Ottawa Area Birding: Cornwall to Ault Island with JC Birding

October 25, 2024

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

I was late getting to Bill and Barbara's place. Bill said the Queensway was slow and that we would probably be late getting to Elmvale Acres Shopping Centre. We arrived just a few minutes to 8:00 and we were off 15 minutes later. I find it so strange that we rarely see any birds other than American Crows, along the 417. We took the exit to Cornwall via highway 138. Stop Bill, Snow Geese, we saw a flock of about 1 to 200, they were far, but still lots of Snow Geese.

Our first destination was Moses-Saunders Power Dam, hoping for lots of water fowl near the dam. Unfortunately there were not lots of water fowl - many Double-crested Cormorants, one Great Blue Heron and Gulls. Oh yes, Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee and a few American Crows. Even though the Saunders Hydro Dam Visitors Centre was closed, we went in anyway. After using the facilities, we spoke with one of the men who work there and we all picked up various freebees offered at the centre.

We then checked out Guindon Park, which was a very good stop. We saw a juvenile Common Goldeneye, its plumage was new to all of us. There were Lesser Black-back Gulls. It breeds in the Atlantic coasts of Europe. It is migratory, wintering in the British Isles (40% call UK home) to West Africa. However they have been coming to North America since 1934, but not in large numbers. It was a good study for all of us. We moved a bit to see the other Gulls to our left. Bill is that a Great Black-back Gull? It certainly is, was his response. Lesser Black-back gull is L21 WS 54, WT 28.8 compared with the Great Black-backed Gull L 30 WS 65, WT 57.06. So the Great Black-back Gull is a big boy, it is the largest gull in the world.

We decided to have lunch at this park even though it was just past 11:00, we were all hungry. Ken brought a treat for all of us to try -- Cheese Crisps - (Asiago Cheddar flavour), he bought at Costco. We all enjoyed them.

We drove to Richmond Avenue, to see Dark-eyed Juncos on the way, but one one American Crow and we heard a Common Raven calling.

The place we all love is the Long Sault Parkway. Bill parked close to the bridge, yes it's a no parking zone, but no one told us to move. Eleanor parked behind us, but moved to park at the other end of the bridge. Bill and I saw Lesser Scaup (lots of them) and Barbara walked over to tell us that Eleanor and Ken had also seen Redhead, Bufflehead and Hooded Merganser. Nope we could not see them. I joined Eleanor and Ken and could see they had a much better view and a bigger view of the water. With difficulty I saw the Redhead and the Bufflehead and Hooded Merganser were easy to see. Bill moved his vehicle just ahead of Eleanor's. Again with difficulty he saw the Redhead. We did see one Snow Goose way out with the Canada Geese, it stood out because of the white colour. On Sunday, Ken texted me to put Pied-billed Grebe on the list. It was not mentioned to Bill nor I because we had been focusing on the Redhead.

Driving along the parkway, we stopped to see 2 Common Loons, one on each side of the road. One was very close, then it dove, came up further away, every time it dove, it just went further and further away. Ken was busy photographing the other Loon that was flapping its wings. We made another stop and the new birds were four American Black Ducks.

Along highway #2, we stopped to look at Swans - Trumpeter and Mute. It was really cool to see them fly in. Once again lots of Canada Geese and Eleanor found us a Cackling Goose. We stayed a good long time looking at this flock of waterfowl. Once we were back in the vehicle, Bill indicated it was getting late and we should have one more stop. Do you want to stop at Upper Canada Bird Sanctuary? No, I want to stop at Ault Island. It was a really good stop -- so many Ring-neck Ducks, sprinkled with Redheads and so many American Wigeon. Such a good stop. Ken indicated that John R had reported a Eurasian Wigeon, it could be here, so we searched and searched. Bill wanted to get the show on the road, to see what there was to see on the island, Ken and I stayed searching while the others went to see what was on the island. They returned and reported they saw nothing and we reported that we did not see a Eurasian Wigeon.

But I forgot to mention all the other birds we saw or heard while on the Ault Island Causeway -- we heard a Pileated Woodpecker, Ken and I went to investigate, we saw a big bird flying but we really never got a bead on it. A small flock of American Robins flew across the road a number of times. We heard a Downy Wood[ecker, White-breasted Nuthatch and a Brown Creeper, but never saw them. Back with the group, I said I hear Red-winged Blackbirds and Ken said there are about 15 in the tree over there.

Time to go home. Oh Bill, we did not get any wild Turkeys. However on my way from Bill and Barbara's place to my place, I did see a small flock of wild Turkeys on the experimental farm property.