Ottawa Area Birding: Ross Road to Beachburg to Holland Marsh with JC Birding

May 20, 2025

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

Eleanor, Bill, Barbara and I set off to Ross Road at 7:30 and of course our first stop was at Antrim Truck Stop for some baked goodies. Our first birding stop was at the stop just before Cobden where we saw Red-winged Blackbirds, Yellow Warbler, Osprey and heard Swamp Sparrows.

We met up with Anne at the boat launch. The water was really quite rough and nothing could be seen on the water. We walked over to the park where a single Spotted Sandpiper was seen. Red-eyed Vireos and Warbling Vireos were singing up a storm. We heard Blackpoll and Tennessee Warblers. Once back at the vehicle, Bill said he saw a Common Loon on the water, I lifted my bins and yes Common Loon - I thought of Barb C who is always looking for Loons.

Back on the road, we drove to the Snake River Line. Finally I saw my first Savannah Sparrow of the season. Two very thoughtful male Bobolink flew to a small tree beside the road opposite the vehicle and perched there while Bill and Barbara photographed them. A bit further down the road we heard Common Yellowthroat. I pished and one male flew up and bounced around in a tree, making it difficult for photos. There was a swamp near the road and we heard both Sora and Virginia Rail, but they would not show themselves. Rails are shy little creatures.

We stopped at a house where there is a feeder and we saw a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Baltimore Oriole and a Hairy Woodpecker, A Blue Jay kept flying in disturbing the Grosbeak and Oriole. But lucky for us, the birds were not scared away, they just moved up the pole a bit and let the hungry Blue Jay stuff its face with peanuts. Once it had its fill the birds flew back to the feeder. We saw both male and female Orioles

We heard Meadowlarks in the field, but I think they must have been on the nest because all we heard was singing. There was a little foray happening in the sky above us, a small blackbird was attacking a very large bird. Watching this play out the larger bird turned such that we could easily see its red tail -- Red-tailed Hawk. I love it when I see a small bird take after a large bird, the little one has such maneuverability that it usually wins chasing the larger bird away. But Eleanor did point out the larger bird may have a baby bird or egg in its mouth -- so who won?

Along another road we heard Northern Waterthrush and saw a Blue-wing Teal swimming in the ditch, but when we got closer to the duck, it flew.

The weather was quite cool and windy as we got out at the swamp on Ross Road. We had seen a Common Gallinule from the vehicle, but once we got out the bird disappeared. We heard a few Gallinules while we walked but they were making their appearance difficult for us to really get a good look. Bill and Anne were able to photograph one. I walked off in a different direction than the other four. I wanted to see if I could actually see a rail, the Sora and Virginia Rail. I waited patiently to hear which bird was singing close to the road, Virginia Rail. I played Virginia Rail and the bird sang back. I must have waited 10 minutes or so and finally I saw movement. Great, I saw the bird enough to photograph it. I was not so lucky with the Sora.

I walked back to join Bill, Barbara and Ann to find out what they had seen, Ring-necked Duck, Common Gallinule and they had tried for the rails but did not see either. I walked up to where Eleanor was, she had seen a Chimney Swift amongst the Tree Swallows and heard a Veery Saw one Marsh Wren, can you believe just one Marsh Wren, there are usually lots of wrens at this marsh. Not sure if the cool weather stopped them from singing or if there were just not many at the marsh. A car drove up and the occupants asked if we had seen the Swans, nope was our response. There had been 4 Swans at the marsh yesterday and the speculation was they were last year's cygnets. Eleanor pointed to another little foray going on in the distance and lucky for us, the bigger bird decided to perch in a far off tree. Back to the vehicle, Eleanor got out her scope and while the view was good, it was difficult to determine what the raptor was. We called Bill and he said light morph Rough-legged Hawk.

While we were at the vehicle, a bird flew by -- Pileated Woodpecker. Eleanor walked to the other end of the marsh, where I had seen the Virginia Rail. I eventually joined her, lucky I did because a Least Flycatcher was flitting about. She had heard a Great Crested Flycatcher and yes she also heard Sora and Virginia Rail. I noticed the others were all in the vehicle, time for lunch. By the time I joined them, they were almost done. We discussed what we should do next as we warmed up in the car. Did I say it was cold for May 20. Guess Mother Nature forgot May 20 was supposed to be a lot warmer than 8 or 10 degrees.

At some point we noticed some big birds in the distant trees. Most of the birds were Turkey Vultures while another was very light, turns out it was the Rough-legged Hawk we had seen previously. Like are the odds that two light morph Rough-legged Hawks would be in the area at the same time.

We decided to go around to the other side of the swamp. Nothing new.

Driving the roads we stopped at a corner where we heard Chestnut-sided Warbler, two made a very brief appearance. Bill said where next, we should drive roads where there are trees on either side of the road. We were on a road with no trees but hydro lines, what is that -- Eastern Bluebird. Another species I had not seen this season. I got out of the car to take a photo and the bird had flown.

Time to head home. We stopped once again at Antrim Truck stop, this time for a health break. I thought I would try my luck and asked Bill if we could stop at Holland Marsh. Sure was his response, it is on the way home.

Initially Holland Marsh yielded two Yellowlegs. But we just kept looking, one of the Yellowlegs had a broken wing and it took on a smaller bird. A Great Blue Heron flew in, scaring one of the yellowlegs from where it was hiding and it joined the others, making three yellowlegs -- 2 lesser and 1 greater. Then another bird flew in, a Dunlin. A small peep flew into a sandy area close to us -- Least Sandpiper, then a Yellowlegs flew in - Lesser Yellowlegs. While Bill and I were watching the shorebirds, Eleanor was lucky enough to see a Wilson's Snipe fly over.

All in all we ended up with 69 species of birds. It took all of us to make up this number, often 1 or 2 birds of each species except for the common species. For me Ross Road swamp was a disappointment, but the day was not.