Ottawa Area Birding: Mud Lake, Andrew Haydon & Shirley's Bay

April 23, 2024

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

We were a large group today -- Ian, Ken, Louise, Sami, Lynne, Bill, Barbara, Eleanor and me. We met at Mud Lake at 7:30. There was not a lot on the lake - Canada Geese and Mallards. We went up the hill where we saw Black-capped Chickadees, Downy Woodpecker and of course so many Red-winged Blackbirds.

We proceeded over the road and down the trail, there were many pairs of Wood Ducks, the male Wood Ducks are gorgeous and the females are pretty nice as well. A female Wild Turkey greeted us, and down the road came a displaying male, he would display and let his feathers down and then display again and again, I guess his hormones were raging. Eleanor said she heard American Goldfinch and we eventually saw them. We put Cornell on to identify all the sounds, it did say there was a Yellow-0rumped Warbler, but we never saw any. High on top of a tree, we saw a female Brown-headed Cowbird, probably checking out potential nests she could lay her eggs in.

I received a phone call from Sami to say they had arrived, I told him where we were, when they joined us, I asked if he had seen the turkeys and did he take any photos. His response was they were too close.

Someone, I think it was Ken, spotted a Cooper's Hawk, and everyone took photos. Eleanor had told us they were nesting and she would show us where the nest was. As we were walking we could hear Pine Warblers singing but did not spot any until we went back to the head of the trail. Ken pointed out a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, it landed on a branch for just moments and then off it went. First Ruby-crowned kinglet for me this spring.

We went over to the viewing platform and there were a pair of Wood Ducks and Hooded Mergansers. A Belted Kingfisher was making its long, uneven rattle drawing our attention to it. It flew in and around and then disappeared, no photos of that bird. Then all of a sudden a bird flew over our heads at a great speed and into the woods, I think the only people to see it were Ken and me -- Merlin - again no photos.

We walked to where the path was barricaded and we just walked around the barricade to the unfinished bridge. Hopefully the bridge will be completed this year.

We turned around and at some point, we noticed people in the woods taking photos. We went to investigate -- the Cooper's nest. The bird flew off, but wait a minute there is a bird in the nest. I guess the male was bringing food to her. Lots of photos. Good to know the location, in 30 to 36 days the eggs will hatch and we can watch little ones--they fledge in 27 to 34 days. Something to look forward to.

As I was walking down the trail, I ran into a friend I have not seen in 10 years, the others went ahead as I caught up. Once I caught up my phone rang, my son, I spoke to him instead of birding. At the head of the trail, some were sitting and Sami and Lynne said they were off, shortly after Louise indicated she was off. Where were Ken and Barbara? Bill went back to the Cooper's nest sight, no Barbara. I called Ken and he said they were at the cars. How they passed us without any of us seeing, it's a mystery how none of us saw them leave.

Walking back to the cars, Bill noticed the Red-winged Blackbirds, reacting to their mirror image. Again raging hormones.

Ken, Bill and Eleanor drove over to the filtration plant to see if anything was on the river. I stayed behind for a bit, to write the list and to have a bite to eat. I joined them, but ran into another friend Mark Patry, and spoke with him, Ken joined us as we were talking about Columbia. Only birds there were Scaup. I asked which ones, not sure, was the response. Eleanor told me in eBird reporting Scaup (lesser or greater) was a legit way to report, since it is difficult to really ID them.

We went to Ottawa beach, nothing. We went to the east side of Andrew Haydon looking for Egret, nope. We got back in the vehicles and drove to the west side. There we had Lesser Scaup (they were close) and Bufflehead and a pair of Double-crested Cormorants. At the bridge Barbara and I heard then found an Eastern Phoebe. Bill joined us and he said Eleanor told him that while the cages are around the Purple Martin Houses, the birds are there. We walked over and yes they were there, mostly females, but who knows the males might have been flying about.

Bill and Barbara had left their car at the eastern parking lot. While they walked over, Eleanor, Ken and I decided we should have lunch, we would join Bill and Barbara at the DND property. Eleanor said her goodbyes and left. As we were leaving, I received a call from Bill indicating there was absolutely no parking so don't come, okay we will join you at Shirley's Bay.

We all drove very slowly down Rifle Road, I noticed Ken had stopped, he spotted some Cedar Waxwings. Bill and Barbara went to check the Osprey's nest and yes they saw them, but the Osprey flew down into the ditch and disappeared rather than fly into the nest. But there was an Osprey on the second platform on the base.

At Shirley's Bay Bill spotted a Common Loon on the water. We had heard that there was a Brown Thrasher in the wooded areas, so off we went to search. Could not find it, as we were coming back another birder told us there were two Horned Grebes on the water, well that is a good bird, we went back and got our scopes. Ken had already spotted them before we had set up the scopes. Two beautiful in breeding plumage Horned Grebes. We tried to find a place to take photos, but unfortunately for us there was no spot.

We then went to check out Beet Box road, Benda M had told Bill, it was really good for birds. We drove slowly down the road to find Tree Swallows and Canada Geese. Ken, Bill and Barbara said their goodbyes.