Ottawa Area Birding: Airport Area to Ridge Road

August 30, 2023

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

Barb C. and I met at Bill's place, Barb had an engagement at 1:00 so she drove her own car, while I drove with Bill. First stop was on Leitrim Road just opposite the airport. Barb had seen a birding report of an Upland's Sandpiper actively feeding in the fields near the runaways. Nope, could not find it. So off we went to the cell phone parking lot to see if we could see the Northern Mockingbird, only birds we saw were two Song Sparrows and a single European Starling. Bill suggested trying Paul Benoit Street (near the barracks) first time both Barb and I had ever been in the area, nope no Mockingbird, but a Kestrel flew by. We drove to High road, where we used to go to check out the Eastern Bluebirds - all the Bluebird boxes had been taken down and the Boblinks had all left to go south. We did see Savannah Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, American Goldfinch and Blue Jay.

Where should we go next, we decided on Dewberry Trail. Driving down Albion, we saw a Cedar Waxwing high in a dead tree and a single Ring-billed Gull. I like to point out Wild Turkeys tio Bill and we saw a medium sized flock of turkeys driving down Leitrim Road.

Dolman Ridge Road was a good choice, with lots of bird activity. Our first warbler was Chestnut-sided. Bill saw a Blackburian. Then we saw a Tennessee, Red-eyed Vireo, Yellow-throated Vireo, Downy Woodpecker, Common Raven and Northern Flicker. A large bird flew over the road and only as it was nearing the treed area, did it show its white band -- Northern Harrier. While we were walking away from the cars, Barb pointed out something quite pretty -- Bill identified as Dolls Eyes (see photo) and he said it was poisonous. Bill and Barb walked back to get the vehicles. Barb shouted to me, Oriole at the top of the tall pine - a beautiful Baltimore Oriole. Closer to the parking lot of the Dewberry Trail, an Eastern wood-Pewee was singing. We continued to walk down the trail and we saw a large yellow bellied flycatcher in the distance, hopefully Bill will be able to identify it from his photos. Turned out it was not a 'large' bird, Eastern Phoebe. We noticed that someone had left two piles of crabapples beside the trail, I guess the idea was to feed deer or bear.

While we were walking along, Bill started to cough and sneeze and cough some more. Barb asked do you have a cold? I thought maybe he had allergies. When he was able to answer, he said he had swallowed a mosquito, There were so many mosquitoes about, Bill provided the bug repellant. He said it was heavy duty, but it did not appear that way. Just so many mosquitoes, guess it was because of the rain and the overcast skies. The birds seemed to like the bugs deeper in the forest than near the road. I took a short walk on the Dewberry Trail and there were definitely more bugs there.

Next stop was the boardwalk at the end of Ridge Road. Three Wild Turkeys were eating the grain where we would normally see smaller birds. They decided to take a walk and the White-throaded Sparrows came in. Barb pointed out 5 Common Grackles. We had picked up some feathers (saw about 10) while we were walking on the Dolman Ridge Road and we wondered what bird they came from and why they were there. It was pretty obvious once we saw the Wild Turkeys, that the feathers came from a turkey. Barb said what would be after turkeys, mmm maybe fighting with one another. After thinking about it I often see coyotes in the area of turkeys, it would make a satisfying meal I am sure. But if the turkey lost 10 feathers it is no big deal, they have between 5000 to 6000 feathers.

Let's walk the boardwalk, the weather was iffy - rain was just spitting. Barb took her umbrella and Bill went back for his raincoat and some covering for his camera. We did not get too far when Barb said I think I should go back. Bill and I got part way down the boardwalk and it was now raining. We returned to the vehicle. By the time we were on the 417, it was pouring, On the Queensway we saw a small flock of Canada Geese and a couple of Rock Pigeons.

Short day, but we did get some birding in.

Thank you Bill for the photos.