Ottawa Area Birding: Gatineau Trail & Martindale Road with JC Birding

August 26, 2025

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

Barb and Ian met Bill, Barbara and I at the Champlain Bridge. Barb of course was there early and had checked the river, she saw Canada Geese, Mallard, Common Merganser and Greater Yellowlegs. We then drove to Guy's place where we met up with Guy and Ann and drove to the Gatineau Trail. Once we all got there, some drove faster than others, we went to the crossroad of the road and path. Oh my, we saw lots of birds, one bird that was orange with white wing bars, will be forever unidentified. Then there were a couple of others, it was obvious we were looking at two different birds. Ann and Barb were looking at a Red-eyed Vireo and the rest of us followed a bird, Bill took lots of photos. We tried to identify it unsuccessfully. I asked Bill if he had a good photo, yes, I took a photo of the photo and put it through Merlin -- Cape May Warbler. Then we saw lots of Blue Jays, I asked Ian what do you call a whole lot of Blue Jays, his answer was 'screech', he was close. I looked it up later and it is a scold of Blue Jays. Then we saw so many American Robins, so the same question -- European Robins are called a round of robins, but American Robins are called a worm of robins, but other names came up as well Breast of robins, bobbin of robins, blush of robins and for a rather large gather of robins, sometimes a term like a rod of robins is used. Blue Jays and American Robins are obviously grouping up to go south.

Moving up the trail we saw Song Sparrows, Common Grackle, Hairy Woodpecker and on our return Chestnut-sided Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Black & White Warbler. We crossed the road and walked to the rail station, Guy and I walked ahead, we were rewarded by seeing a good sized flock of Indigo Bunting juveniles or maybe they were females. (begs the questions, what is a whole lot of Indigo Buntings called - sacrifice, mural or decoration). While we were trying to see the Indigo Buntings, we saw a female or juvenile Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Overhead a Turkey Vulture was riding the thermals and a Common Raven was making his presence known by its deep resonating croak. Love the sound of a Common Raven, puts a smile on my face.

We all joined back at the vehicles, getting some sustenance and using the unique latrine, where you have to take a huge step up to get in, posing a challenge for short people and me with an injured knee. We drove down Burrough - the countryside was rustic farming fields. We did see some birds -- two Savannah Sparrows perched on the hydro lines, I had just taken a bite of a muffin when I saw a Brown Thrasher, so Bill had to back up when I said Brown Thrasher, but unfortunately it was not seen by anyone except me. Driving further we saw a couple of sightings of Eastern Kingbirds and one Cedar Waxwing. We turned around and there was a bird in a far away tree - Kestrel.

We making our way to Mont Ste Marie village, but first we stopped at some swamps. We saw a Great Blue Heron having its lunch. On the other side, Guy and I were walking and we saw a bird flying low in the water. Guy said, "What was that", mmm my guess is Belted Kingfisher. It was confirmed when we heard its rattle. Ann shouting what is that in the tree, another Eastern Kingbird.I left the group to take photos of the Great Blue Heron and then started down the path to join them. I was lucky, I saw a Pine Warbler and Bill saw Mallards and another Great Blue Heron. We crossed the road and Barb's sharp eye found the Belted Kingfisher. Once again I left the group to lean on Bill's vehicle. Why you ask, I was cold, once again I did not dress warm enough.

We got back to the vehicles and turned at the boat launch. Above us and calling was a juvenile Osprey. We were surprised to see an Osprey thinking they were all gone, and a bit later the parent came to the calling juvenile who was in the nest. The Osprey nest had a huge sign on it -- Faucon Environmental. Of course I wondered about the company -- their website indicated With over 30 years' experience. Falcon Environmental is a North American leader in the field of effective ecological control and management of nuisance wildlife on airports and landfill sites. That might explain why at a house beside the entrance into the boat launch was a fake coyote. But it was not very effective and Canada Goose was eating grass right beside it.

Barb and Ann thought they saw a Common Loon in the water, they retrieved their scopes and sure enough Common Loon. Guy and I reminisced about seeing a Bald Eagle the last time we were here, but none today.

Ann and Guy were going to leave but I said once we finish our lunch we will be heading to Martindale. It did not yield very much, given the time of day and the end of August, what we would see would be a bonus. Driving always yields less than walking. Ann and Guy decided to go home. Ian and Barb saw a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. We saw more Eastern Kingbirds and Eastern Phoebes. We drove through a wooded area and up a bit of a hill, when I asked Bill, what is that sound -- mmm Pewee or Broad-wing Hawk. We were out of the car, when Barb and Ian drove up. What are you seeing? no, just hearing. Bill said definitely a Broad-winged Hawk. The parent flew off, but the calling continued. We tried the trick from last week, calling using the Merlin app but with no success. Barb did a very good retention of the call, finally the bird flew. We all saw it, but no photos.

Bill asked Barb if she wanted to take a different way home, on the 'other side' of the Gatineau River. Okay if it is too long. Maybe 20 minutes more. So we took the different route, but Bill's GPS kept going off. He has a good sense of direction. When we got to the dam, mmm, is there a road, yes, it is one lane wide. We drove over the dam and took the road and then took another very narrow lane. I asked Bill to stop so I could take some photos of the bridge and the chute. We were off again and at Newcommon we turned right, drove maybe 5 or 6 minutes to be stopped by a man who told us the road was closed today. Funny, no sign indicating where we turned that the road was closed. So we just did the loop the other way.

We saw no Red-winged Blackbirds or Swallows, guess they have left for a warm climate.

Good day of birding. I was mildly surprised that we had such good birding on the Gatineau Trail.

None of us took our jackets off all day. I have a difficult time letting go of the really nice weather, but it is the end of August.

Happy Labour Day weekend.