Ottawa Area Birding: Mud Lale to Panmure Road with JC Birding

May 4, 2023

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

For some reason, when I left for Mud Lake, I put on my ski jacket and raincoat and brought my heavier mits as well as my light gloves. For once I dressed for the weather. We met at Mud Lake at 7:00. When I arrived Barb C. said there are Tree and Barn Swallows, yes I could see them flying just above Mud Lake, also Red-winged Blackbirds, I could hear them. We decided we would walk the tree line going toward the filtration plant, we saw a Great Blue Heron walking toward the plant, but once it sensed our presence, it flew. We kept walking and we saw a partial carcass of a fish, mmm wondered why the Great Blue didn't eat it. Turns out Great Blue Herons don't eat dead fish.

When we returned to the parking lot, we saw both Bill and Ian's cars.I. called Bill and yes they were on the ridge and there was nothing there. Before going up to the ridge, Barb says I see a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet. Before we reached Barbara, we looked at the river and were quite surprised to see no birds on it. Meeting up with Barbara, she told us they had a Yellow-rumped warbler. Other than Black-capped Chickadees and Red-winged Blackbirds, nothing. The group wanted to walk to the filtration plant, good because they saw a Northern Flicker. Ian and I were walking and we walked toward a carcass, mm wondered what that bird was, Hey Bill come here. We all agreed it was a Canada Goose, missing some key parts. Bill, we saw a parital fish carcass, he said it was a Channel Catfish, mmm I thought a catfish was a catfish, but apparently not. Bill is now the expert on dead animals.

We walked to the path going into the woods, but first let's find the House Wren, it took a while but we found it. Barb C saw a small flock of Rusty Blackbirds. We didn't see much on the pathway, a Song Sparrow so we turned around, not because it was slow, but there was water across the path. Ian said he had seen something, a Palm Warbler, a good bird. As we approached the head of the path, the City had placed a barricade indicating the path was closed. Walking toward the car we saw a Downy Woodpecker and a White-breasted Nuthatch. And the whole group got to see the yellow eye of the Rusty Blackbird - another good bird.

We were all pretty cold, so we decided we would sit in the cars to warm up. Ian decided it was time to go home (he missed some good birds). I joined Barb in her car and I said I think it will be a car birding day. We headed over to Andrew Haydon Park and again not too much on the river, but in the inner pond we had Lesser Scaup. We parked my car at my sister's place and I carpooled with Barb, then met Bill and Barbara at the Nepean Sailing club to check the Purple Martins, None of us saw any, however after Bill checked Barbara's photos, he discovered that Barbara had photographed one. The Purple Martins are back but still not in large numbers.

Going down Rifle Road, we stopped to let a female Wild Turkey trot across the road. We drove a little further and there were 5 Tom Wild Turkeys displaying, Guess she was not interested.... The Tom Turkeys have a bluish white head at this time of the year, guess that makes them more appealing to the females, just not the one who trotted over to the other side of the road!!! Barb drove directly to Shirley's Bay and we saw a single Horned Grebe -- really good bird, Bufflehead and Hooded Merganser. Bill and Barbara first went to see the Osprey on the nest closer to the military base. While we were out of the car, we noticed a bird flying over, either an American Bittern or a Green Heron, as we did not actually ID the bird, neither bird appears on the list. There are two latrines at Shirley's Bay, one indicated it was closed for "safety reasons", I thought that was strange. Barb said the City had closed it in the winter because of ice and hadn't got around to taking the sign away.

At the Hilda feeder, there were Mourning Doves, Red-winged Blackbirds and a small flock of Blue Jay. Barb said she heard a Gray Catbird, at the end of the road. As we were getting in the car about four or five American Crows were chasing a Common Raven. We turned on the Merlin app to find out the Gray Catbird was a Brown Thrasher, oh they sound so much alike. A White-throated Sparrow was singing its O Canada, Canada, Canada song.

Off we went to March Valley Road, but first let's take a right onto "that" road. Bill and Barb got splendid views of a House Wren, oh their song is such a happy one. Barb C played Cuckoo, but none came in, she spotted a Brown-headed Cowbird at the feeders - another good bird.

On Berry Side Road, we heard and saw Eastern Meadowlark, but no Bobolink, well let's keep a good eye out for Eastern Bluebird, none on Berry Side Road, but we did see two Turkey Vultures. We crossed Fifth line and in the swampy area we saw a Belted Kingfisher, another good bird. We drove to the end in hopes we might hear a Field Sparrow but no, we turned around and noticed Bill and Barbara had stopped, oh what do they have. We drove up and they were having lunch, we told them we would have our lunch at Constance Creek. On the Fifth line we saw a pair of Kestrels, and we played Eastern Bluebird but nothing.

When we drove up to Constance Creek, Barb said I guess all the Ospreys are not around, this was the third nest we had seen with no residents, but when she got out of the car to fetch her lunch, she noticed one had come into the nest. While we were eating we watched an Osprey fishing, but when it flew by us, it was actually looking for nesting material, because it came back with nesting material in its talons. Bill and Barbara joined us and Bill had gone over to the side of the road and started playing Virginia Rail. Thank goodness Barb left her window open, she said Bill is calling us. Within 5 minutes of joining Bill, the Virginia Rail showed itself, but it made its presence known before that. I asked if the sparrows were Swamp, yes was the answer.

We drove over to Constance Lake, and we picked up Ring-necked Ducks. We stopped at the gas station for a pit stop and a donut, Bill and Barbara were a bit late coming in, they were checking the Raven's nest for activity, nope. We had missed Savannah Sparrow so far, so we started looking on the fences and all we found were Song Sparrows.

Barb had been on the MacNamara Field Naturalist Club zoom call Tuesday night and Mike R had indicated that there were lots of ducks at Old Highway 17 and Antrim bridge. So we headed there and but we got diverted. We saw a flock of waterfowl off John Shaw and of course we had to check it. Lots and lots of Canada Geese and Gulls. Barb, look at the Gulls over there, don't some look so much larger than the others, yes - Herring Gulls. We drove down Old Highway to Holland Marsh, the marsh looked like a large pond with nothing on it. At the bridge, we found that the waterfowl that Mike R had spoken about had flown, but a few were left, 4 pairs of Green-winged Teal and Mallards and a Muskrat.

At this point Barb kicked me out of her car, she had to go home. Barbara, such a good environmentalist, was picking up a big bag full of tin cans when I joined them to ride in their vehicle. We discussed where to go next, well I would like to see the Bobolinks. On Highway 17 and Blakney, Bill drew my attention to this bird flying in front of the car then over above the fields, I said Merlin he said yes -- another good bird. We crossed Upper Dwyerhill Road on Panmure and we kept our eyes open for Eastern Bluebirds, we stopped where all the bird boxes were and had no luck, but then we struck gold, we saw about 5 or 6 of them, mostly male but we did see at least one female. While we were stopped we could hear a sparrow singing and we identified it as Vesper, I had seen a sparrow with white outer tail feathers and that must have been a Vesper Sparrow.

We drove to where we had seen the Upland Sandpipers just last week, did not see any, we did see Eastern Meadowlarks but zipped on the Bobolinks, maybe next week I will see them. It is weird when anyone stops nearing Chorus Frogs and they are singing, they immediately stop singing, it is like a group thought. Driving by the Canadian Tire Center we looked toward the Raven's nest and yes the babies are still there.

Home by 4:45. The day was not sunny and it was downright cold and damp. That being said, for a kind of miserable day 55 species is a good number and we had lots of good birds -- Palm Warbler, Rusty Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Horned Grebe, Belted Kingfisher, Virginia Rail and Vesper Sparrow and a bonus bird, thanks to Barbara, Purple Martin.

Thank you to Bill and Barbara and Barb for their photos.