Ottawa Area Birding: Search for Red-headed Woodpeckers and Cuckoos

June 23,2021

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

We met on Rifle Road, the birding was very good, first up Cedar Waxwings and then those bubbly House Wrens, singing their little hearts out. High on a tree a Brown Thrasher also singing. Barb C. said she heard a Cuckoo, she played the song, not sure if it responded. Something flew, we did not see it well, maybe a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, while searching for it, we saw a Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Wait, we heard the Black-billed Cuckoo and then saw it and it stayed around, not in a perfect location for photos, but seen clearly. The count was up just past 20 species when we got to Shirley's Bay.

We were to meet Anne somewhere closer to Constance Bay, but birders have no sense of time when we are birding, thank goodness Anne understood. On the way to Carling Ave, we heard at least two White-throated Sparrows and of course the Bobolink and Eastern Meadowlark.

We turned onto Klondike from March Valley Road and yes we stepped on to property that very clearly signed as No Trespassing. In the pond was a Great Blue Heron and a Green Heron that flew away once we all went onto the property. There are two Osprey nests on Cameron Harvey Drive. We stopped at the first one and rather than focus on the Osprey who was obviously upset, we crossed the road to find the Field Sparrow (which we did). The second nest, there was no one at home, I saw an Osprey fly away from the nest as we drove by it.

We met Anne at Sixth Line Road and Berry Side Road, we had our first Eastern Bluebird. Before I got out of my vehicle, I took several photographs of a turquoise green bug, quite pretty actually . It turned out to be a green immigrant leaf weevil. I have never seen one in my life before this. When I googled it, it said it is primarily found around white birch, I don't know where I picked it up. We tried hard to see the Meadowlarks that were singing, a few showed themselves, let's face it, birds are interested in rearing their young right now.

Bill and Barbara saw an Indigo Bunting, while the other three cars drove on to Fifth (turning left). There we saw two more Eastern Bluebirds (I put in the two sightings for one reader who swears there are no Eastern Bluebirds around Ottawa - there is Margaret). We were parked in front of a laneway, we turned to see a very busy Yellow-bellied Sapsucker fly to the nest to feed the young ones who wanted food judging from the sound that was coming out of the tree hole.

We meet up with Bill and Barbara who thought they had a fox, it turned out to be a large cat. I told Bill about the Sapsucker, while the other three vehicles drove down Berry Side Road to hear then see a Swamp Sparrow very close to the road singing. The Osprey at the end of the swamp, was upset that we were near the nest and we were not that close.

Time was ticking by and we had yet to see the Red-headed Woodpecker, we discussed where we should have lunch, Bill wanted to eat close to the Woodpecker site so that is what we did. Parked the cars on the side of the road and pulled out our chairs. The thinking was this was not a busy road, but we did have maybe 3 cars go by us. We donned our rubber boots because there was a lot of poison ivy to walk through, Anne decided not to go in as she reacts badly to poison ivy. We had all the information from Jeff S. - thanks Bill for printing it all out. There are three active nests in the area, which is wonderful since there has been only one nest traditionally. Bill found one of the nests and we just watched as the parents flew in. We walked around and took lots of photographs of the Woodpeckers, so good to see them in a more natural setting than perched or perching on a hydro post. Anne did see a Red-headed Woodpecker from the road.

Colleen left at this point as she had other commitments. After leaving the area, we checked out Monty Road, nothing just a Pine Warbler or Chipping Sparrow singing in a coniferous tree. Turned out to be a Chipping Sparrow - For the life of me I cannot distinguish the two songs.

Off to west of Kinburn to find the Yellow-billed Cuckoo. We took Kinburn Side Road to Dominion Spring Drive then to Hanson Side Road.

We played the song and this bird with a darker upper and a whitish lower flew in and then made a u turn and left us, just like that. Could have been it, but no one saw it very well. We stuck around and enjoyed the other birds, -- Warbling Vireo, American Redstart, Gray Catbird. We tried the song again and yes a bird that I described above flew in and out and we were just not fast enough -- it did not sing either time. Barbara and Bill left but Barb and I were not going to admit defeat so we stuck around. We heard a Belted Kingfisher and then we heard a very quiet Cuckoo sound, and it turned out we got ourselves another Black-billed Cuckoo. Cuckoos are a little more 'plentiful' because there are so many Gypsy Moth Caterpillars around.