Ottawa Area Birding: Fishing Lake Road & Opinicon Road with JC Birding

May 14, 2025

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

Ian, Barbara, Bill and I started out at 7:00 a.m. given we had a two hour drive to get to Fishing Lake Road. None of us had been there before, but Bill had read a couple of birding reports regarding the area and it looked very promising. We saw Wild Turkeys as we passed the experimental farm properties on Fallowfield Road. First stop was on Richmond Road, we were hoping to see Bobolink and Eastern Meadowlark. Nope. But on the other side of the road there was an Eastern Kingbird singing. We tallied 13 species before we got to Fishing Lake Road.

Getting out of the vehicle the first bird we heard was 'teacher, teacher, teacher', The Ovenbird has such a big voice. I walked up the hill because I heard a bird, it turned out to be a Nashville Warbler, I don't know their song. Walking toward the lake we saw Yellow Warblers, Chestnut-sided Warblers and heard lots of Red-eyed and Warbling Vireo. We did have a fleeting sighting of a Yellow-throated Vireo. We heard the weep of a Great-crested Flycatcher and we saw one later in the day. We tried calling Northern Waterthrush, but no luck. We walked further and heard and then saw a Redstart and Baltimore Oriole. We had walked about 45 minutes, then Bill suggested it was time to walk back to the car. Barbara wanted to walk further, so she and Ian walked away from us as Bill and I walked toward the car.

Bill and I walked a little bit and Merlin heard Golden-winged Warbler. Then I heard it, it was close, we called the song and the bird came in and it gave us plenty of time for us to photograph it. We had heard Common Yellowthroat singing. I said to Bill they often come in to pishing and the little bird did not make a liar out of me. I pished and the bird flew in, but did not stay long. Those little birds are smart, they will come into pishing but will not come in a 2nd or 3rd time to pishing.

We drove back to pick up Barbara and Ian and they told us there was road work ahead and there was no way we could go around the large grater. We said it was too bad they were with us because we had a Golden-winged Warbler. Then I heard the bird singing, we all got out of the car because Ian and Barbara wanted to get photos. We drove back to where we originally parked. Again we heard the Nashville Warbler, but I heard the Cuckoo call, I looked at my phone and it indicated Yellow-billed Cuckoo, I called to the others "Yellow-billed Cuckoo". We played the song and the bird flew in immediately. It checked out the environment and then left. I took 3 hurried photos, yeah turned out they were terrible photos, but one could see it was a Yellow-Billed Cuckoo. We were all very happy to get that bird. I thought Barb C. would have loved to have seen it, she is always looking for Cuckoos. We walked further and heard and saw Scarlet Tanager, now that is one beautiful bird. The male came in first and then the female - nice to see both, the colours are so different, primarily red for the male and yellow for the female, both have black wings and tail. Bill went back to get the vehicle. While he was gone an Eastern Towhee came in, lots of photos later, we all hoped Bill would be back before the bird left us. Not to worry, it stuck around and Bill got many photos. While we were walking, we came upon some Morrells, they are edible. Strange looking fungi that have a honeycomb appearance due to the network of ridges with pits composing their caps. There are true morels and false morels - their exterior is the same, but the interioris different. True morels are completely hollow, while the false morels have a chambered or solid interior. We did not pick them to see if they were true or false.

Time for lunch, the Towhee sang to us while we ate our lunch and then a female Towhee came in. Also singing was a Field Sparrow. After we were done with our lunch Bill suggested we should leave the area, I wanted to stay and bird the area we had not seen. That did not happen, the grader was absolutely huge, taking up at least 3/4 of the road, there was no hope in passing that vehicle, so we left. No Prairie Warbler for us. But we did get Golden-winged Warbler and the Yellow-billed Cuckoo.

We headed for Opinicon Road. I was confused, Bill said we are going the opposite way than what we normally go. okay. We stopped to check to see if we could call in a Sora or a Virginia Rail. While Bill was calling them, I walked up the road to see if I could call in a Swamp Sparrow, I heard Common Yellowthroat, so I started to pish. No luck calling in the Yellowthroats, but two Swamp Sparrows flew in. We had no luck with the rails.

We reached the cemetery and all the bird boxes were occupied by Tree Swallows, no Eastern Bluebirds. There were two students out in the field working and having their lunch. We heard Cerulean Warbler, park the car and out we get. We played it and nothing. I walked a little further than the rest and looked back at the others. I saw a little bird fly over their heads. A little searching was needed, but yes a Cerulean Warbler. Just a singleton, but one is good and it's just an excellent bird. We continued down the road and we called Cerulean Warbler at Skycroft with no luck. We were lucky to see one. We checked fields for Eastern Bluebirds, no luck.

Just before Skycroft, we stopped to see 5 Northern Map Turtles sunning themselves. The Northern Map Turtle is currently listed as Special Concern under both the Ontario Endangered Species Act and the federal Species at Risk Act. But they are doing well in the area we saw them. I checked them out on google and I found that the large females eat molluscs such as snails and clams, crayfish and other invertebrates and some fish. While males and juveniles eat insects and crayfish. Individuals of this species can live more than 20 years. Female Map Turtles take approximately

12 years to reach maturity, while the males take only 5 years. They nest from June through July and lay a single clutch of 9 to 12 eggs, unlike the Snapping Turtles that lay 20 to 45. They begin hatching in late August. The incubation temperature of the eggs determines the gender of the hatchlings. Another interesting fact is they are only found in Quebec and Ontario. Okay I should remember this is a birding report not a turtle report.

We went up the Queens University Biological Station road, there is a lot of construction going on there. We saw a single Eastern Phoebe and spoke to the cook who told us he knew nothing about the construction or the birds, he was there to cook.

Leaving the Queens properties and up the road we heard the Eastern Meadowlarks singing but did not see them. They start nesting in early May to mid August. So perhaps they were all busy nesting.

At the end of Chaffey's Lock Road we turned on Crosby, we stopped at the small construction site, where we always get Northern House Wren and played the song. Nothing. Not far down the road we heard the bird singing. Finally at one field we heard Bobolink, we waited and one male flew up, flew above us and then back and treated us to his hovering and down to the field to disappear.

Driving HIghway 15, I asked Bill about a certain swamp, yes we will stop. When we got to the swamp, it initially looked like nothing was there. Wrong, a couple of Mallards and two Trumpeter Swans. Ian said he had seen waders, we looked and looked but we could not find them. Then I heard the song of the Greater Yellowlegs, I am sure the Yellowlegs was telling us he was there.

Bill, can we stop at the swamp (the swale) near Smiths Falls, sure, but when we were there Sunday, there was nothing there. We stopped and got our scopes out, two fall off Mute Swans, a few Scaup (sp) and three Ring-neck Ducks. On the other side of the road, we found two more Mute Swans. Too far away for decent photos.

Bill said he was taking the North Gower way home then he turned onto Code Road, he said there was a small swamp there. We stopped to see if there were any birds, sure lots of Red-winged Blackbirds. The last time I was there with Barb C. we had Black Terns, not so this time. We were leaving, not yet in the car, when a Green Heron lifted off, beauty a good bird to end the day.

I forgot to mention, it was good seeing the spring flowers -- Bellwort, Columbine, Dogtooth Violets, Celandine, apple blooms and Trilliums.

Home by 5:00. It was a good day -- 11 warblers (marked with a **), including Golden-winged and Cerulean -- those we don't see in Ottawa. A Yellow-billed Cuckoo is difficult to find and we got one. Green heron at the end of the day, just finished off a good day.