November 4, 2025
Birding Report by Barbara Chouinard
Tuesday November 4, 2025 Birding Day in the Eastern Lagoons
Jane is very busy this week orchestrating a family Murder Mystery Night which we are looking to forward hearing all about it. Maybe Jane is not only a birder but the murderer??
It was a sunny morning when we met up at Elmvale Shopping Centre. I had not noticed the wind when I left downtown Ottawa. Maybe there was none. BUT as Eleanor, Ken and Barbc waited for Bill and Barbara who were stuck in traffic, the wind was gusty, blustery and chilly. One had to hold on to one’s scope today.
At the parking lot were Rock Pigeons, Ring billed Gulls and European Starlings. Oh, did I mention, Canada Geese. We saw lots and lots and lots of birds today, problem being they were mostly Canada Geese, probably in the thousands.
So, we set off. Bill and Barbara and Ken in one vehicle and Eleanor driving her car with Barbc. We got lost in Russell/Embrun nexus of the universe. My Google maps would not work properly. On the highway I tried to get google maps to work. It could not find the coordinates I put in for Road 3 and Road 6, Russell. Nope. To further complicate matters, I had no reading glasses and we were driving east in the sunshine directly in our eyes. All we could do was laugh.
Eleanor managed to get some google maps but we overshot, (we think) a road or two. Finally, leaving the phone on and talking with Ken and Bill and Barbara got us to a happy meet-up. Finally! We were so glad to see them.
Today we decided to do a good birding survey of the Eastern Lagoons. Maybe some Snow Geese...
The Russell Lagoons were “locked up” and it did not appear that anything was there. So, we went on to the Embrun Lagoons. There were lots of Canada Geese here. In the distance, Ken spotted a flying hawk, which was determined to be a Red-tailed Hawk. Once it crossed over it was mobbed by American Crows, maybe 5 of them. In the lagoons were Mallards, Green winged Teal, and Black Duck. There were strings of Canada Geese in the sky and Eleanor spotted something different in the far sky. We saw 5 Snow Geese flying. Trouble was they were flying away from us. But no doubt when the sunshine caught them at the right angle, the beautiful white with the black on the wings was beautiful. Ken took a stroll down the road to check the next cell. We lost him but could only see a green form flapping (Ken wore his green jacket today). Luckily, we did not have to search for Ken. We laughed.
At Casselman, the lagoon gate was open. Again, lots and lots, estimate was 2,000 Canada Geese. We looked through the geese and found a tiny female Bufflehead. It had the little white comma directly behind its eye. Barbara spotted movement in a nearby bush near the gate. The bird came out and sat on a branch with a red berry. The bird had a very crisp white breast and gray top and head in the sunlight. It was very handsome Dark eyed Junco and sat for a bit on the branch. I don’t know if there was a photo op. Barbara most likely got a great shot of it.
Next we headed to the St Isidore Lagoons. On the way there was a bird on the hydro wire. From our angle it looked like it had a round head and body and rusty sides. It flew after a minute or so. So, it was a mystery bird but Eleanor and I were tending toward saying it could be an Eastern Bluebird. Confirmed by Bill's photo: a female Eastern Bluebird. The bird was back lit so it looked pretty well all black except for the bit that had the right angle of the sun on it and it was the rusty breast that we could see a bit of.
At St Isidore, in a lagoon of thousands of Canada Geese, there was one white bird. The waterfowl were moving away from us but the white bird stuck out and it was moving with the Geese. Eventually the whole group lifted up in the air to fly around and we could follow the white bird. We believe it was a Ross’s Goose as it was very small and had a small pinched-type of bill. In the nearby bushes by the road Eleanor and I stopped and pished as Eleanor had seen something fly across the road. In the Pines, a Black capped Chickadee responded and showed up.
We continued on to Moose Creek Lagoons. This is the lagoon that once a fence was put up to keep us and other people out, one can’t really see into the lagoon which is wrapped up in plastic. Plus, the water level was low. Eleanor stood on her car door edge to see better. Eleanor is pretty tall if you ask me and she saw a group of Snow Geese fly into the next nearby lagoon cell but there was no way to see them once they landed. Also, at the lagoon there was a workman in a pickup truck with some equipment to monitor some things. Barbara had kindly offered us some treats: granola bars/hard candy, etc. Thank you, Barbara. She even offered some to the fellow in the pick-up truck. The fellow checked around the whole lagoon driving his pick-up truck but the birds did not rise up and fly around. Ken said there was a sign at the road that explained that the lagoons would be expanded. So maybe the fellow was doing some work on the expansion.
In the blustery wind we ate our lunch standing up and chatting. It was still sunny but once in the vehicle we were happy to use the seat heater to warm us up.
We moved on to Chrysler. Bill walked over to us to tell us he had seen a Mourning Dove. On a day like today every species counts. So, thank you Bill. Here the water was very low and the “falls” were pretty calm. There were no birds on or around the water on the rocks.
At the lagoons, Bill saw two types of flying ducks here and he is sure one is a Lesser Scaup and the other species a Gadwall or Green winged Teal. It was too far away to tell.
Eleanor had a Blue Jay (not the baseball team player). We then decided to head home taking the roads that still may have some Sandhill Cranes. We down Frank Kenny, Milton, Smith, McFadden and Ramsayville Roads. Nope, no luck with the cranes.
By this time, we could see the Crow Highway in the sky. Crows were traveling to their night group roosts. It was still sunny but soon with the time change two days ago, the sun would start going down. Throughout the day we saw massive farm equipment on the county roads. The farmers were taking advantage of the dry and sunny day.
We returned to our cars and said our farewells.
Writer: Barbara Chouinard
We must have set a record for the smallest species list today. We should record it. Five sets of pretty good eyes and few birds. Count is 16 species. Nevertheless, it was a great birding day.
1. Canada Geese
2. Rock Pigeon
3. Ring billed Gull
4. European Starling
5. Red tailed Hawk
6. American Crow
7. Common Raven
8. Mallard
9. Green winged Teal
10. Black Duck
11. Snow Geese
12. Ross’s Goose
13. Eastern Bluebird female was the Mystery Bird
14. Mourning Dove
15. Lesser Scaup
16. Gadwall (maybe)
One green mammal waving arms (that was Ken)
