to see. I had remarked we hadn't seen even a Black-capped Chickadee, Bill said he had seen just one.

We did some land birding to cross over to get to the water, we had said that we did not see any raptors on the island, so different than Amherst, well we got one Rough-legged Hawk. We went down this dead end road, I stopped because I had seen two birds fly into a Bluebird box. I just waited to see if it would poke its head out, I had my camera ready for the Bluebird to stick its head out. I took photos, checked them and not Bluebirds, but House Sparrows. I caught up to Bill & Barb and they had seen a juvenile Bald Eagle. Good for them not for me....

At another place Bill & Barb saw a sparrow and later identified it as a Song Sparrow, first of the season.

We took the 2:30 ferry back to Kingston and decided to check out the Invista area. Nothing new, lots of Gadwall and a couple of Widgeon. Barb was doing her "wandering thing" (she says she is not a birder but an outdoor girl) and came back to report she saw lots of ducks, so we drove over to the area. I got out of the car and saw a Brown Creeper, but no photos. Out come the scopes and looking toward the lake we saw a couple of Long-tail Ducks. We stayed in the area for at least an hour, and decided to head home around 4:15 or so. We said we would not make any stops, because it was getting late. But just one more stop to check out the water on the other side of the road. We were rewarded with more Trumpeter Swans, Bill went across the highway to take photos. I set up my scope and yelled to him Northern Pintail, good one, the males are such elegant birds. On the way home we saw a Red-tailed Hawk (me) and a Northern Harrier (Bill & Barb). I was so focused on getting home, I didn't even check Moody Pond, I wanted to get home and have my evening meal.

Hope at 6:30. It was a good day and our list of species is slowly moving up from outing to outing.

Thank you Bill & Barb for your photos. Thank you Bill for planning the trip, just too much for me to do with house renovations and running down to Brockville every other day.

Sorry the photos are named and no photographers names on the photos, but hey you got some photos.

Species Noted