Ottawa Area Birding: 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.