Ottawa Area Birding: November 2021

Wednesday, November 24, 2021

Carillon Generating Station and Voyageur Provincial Park with JC Birding

November 24, 2021

Birding Report by Barb Chouinard & Jane Burgess

The birding outing today was to an area that none of us had ever birded before. Last week we were thinking of where to go next. Ken suggested this place and contacted the local expert birder, Jacques Bouvier, in Hawkesbury for more information. Jacques not only provided info but offered to meet up with us. We were thrilled to have Jacques join us today.

Jane was the driver today so Ken compiled the birding list and Barb C wrote up this report. Bill and Barbara Bowman, Barbc, Jane all met up at Ken’s home in the east end at 8 am. There was not a cloud in the sky but there had been a heavy frost overnight and with the wind chill it was -14. By the time we got to the meet-up spot at Carillon Generating Station, it was still cold but lucky for us, there was no wind.

On the drive of approximately 1 ½ hours, we discussed several topics in Jane’s car. Jane had attended a webinar on Organ and tissue donation on Tuesday and had interesting details to share. We sometimes also attempt to save the problems of the world when we are together so the topics varied from nursing homes, covid and GPS. Sometimes the discourse gets really interesting. In short, the driving time went quickly. Bird-wise on the drive, it was pretty quiet: American Crows, European Starling, and Canada Geese.

We met Jacques at the dam. He is very keen to promote the area for birding and hopes that more birders will visit the area. We scanned both sides of the dam: upriver and downriver. There was a Great Blue Heron across on the Quebec side. The town on the Quebec side there is St Andrews East. There were many gulls, including Herring, Black Backed and Ring billed on the water. Upriver in the distance we saw lots of Canada Geese, Common Goldeneye and a Double crested Cormorant. We would have a close-up look at this distant area at our last stop of the day in Voyageur Provincial Park.

From here we drove a very short distance to a park gate and birded this area. There is a feeder nearby and we saw Black-capped Chickadees, White-breasted Nuthatch and Downy Woodpecker. The woods and area along the river were pretty quiet.

At the Welcome to Ontario Information Centre off the 417 we stopped and accessed the park through a gate. This led to the park’s Coureur des Bois Trail. The habitat varies here from marsh, to high pine trees and bush. We commented that this would be a great place to visit during spring migration. Jacques told us he did a Big Year of Birding in 2019 in the park and got around 200 species. That is a remarkable number. This spring he had a Great Grey Owl in the park and his photo of the bird headlines the park newsletter.

Jacques explained that currently Voyageur Provincial Park is closed. It closed after Thanksgiving and the park will reopen for the cross-country skiing season with groomed trails. However, the park gate is open and one can park by the park office and hike the park. In addition, there is a heated washroom that is available. We drove on to the main gate but before we could turn into the park, there was a Red-tailed Hawk in a tree. Time flies when one is birding and it was noon already. We had lunch here at the main gate area. There were picnic tables where some of us ate lunch and two of us ate in the car. There is a feeder here and it was populated by many Chickadees and Blue Jays. We had a fly-by of a Pileated Woodpecker, which was nice to see.

After lunch, from the parking lot, we walked another trail that led us to a marsh and open water. The marsh area was frozen but in the open water of the river we could see ducks. Through our scopes we could see Common Mergansers, Mallards, Lesser Scaup. We also had a surprise -- American Coot in with the ducks in the distance.

We left the park and drove down Front Street and turned onto a road parallel to the water. Jacques kept the best spot for the last and it was lovely. It was literally upriver and we could see the Carrillon Generating Station in the distance. Here there were many many Canada Geese. Each of scanned with our scopes and could not locate anything else in with the Canada Geese. Neither did we find anything else like Brant or Cackling in this lot. Many of the Canada Geese were snoozing so it was hard to find anything really different, like no real chin strap or a smaller goose. Jacques was sure there were goose specialties in the group but many pairs of eyes could not find them. We estimated that there were around 2000 Canada Geese.

From here, Jacques then led us on foot to a point which overlooked the river and bays. Two Bald Eagles were found. Two of us heard a loon. Later we saw the Common Loon. A group of probably 80 Common Mergansers gave us two beautiful fly-byes in the lovely November afternoon sunlight. Jacques spotted a White winged Scoter. We started to walk back to our cars. A bird was seen at the top of a large bare tree (and thereby very easy to spot). It was a Northern Shrike that was hunting. We viewed the bird for several minutes and off it went. Nearby there were two American Robins.

We thanked Jacques for leading us today. He is an excellent promoter of the park. We ended up with 30 bird species in the park. At the parked cars spot, some of us saw a Red winged Blackbird.

We discussed what to do next with an estimated hour and 15 minutes of good light left in the day. We decided that we would take country roads to St Isidore to drive Routes 19, 20 and 21 and Ste Rose to look for Snowy Owl. We drove down Front Street and through Chute-A-Blondeau village where we saw Rock Pigeons and turned onto Golf Road to head in the right direction. On CR 30 we had about 100 Snow Buntings flying around and landing out of sight into a gully in the field. They did this several times. The fly-bys were beautiful in the sunshine. We continued down many farm roads: CR12, Stardale Road, Pleasant Corner Road, Pearl Road (no pearls seen here). We viewed a beautiful bright sunset with rose blush skies. At St Isidore we went up and down the target roads with no luck. In the waning light, we thought of the dump just off the nearby highway 138 at the 417. We drove up to the gates of the dump and there was nothing flying around: Zippo. It was dark now and we turned around and got onto the 417 west and headed homeward. We arrived at Ken’s place with happy smiles. It was a wonderful day.

Thank you Jane for driving. Thanks Ken for making the day happen and keeping the birding list. Thank you to Jacques for a lovely day in a new birding spot for us. Thank you Barb C for writing the report. We were so lucky with the weather at this late date in November.

I received these additional words from Bill and Barbara Bowman.

We would like to commend the excellent tour of birding spots in Eastern Ontario /Quebec border by Jacques Bouvier this week. Meeting at the Carillon Dam was a perfect start. We appreciated Jacques' intimate knowledge of the parks and trails along the Ottawa River. It was a beautiful sunny day in late November. We got good sightings of several raptors, ducks and other birds. Many thanks to our knowledgeable guide and to Ken for making the arrangements.

Species Noted

American Crow
Common Raven **
Great Blue Heron ** Carillon
Double-crested Cormorant
Canada Goose **
Mallard **
Common Goldeneye
Herring Gull **
Great Black-backed Gull
Downy Woodpecker **
Lesser Scaup Voyageur
American Black Duck
White-winged Scoter
Bufflehead
American Coot
Common Merganser
Common Loon
Ring-billed Gull
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
Hairy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Northern Shrike
Back-capped Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch
Red-breasted Nuthatch
American Robin
Snow bunting
Red-whited Blackbird
European Starling
Rock Pigeon on the way home
Mourning Dove

** also seen in the Voyageur Provincial Park

Sunday, November 21, 2021

Say's Phoebe

November 21, 2021

There were many reports of the Say's Phobe at Trail Road, so we thought we should return for a chance for better photos than we had gotten when out with Jane's group. So we went about 11 am and found a perched Red-tailed Hawk at the corner of Moodie. It was backlit and flew as we prepared to try for a photo.

We drove along Trail Road and saw a couple of other cars with birders looking for the phoebe, the same as us. Nobody was having any luck, so after a couple of passes, we went to Moodie Pit. Other than 3 Common Mergansers, there was nothing much there either. So we headed home for lunch. As soon as we got there, we received an RBA that the Say's Phoebe was seen on Trail Road. Our bad luck!

We decided to stay home, but another RBA at 2:15 got our attention. Off we went for the 12 minute drive. When we arrived, we could see cameras up, so we hurried over to the fence. The Say's Phoebe was very active, flying back and forth and perching on the poles.

When a Northern Harrier flew over, the Say's Phoebe vanished from sight, and was not refound. We walked back and forth on the road looking for it unsuccessfully. The light was fading, and the sky was really interesting.

We decided to go, but as we started the car, the harrier came back and put on quite a show for us.

Wednesday, November 17, 2021

Trail Road, Shirley's Bay and Fletcher Wildlife Garden with JC Birding

November 17, 2021

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

The weather forecast was bad - lots of rain and potentially freezing rain beginning around 11:00. We decided we would leave at 8:00 and bird to about 11:00 or 12:00 or whenever the weather seemed to be turning bad.

The target bird was the Say's Phoebe that had been reported the day before. To quote Bruce Di Labio "The Say's Phoebe is a western flycatcher with a wide range in North America breeding in southwestern Manitoba across to British Columbia and north to the Yukon. As a vagrant it known to wander to the east coast." It is the second sighting in Ontario and the first for Ottawa. It would not be a lifer for any of us, but good to see. Barb, Bill, Barbara and I got to Trail Road around 8:20. Ken had arrived minutes before. I would estimate there was at least 20 people there already and everyone was helpful. Once we were out of the car and walked over to some people they immediately told us where the bird was located. Beautiful bird, bigger than a Eastern Phoebe, like its cousin the Say's Phoebe is a tail wagger. Watching it with Ken, he made a comment it is a grasshopper Say's Phoebe, bouncing from grass to mullein stalk to rock. Difficult for me to photograph but Ken and Bill were able to do so. The Phoebe eventually decided to fly over the hill and disappear from sight. We all were satisfied with our views of the bird and decided to move on.

Before leaving Trail Road we turned to check out the Gulls on the other side of the road. The Slaty-back Gull was somewhere, but we did not take the time (it would have been a very long process) to look for it, but we did see Great Black-backed Gull and Herring Gulls.

We decided to check out Moody Pond from Barnsdale Road, we were surprised to see it was pretty well dried up, not sure if they are dumping sand into the area. We drove over to the Moody Drive side of the pond, Ken was waiting for us, Canada Geese, a couple of Mallards and a Common Merganser. Ken had indicated that a Snowy Owl was seen two days ago around Eagleson and Aitken Roads. We drove over there and we did not see a Snowy Owl but we did see a male Northern Harrier. While we were in this area, I received a text from my grand daughter wondering if I had seen the Say's Phoebe. Her Math teacher shows his students a bird each day and he had seen the Say's Phoebe and of course it warranted the Bird of the Day. I think what her teacher is doing is great, maybe he will turn some of his students into birders, but he is definitely teaching them an appreciation for our natural world. Kudos to her teacher.

We decided Shirley's Bay might be good, we dipped on the the Eastern Screech Owl. At Hilda the usual suspects - White-breasted Nuthatch, Black-capped Chickadee, Mourning Dove, American Tree Sparrow and Blue Jay. Before leaving the area, we checked what was on the water. Ken drove into the area where they launch boats, lucky him, he got an up close and personal look at a Horned Grebe. The rest of us saw it from a distance or through our scopes. As we were looking at the Grebe, a small flock of Common Goldeneye flew in.

We had lunch at Andrew Haydon Park. Both Barb and Ken did not bring any lunch, but Barbara had give her a energy bar and a clementine, Ken had various snacks with him. I guess Bill, Barbara and I are eternal optimists as we brought a lunch hoping the weather would be reasonable for birding. After a bit Ken joined Barb and me; we started talking, meanwhile the Bowmans checked out the water. By the time we had decided to join them, they were returning to their cars, saying 2 American Wigeon, we took them at their word and returned to our car.

Ken was anxious to see if the Red Phalarope was still in Ottawa, no one had reported it, but who knows it might be there. We parked in the lot at the corner of Champlain Bridge and the Parkway. Oh my such a difference, the parking lot is not against the water anymore, but much closer to the parkway. One would never know there was a change. The wind had picked up, making it bone chilling, but we walked over to the area where it was seen, of course it was not there. Bill send along a photograph of the Red Phalarope (winter plumage) for those people who have never seen one. The bird was so close I think he could have leaned over and touched it. Bill and Barbara went the previous day to see it. But that bird made a one day appearance. I walked back to the vehicle and stayed between the vehicles to wait for the others, such a cold wind. Barb and Barbara were the next to arrive, we got into Barb's car to warm up. Next to arrive was Ken. It had started to rain, Ken indicated he was going to go home, he did not want to deal with traffic and icy road conditions. Bill, where was Bill, Ken said Bill had said he was going to Remic Rapids, since he assumed the ladies had gone there. Barbara called him a number of time (turned out Bill's phone was being used for navigation hence it was left in the vehicle). Maybe Bill had decided to pull a Barbara and he had become the wanderer. Ken said he would go to see if he was Remic Rapids, sure enough Bill was there and he returned via Ken's car.

Last stop was Fletcher Wildlife Garden. We went over to the evergreens, split up to look for the owl. No luck, we walked over to the back feeder and walked into the wooded area, when a lady asks Bill if he was looking for the owl, yes. She brought us to the tree where the Barred Owl was high up, the colouring is such good camouflage, one had to look hard to see it. At the garden bird feeder we saw Dark-eyed Junco, White-throated Sparrow, American Goldfinch and House Finch.