Ottawa Area Birding: Moodie Pond, Trail Road, Richmond CA and Carp River Ponds with JC Birding

October 14, 2022

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

We met in Barrhaven and went directly to Moodie Pond, getting out of the vehicles we heard a song bird maybe two, turns out the songbirds were Yellow-rumped Warblers. Looking at the pond we saw two Pied-billed Grebe, lots of Ring-billed Gulls, two Gadwalls, and a Yellowlegs running, but it was too far away to identify. Next we drove down Cambrian (beside the dump), we had to wait for some hydro trucks, they are still doing whatever along the road. We saw a huge flock of what we thought must be European Starlings, turned out to be a mixed flock of Starlings and Red-winged Blackbirds. Bill made the comment, Glad we are not doing the Christmas bird count, counting the Starlings and the Redwings would have been near impossible. We drove to Trail Road and parked at the now defunct recycling plant, Bill's sharp eyes picked up a Lesser Greater Black-Backed Gull. The man at the dump, working the heavy machine honked the horn and off the Gulls went. There were at least 2 Great Black-backed Gulls that flew back, along with Herring Gulls and of course Ringed-billed. Eleanor, Barb and Ken were still birding Cambrian Road, I called to ask what they were seeing - Song Sparrow and Swamp Sparrow. Taking Barnsdale Road, we stopped at the back of Moodie Pond, Canada Geese, Mallards and Ring-neck Ducks, along with plenty of Gulls on the sand mounds.

We heard there was a Black-bellied Plover at Richmond Lagoons, so we stopped to see if we could see it. Walking into the lagoon area, we heard Black-capped Chickadees and saw a Eastern Phoebe. The second lagoon had lots of waterfowl and some shorebirds. Eleanor spotted the Black-bellied Plover, off by itself in the north west corner. Diagonally opposite it at the end we saw Yellowlegs and Sandpipers, we walked to the back to investigate. On the way we saw lots of White-throated, White-crowned and Swamp Sparrows and one Ruby-crowned Kinglet and a White-breasted Nuthatch was heard. The sandpipers and the yellowlegs paid no attention to us. We got excellent views of about 5 Pectoral Sandpipers, Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs. Ken decided to get a little closer and he went into the reed area only to discover a Wilson's Snipe. There was no shortage of Green-winged Teal.

Off to Carp River Conservation Area, well if we are going to go there we should stop at the little pond off Iber. Now here is where we had some problems. We were following Eleanor, but we had to wait for traffic as we turned onto Iber, we had no idea if she turned into the industrial area or into the residential area. We opted for the industrial, only to find out Eleanor & Ken were not there. We checked what was on the pond, Gulls, Mallards and Mallards, so nothing of interest. I called Ken, yes he was in the residential part, so we decided we would get back on Iber and wait for them at the side of the road. No idea where Louise and Barb were, Barb called, they were well ahead of us. Just stay where you are and I will call back. We waited, Eleanor and Ken pulled up, and we decided Bill should take the lead. We headed to Richardson Side Road and Terry Fox, where we parked. We call Barb to tell her where we are and Ken and I go to check to see if the Long-billed Dowitcher is still there. Eleanor stays with the car because Barb's scope is in her trunk. Walking along the path we see a snake, but it's too fast for us, so no photos. Bill catches up and he sees the Dowitcher and the darn thing is uncooperative, it is sleeping, so the bill is tucked under its wing. Barb and Louise show up but without Eleanor, all of a sudden Eleanor is with us. The group is together. We see Greater Yellowlegs and a Great Egret. Bill took a great photo of the Egret catching a little fish. We stayed watching the Egret for a while and then joined Eleanor. She has spotted a Cackling Goose - she has a good eye. We see that the Long-billed Dowitcher has moved closer to the water and is taking a bath. It would dip its beak into the water and then start 'cleaning' the area just above its left wing. Then he would dip and clean again and again. After a while it turned around and walked to the Canada Geese to disappear. The Dowitcher is so small compared to the Canada Geese. Guess it did not like the area, so he returned to his sleeping spot.

It is about 12:30 so we decide we should check out the other end of the Conservation Area, maybe the Greater White-fronted Goose is there. Two vehicles are parked on one side of Terry Fox with the other on the other side. So the plan was that we will wait for Louise to join us on Terry Fox, however her car gets there first so she proceeds to Winterset. Bill tried to catch up, but was unsuccessful, two cars made the turn on Winterset, but unfortunately Louise & Barb did not. We park at the CHEO home parking lot and proceed to check out the water. Double-crested Cormorant and Canada Geese, where are the Redheads? Ken goes for a walk and finds them, all we had to do is look left. While we were looking at the Redheads, I got a call from Barb, where are you? I gave her directions to get to where we were. Ten minutes later I get another call, more directions and we see them pull into the parking lot. Along with the Redheads we also saw Lesser Scaup.

We were all hungry so we ate our lunches at the parking lot. Louise left at this point. We walked down to the water and Eleanor found the Long-billed Dowitcher; guess it had flown to the pond we were looking at. We walk a bit and Ken and Bill decide they will join a photographer in the reeds. The photographer had been there for at least an hour. They both got excellent shorts of a Green Heron. Barb and I decide we might join them and then think better of it, if we slid into the green gooey water, we would probably be on antibiotics for a week or more.

We talked about going to another location but decided we should call it a day. On the 417 Barb spotted a Red-tailed Hawk. Home by 3:00

40 Species for mid October I think is pretty good. The weather was lovely, so no complaints, really who is going to complain after a day of birding.