Ottawa Area Birding: Gatineau Escarpment and Steele Line with JC Birding

December 15, 2021

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

I met Bill and Barbara at their place and as we were leaving their street, a Pileated Woodpecker was spotted. Crossing the Champlain Bridge a couple of Common Goldeneye were swimming on the east side of the bridge. We decided that we would drive directly to the escarpment as the weather prediction called for freezing rain and snow beginning at noon. Driving on the 148 a Red-tailed Hawk was spotted, we stopped, waited for the traffic and backed up so Barbara could take a photo. Wouldn't you know it when we got to the spot where the hawk was seen, the darn thing flew off, guess it did not want a photo taken.

Numerous Common Ravens were seen while driving. We turned on to Therien and saw some little birds fly up into the branches of a tree -- Dark-eyed Junco. The hope is always to see hawks or eagles when we get to the end of Therien. We scanned the hills several times, no hawks or eagles, but a Northern Shrike. Always good to see a shrike.

The tree with all the feeders on Eardley Masham was not all that productive as it once was, just Black-capped Chickadees. We turned onto the east side of Bradley thinking we always get Wild Turkeys here, instead we got a flock of about 20+ Mourning Doves.

Back on Eardley-Masham, we stopped to check the trees on the escarpment, nothing. We were hopeful that we would see Crossills or Eagles as we drove the road. We did run into Tony Beck who told us that he had seen an Eagle and some Pine Siskin, we saw neither. We did not see Crossbills either, we turned around and then drove the west end of Bradley, Yeah, Wild Turkeys. Then to Steele, and then back to highway 148. We did see Blue Jays, Common Ravens and lots of Crows, but the birding was slow. At a farm we saw a huge flock of Rock Pigeons and at the farm house we heard a good number of House Sparrows singing.

We drove roads that were close to the Ottawa River, and saw Canada Geese. While driving the roads I noticed a couple of fields of something, usually I like to identify what the farmer had planted, but I have no idea what it was. Barbara took a photo of it and it is included, so if anyone knows what the crop is, please let me know. We got back to 148 and turned onto Chemin Parker, the first house had bird feeders, but no birds, so we went a bit further and turned around. A hawk was spotted, we watched, Bill got out his camera, Red-tailed Hawk. Back in the car and before he started the car a woodpecker flying over us, Pileated Woodpecker, just not fair, we had seen these species earlier in the day, we wanted something else. Too bad, so sad... We turned on to Chemin de la Riviere and stopped at the dip in the road to have lunch. We watched a crow that seemed to want to tear a nest apart, who knows why, perhaps there were insects there. Then a light snow began to fall, time to start home. But first lets try Smith-Leonard, just turned out to be a drive, nothing.

As we were driving I said to Bill, you know the place on the circle where we get good birds, he said no, I said Black-backed Woodpecker, he said Three-toed Woodpecker, I said yes. Funny how birders have a whole different communication style than "normal people". He knew the street, he said Grimes, I said yes. So we drove to Chemin Grimes and "the feeder" was quite active, Northern Cardinal (both male and female), a female House Finchwho seemed to be very hungry and lots of Chickadees. As we drove by the pond just east of Chemin Grimes we saw lots of Mallards and probably BlackDucks, we did not stop, the road was just too busy. We checked out the Ottawa River end of Chemin Vanier, there is a big feeder there, just a few Chickadees. More Mallards and Common Goldeneye on the river. We drove to Rue Houle and there was a White-breasted Nuthatch on the feeder and in the distance a Common Merganser on the Ottawa river.

The snow was coming down harder now, so it was time to go home. A Hairy Woodpecker greeted us at Bill and Barbara's home. It seemed quite intent on eating at the feeder, ignoring us completely.

Thank you Bill for driving and thank you Barbara for all your photos.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy healthy New Year.