Ottawa Area Birding: Mud Lake, Centrepointe and Bruce Pit with JC Birding

May 18, 2022

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

We met at Mud Lake for 7 a.m. and the temperature was about 5 degrees. So I dressed warmly in many layers (a dry run for what I might experience in Pond Inlet on Baffin Island). Driving down Cassells Road, I saw an otter crossing Cassels Road. I had heard otters were being seen but frankly I did not believe it. I was quite surprised to see Sami and Lynne were there already. Barb C got there minutes after me as well as Barbara and Bill. Ken came last, he certainly has the furthest to go.

Before birding started, we all had to catch up with each other. At the vehicles we saw lots of singing Yellow Warblers. We walked to the pines and found Cape Mays and Yellow-rumps and Chipping Sparrows. A Ruby-throated Hummingbird made a very brief appearance. There must have been a White-breasted Nuthatch nest close by because two of them kept flying to the same tree. They were busy little birds flying back and forth. Not sure if they were building a nest or bringing food to little ones.

I thought of Nadine T. when we heard the song of the Warbling Vireo (she whistles a perfect rendition of their song). There were many Warbling Vireos about. We walked the berm, but really it was slow.

We saw an otter and a muskrat on the lake as well as Mallards and Wood Duck just off the path leading to the woods. We looked for warblers and got a Chestnut sided Warbler, but no singing Pine Warblers. There were a group of photographers near the tree where the owl had a nest. But they indicated it was currently in the nest 'just below where the squirrel is' Wonder if it had ideas for a good meal. We walked over to the viewing platform to see if we could find any Black-crowned Night-herons. Nope. Rather than taking the normal path back, we walked the path close to the fence line. We ran into Bernie L and he told of some good birds further back. So we reversed our direction to find these good birds. We got none of the species he told us about, timing is everything. Barb C said she had to get back to the car as she had a luncheon date. Once we returned to the car we wrote up the birding list and off she went along with Sami and Lynne.

Bill and Barbara suggested we go to Centrepointe Lake. Frankly I never knew there was a lake at Centrepointe. We walked to the small lake and saw several ducklings on the water. Ken noted that the mark line across the eye is much darker on a duckling (I did not know that). In front of us were two Canada Geese, doing a head bobbing thing into the water then out, with a slow circling of each other. We wondered if it was courtship behaviour, a little bit later it was confirmed, courtship behaviour (see Ken's photos). We slowly walked around the lake and noticed a single Common Gallinule, wait a minute here comes another, with a lot more white on its tail - obviously male with something on his mind. He was rebuked many times and when she let him know 'no way', he scurried off in the opposite behaviour. He got the message loud and clear. A bit later we saw 2 Black Ducks on the shore sleeping. A Common Yellowthroat was in the same area as the Black Ducks. Ken checked out the flowering trees for warblers and with luck a hummingbird, but no. We did the whole circumference of the lake and sat on a park bench. I drew Ken and Bill's attention to a female mallard with a white at the base of its beak and a longer beak than would normally be seen on a mallard. After some discussion we decided it was a mallard / shoveler hybrid. I asked did we just go to another level of birding? We all chuckled?

We decided we would go to Bruce Pit for lunch. During the conversation, it was mentioned that we had not seen a Great Blue Heron and Bill and Barbara said over there flying, there are two. Once we finished our meal, a small warbler was noticed by Bill and I. No photos but Bill got a good look at it, a female Bay-breasted Warbler. We walked around the pit, we heard then saw a Pine Warbler. On the north side of the pit we checked out a small island and Barbara said there is a small bird over there. It looked like a Spotted Sandpiper but it was far away. Bill took a photo and sure enough it was a Spotted Sandpiper. We also saw a King Bird. As we were leaving a House Finch was heard singing its beautiful song and then we saw it.