Ottawa Area Birding: 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.