Ottawa Area Birding: Amherst Island with JC Birding

January 24, 2023

Birding Report by Barbara Chouinard

Bill Bowman (no Barbara this time – we missed you!), Jane and Barbc set out from Barrhaven at 7 am. It was still pretty dark and the temperature was -3 then but the day’s temperature was pretty reasonable at 0 degrees. Once we got to the ferry landing, there was a brisk wind for the rest of the day. If felt pretty chilly each time we stepped out of Bill’s SUV.

On the road

As we drove out on Fallowfield, we looked for the Barrhaven Wild Turkeys and we spotted them in the dim light still roosting in the trees in the area we usually see them. Bill was happy to see them, but no photos were taken: too dark.

The highway drive was really bereft of birds except for American Crows. Our first Red tailed Hawk was seen from highway 401 at 8:45 am. We had several snow showers but these did not last long and then it was clear. We made it to the ferry for the 9:30 am sailing. We were amazed to see that Lake Ontario is entirely free of ice. So there was no hope of seeing Snowy Owls on the ice and ducks that stuck around because of the open water created by the ferry crossings. We saw a Herring Gull, Common Goldeneye, Mallards and Common Mergansers. It was a rough crossing with three loaded dump trucks, one had a tandem trailer. They were full of rocks and gravel. We thought there must be something going on there on Amherst Island. Jane went out to take a look from the moving ferry and it was difficult to walk on this up and down crossing. We could see the dump trucks beside us lift up and shudder from the rough water conditions.

On the Island (population 326 and island has 27 wind turbines)

Once we arrived at Stella landing, we visited the NEW bathrooms in the new ferry office building. There is a glassed-in waiting room for foot passengers. This would be a lovely place to have lunch in a warm spot when we come next time and have more than one car. We saw birds in the water. We fetched our scopes and set them up by the building to shelter from the steady lake wind. There were Trumpeter Swans and Mute Swans in the water. We saw an adult Bald Eagle and a juvenile Bald Eagle flying around in the distance.

We started down Front Road and inspected the numerous bird feeders at the homes on the road. We saw a Downy Woodpecker, Black capped Chickadees and a Mourning Dove. Most of the feeders did not have any birds. We checked out the fields and continued on looking for Snowy Owls and raptors. We saw a Northern Harrier and a Rough legged Hawk, along with another Red tailed Hawk flying around. The KFN lands at the end of Front were quiet. We did not see any new duck species on the water here. The Kingston Field Naturalists have put up 8 huge purple martin houses here. We followed the road and made the turn where it becomes Outer South Shore Road. Here we viewed about 200 Snow Buntings and about 500 Canada Geese flying and landing in a field. We found the dump trucks with the rocks along this road and later along another road. The crews were building a rock wall and filling in a part of the collapsed side of the road. We turned down the no exit road and went to the very end. We always go down this road as last time there was a Snowy Owl up close to the road and we took many photos of the bird. Today there was nothing around. We came back to Front Road and saw an American Kestrel hunting. The male Kestrel was hovering over something, but did not catch anything. Hopefully it will catch lunch soon. We stopped at the turn-around at the water and had our lunch. Wow, pretty quiet. Here we noticed that the water was now calm. We watched the hawks hunting.

After lunch we drove the farm field roads. We saw one huge group of European Starlings along Front Road. We checked this group for possible “friends” like Brown headed Cowbird or Rusty Blackbirds but we did not see anyone different. We drove down another shore road that the work crews were fixing with rocks and gravel. It was really muddy so we turned around.

After 3 pm we drove down along Front Road again for the Short eared Owls. There were some cars already parked but no one was out of their cars. We continued on and then came back on Front Road. There were photographers out and we counted about 8 Short eared Owls flying about out pretty far in the field. We met a photographer and nature guide who has lived on the island for 20 years, Fred Lemire. He told us that the Short-eared Owls were doing well. We asked about Owl Woods. We had noticed that there were concrete barriers at both ends of the road into Owl Woods. We did not go down to Owl Woods today. Fred said that Owl Woods were open but one can no longer drive down. Too many people got their vehicles stuck and the locals had to go and get them out. Now, one has to walk in. When asked about what was currently in Owl Woods, Fred said that there were Northern Saw-whet Owls and a Barred Owl there. We asked about Snowy Owls, Fred said that they were not here in numbers so far this year with only one reported by the Fire Department.

By this time, the 4 pm ferry had sailed, we went down Stella 40 Foot Road, just in case the Snowy Owl could be flying about. Sunset was coming. Nope. But, we did see two beautiful healthy looking foxes out in the farm field. Photos were taken. From here we went to line up at the ferry and use the brand new facilities. We looked at the ponies in the farmyard nearby and they had grown their thick “winter coats” of woolly hair. No coat blankets necessary for these ponies.

We got on the ferry to head home and so did the now empty three dump trucks and the work crews. The crossing was smooth and it was dark by the time we disembarked from the ferry. The drive home was like a summer drive except for a short snow shower. There were no snow banks along the 401. We arrived back in Barrhaven shortly after 7 pm. I was home downtown by 7:45 pm. Thank you to Bill for driving today. It was an excellent birding day.