Eardley-Masham Road and Pontiac Québec area with JC Birding

 February 4, 2025

 

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

I met Bill and Barbara at their place at 7:20 and we proceeded to the parking lot near Champlain Bridge to meet Ian.  Bill walked over to the river to check the Common Goldeneye, he did not bring his camera, upon his return Barbara went out with her camera to take a couple of photos. Once Ian got to the parking lot, we drove over to pick up Guy.  The GPS took us a different way, it was supposed to be faster but no it was quite the opposite.  Ian went the traditional way and called to find out where we were.

 

We took #148 to Ch de la Rivière.  We saw a small flock of Snow Buntings -- at this point we had a count of three species -- Common Goldeneye, American Crow and Snow Buntings.  We got back on the #148 and drove, checking any feeders we could find - most had no seeds and definitely no birds.  Bill said hey there are birds at that feeder, should we turn around.  Definitely. At the feeder were Blue Jays, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Black-capped Chickadee, Mourning Dove, Rock Pigeon.  Good Stop.

 

We drove down Thérrien, with the hope of seeing an Eagle, preferably Golden.  We scanned the trees, no nothing.  

 

We missed Eardley Masham Road, just can't get it out of my head that the restaurant is no longer there.  Bill turned around and we noticed that that reliable house that had so many feeders, is a thing of the past, the house and the tree are still there, just no feeders.  We drove up to the foot of the Gatineau hills and scanned again for Eagles, nothing.  

 

We continued up the road, passed the park and nothing on the road. We kept driving and Bill said dirt or birds on the road.  Turned out there to be 5 or 6 White-wing Crossbills.  We got out and started taking photos.  Yes of course, there just has to be a car that came by and scared them away.  Both Guy and Ian were happy guys, lifers for both of them. We aim to please!

 

We kept going down the road, no more Crossbills.  We turned down Chemin Sincennes, we did not drive very far, when we saw a lot of bird activity in a tree.  Evening Grosbeaks, maybe 20 of them feasting on the seeds of the tree.  They really could have cared less about us, sure they flew a bit when we parked close to the tree, but they came right back.  They could have come in at eye level, but they stayed closer to the top of the tree.  We took lots of photos.  Bill said this sure beats the just one we saw at Dewberry Trail.

 

We turned around and retraced our steps.  We saw a couple of Common Ravens. Hey great, there are two men with cameras walking towards us, they must have seen something.  Turns out they did not and were interested in what we had seen.  We passed the site where we originally saw the Crossbills, but they had vanished.

 

We drove along the Steel Line when Barbara said there were two big birds in the tree.  Where exactly, way up on the side of the mountain, sure enough there were definitely two big birds perched on a tree -- Bald Eagles.  We took photos, but they were far away - at least half a mile.  Great sighting Barbara.

 

We turned onto Ch Lac des Loups.  It brought back memories of Bill being forced off the road by a big truck and into the ditch we went.  That did not happen this time.

 

Time to check out the other side of 148.  We needed a pit stop, we drove around Quyon, nothing at the ferry, we finally stopped at a gas station.  A kind woman let us use the facilities, even though the sign indicated  'out of order'

Bill and Barbara were in the gas station/grocery store for a long time.  It gave me a chance to catch up with Guy.  He said how did you like the chicken, what are you talking about?  He said you did not open the gift; I thought the gift was for my grandson.  He said open it.  I did and we both laughed, it was a stuffed chicken (just a little reminder of my roots). Thank you very much Guy for your thoughtfulness.  

 

We ate lunch facing the gas station and Bill said he ran into a colleague from work.  He was told there was a very large nest on Goldmine Road, okay we should check that out.  We did not see it, but we did see where the tailings of the old iron mine were.   Also, on the drive Bill told me about the Old Canal that never got completed because of the railroad. The canal was built to circumvent the Chats Falls.  

 

Bill mentioned that his ancestors settled near here. Well show me, okay off we went to the Bristol area.  We stopped at a house that was falling down.  I got out of the vehicle to tell Ian and Guy why we were stopped.  Guy knew, Bill had told him about this place on their trip to Arnprior and he remembered.  Then we went off to see another house which was built in 1870.  It took a bit longer to find it, but all that was left was the front window.  See photos.

 

Time to head back, we made one more stop on Vanier Rd by the river, nothing new.

 

We were all happy because when we planned this outing it was to see Crossbills, we did see them.

Species Noted

 

1. Common Goldeneye
2. American Crow
3. Snow Buntings
4. Hairy Woodpecker
5. Downy Woodpecker
6. Mourning Dove
7. Black-capped Chickadee
8. Blue Jay
9. Rock Pigeon
10. White-wing Crossbills
11. Evening Grosbeak
12. Common Raven
13. Dark-eyed Junco
14. Wild Turkey
15. Bald Eagle
16. House Sparrow
17. Mallard

Critters Seen

1. White tailed deer 

 

Nepean Creek Northern Shoveler

 February 2, 2025

This was our second try for the oft reported bird.  Missing in action the first time, on this visit, it was resting with its signature beak buried in it's back.  It was not the shot we wanted, but, at least we got it.

Bruce Pit, Richmond farm fields & Lockhead Road with JC Birding

 January 30, 2025

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

We (Bill, Barbara, Ian, Ken, Carole, Alan, Eleanor and me) met at Bruce Pit at 8:00..The temperature was -21 with a wind chill of -29.  Before setting out Barbara and Bill gave me a little finger puppet to entertain my 3 week old grandson. Thank you, that was very thoughtful.  We met Jon Ruddy as we set out, he told us the owl was there and told us where he saw it.  We split up hoping that whoever saw it would let the others know.  There was no doubt it was cold getting to the bird.  We  followed the trail down the hill and just a bit further, Alan was ahead of it and called to say he had the bird.  It was perched on a broken off tree and it just looked at us.  Lots of photos were taken of the Great Gray Owl.  Apparently this bird has a severe parasitic infection and people have been asked to stay away.  The bird has not been seen all day today (January 31), what that means I don't know.

I left the group to go back to my car, because I did not want to get majorly cold and start the whole being sick all over again.  So off I went, I thought I would take a short cut and it was shorter alright, BUT, I had to climb over the fence to get to the main path.  Thank goodness for the nice man who helped me over the fence.  

After warming up, I noticed the group was back at the cars.  Bill indicated the next stop was Rushmore.  Lucky us, when we got to Rushmore a car was parked and a man was standing in the ditch taking photos.  The Snowy Owl was on the south side of Rushmore (that was the first time for me seeing an owl on that side of Rushmore.  A female or juvenile sitting in the field just chilling out with its eyes closed paying absolutely no attention to us.  

We checked out Atkins, where we saw Snow Buntings at the feeders, but no more Snowy Owls.

I left the group since I needed to be a babysitting grandma.  But before going home I checked out the Trail Road Dump.  A Common Raven flew over and my goodness there were soooo many American Crows.  I stopped to look at this bird being the crows were harassing and turned out to be a Red-tailed Hawk.  It was interesting watching the crows flying directly at the hawk and caw at the same time and all the hawk did was ignore the crows.

Part 2 by Bill

After Jane left to see her new grandson, the group decided to go south to Lockhead Road West, after a stop for a washroom break and hot chocolate at Tim Horton’s in Richmond.  We checked the east side of Lockhead and saw several birds at a feeder. On the west side, we saw a murmuration of starlings, some distant Horned Larks and Ken saw an accipiter.  Then Carol and Alan spotted another one – a Cooper’s Hawk this time.  We turned around and saw some Horned Larks very close to the road.  A flock of Snow Buntings landed on a nearby hydro wire.  

We decided to go to Jack Pine Trail on the way home.  Some of us went via Trail Road landfill, where Alan spotted a Red-tailed Hawk.  At Jack Pine, we got a couple of new species, then Bill and Alan independently heard the Red-bellied Woodpecker call.  Carol spotted it!

The group decided to call it a day, but Alan and Carol went to look for the Northern Shoveler in Nepean Creek.  Armed with Eleanor’s directions, they got it!

What a successful day with 22 species including two owls!  

Species Noted

1. Great Gray Owl
2. Black-capped Chickadee
3. American Crow
4. Snowy Owl
5. Snow Buntings
6. Mourning Dove
7. Downy Woodpecker
8. Blue Jay
9. Common Raven
10. European Starling
11. Rock Pigeon
12. Dark-eyed Junco
13. Northern Cardinal
14. Cooper's Hawk
15. American Tree Sparrow
16. Horned Lark
17. Red-tailed Hawk
18. Wild Turkey
19. White-breasted Nuthatch
20. Hairy Woodpecker
21. Red-bellied Woodpecker
22. Northern Shoveler