Ottawa Area Birding: Jack Pine, Richland Drive and Lockhead Road with JC Birding

February 2, 2023

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

We met at Bill & Barbara's place and proceeded to Jack Pine Trail, I think there might have been just 2 cars in the parking lot, so not many people on the trails. As we walked the trail, one could not help but see the devastation, so many trees down because of the wind storm last year. We heard some tapping, so we stopped to see what the species was -- Hairy Woodpecker along with some Mourning Doves (that were not taping). Close to where the big feeder was (relocated across the road), someone had put lots of seed and vegetables on the bench, hence lots of birds flying about -- Downy Woodpeckers, White-breasted Nuthatch, Blue Jay, beautiful male Northern Cardinals and some American Tree Sparrows. We were looking at a small flock of Dark-eyed Juncos when along came Ben DiLablio with a group of birders. Pretty sure they were after the same bird as us -- American Three Toed Woodpecker that had been sighted earlier in the week. We took our time, thinking let that group find it and it will be easy peasy for us. We got to the place where the bird had been sighted and no Ben and no woodpecker. We continued down the trail taking the triangular path back to the vehicles. At one place we heard tapping and 5 sets of eyes could not locate the bird. The snow on the trees made the path like a winter wonderland. Thank goodness it was not really cold.

Back at the cars we decided it was just 9:45, we had lots of time to check out Rushmore and Atkins for a Snowy Owl before driving to Richmond. Only birds we saw on Atkins were Snow Buntings.

We arrived at Peter's place in Richmond at 10:45. When he answered his door, he told us the Flicker had just left. Darn. He invites us in and we are greeted by 2 barking dogs - one little one and one poodle. Lots and lots of feeders in the backyard. Peter told us the flat feeder is frequented by Mourning Doves and the Cooper's Hawk loves feeding from the flat feeder. We see lots of American Goldfinch, Blue Jays, Northern Cardinals, American Tree Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers, but no Northern Flicker. Patience... Then all of a sudden a Northern Flicker flies to the feeder closest to the house, then flies to a nearby tree. Peter seems to think the Flicker is skitish and we should move back from the windows, the bird eventually flies in and we are all able to see it well. We chatted while waiting, Peter has analysed some ebird data and encouraged us all to submit our sightings. I will start soon.

We left Peter's place and Eleanor had information about Snow Buntings, Horned Larks and Lapland Longspurs sightings on Lockhead Road near North Gower. Off we go, turning first on to Goodstown Road. We know of a particularly good bird feeder there. I say to Barb and Eleanor, where have all the Evening Grosbeaks gone, and what do we see at the feeder Evening Grosbeaks.

We drive to the place where the huge mixed flock is and there is a car parked and someone is looking through a scope, beauty the flock is still there. We see Richard K. and his brother in law, we drive past and turn around and leave a good distance between Richard's vehicle and ours. Well, we were in for a surprise. This big humongous tractor pulls out of the laneway and passes us with no more than a foot to spare. Its tires, I swear, are 5 feet wide and all I could think was that the tractor could run right over us very easily. The wheels were taller than my vehicle. (see photo), I am not exaggerating. We get the scopes out and we find that the weather has turned colder. I leave my scope and go off to talk to Richard, yes he said there are a couple of Lapland Longspurs in the flock. I noticed we could see the birds much better from where Richard is, so I went back and moved my car up. Richard points to his scope, I rush to get out of my car and I look through his scope and see the Lapland Longspur, who is a bit smaller than the others and of course the colouration on its back is quite different to the others.

I think the others had had their lunch, so I went back to the car to have some soup. I am partaking of said soup and I looked up and saw that the humongous tractor was coming down the laneway with another load of corn. I quickly close up the soup container and move my car. I noticed as it passed Bill's car, the tractor drove a bit into the ditch. After lots of scoping and photo taking we decided to leave and check out the area for Snowy Owls. On the way back the wind was blowing causing snow to accumulate on the roads and visibility poor in spots, making the roads challenging. So maybe we should go back to Bill & Barbara's place. Around Richmond I decided we could go down Eagleson and Barb and Eleanor could check for Snowy Owls, None.

We take Fallowfield to Steeplehill - it has a couple of good bird feeders and the last one we checked yielded a new species - a small flock of House Finches that happened to be #20, should we try and get just one more. Okay we will drive down Fallowfield to Greenbank, surely we could get Wild Turkeys or European Starling. Wrong, we saw no new species.

While it was not a half day, it was a shorter day nonetheless. I got home at 3:00 and that was after some running around in Barrhaven.