Ottawa Area Birding: Richmond to North Gower with JC Brding

November 11, 2025

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

I got a text at 6:00 a.m. indicating Eleanor would not be joining us. So Bill (Barbara wasn't feeling 100%) and I went birding today and the first place we went was Akins road. We saw a mixed flock of at least 200 Snow Buntings and Horned Larks. Oh we were happy seeing those fellows. We watched them for at least 30 minutes, always coming back to the same area for what looked like grit. Bill will check his photos for Lapland Longspurs.

We then drove down Barnsdale Road to behind Moodie Pond. Before we got out of the vehicle, high in the sky we saw a Rough-legged Hawk. We were hopeful that we may see it again as we would be going to the dump area. We stopped behind the pond -- lots of Canada Geese, 15 or so Green-wing Teal and 1 Black Duck and of course Mallards.

We turned on Trail Road and stopped near the dump and were checking out Dark-eyed Junco and American Tree Sparrows, when we saw this larger bird (larger than a junco but not as big as a Blue Jay) clinging onto the fence, it had a longish tail and a killer beak. OMG Northern Shrike, up close and personal. We saw it first in the chain link fence around the dump (see a not so great photo). I have never seen a Northern Shrike clinging to a chain linked fence before, always on top of a tree. It flew and finally decided on a small shrub. What a great find. We were happy campers for certain.

We then drove around to the other side of the dump and drove down Cambrian Road, there must have been 1000+ European Starlings filling up at least three or four trees (see Bill's photos). On a light standard in the dump area, there was one single Common Raven.

Next up - Moody Pond. Well Barb C would have been happy, we saw one Common Loon. one Black-back Gull, Herring Gulls and Ring-billed Gulls and 100's of Canada Geese. On the way to the next stop we saw a small flock of Wild Turkeys. Dobson Rd was a big disappointment - no birds.

Next road was Goodstown road, there is this one home that has amazing bird feeders and today was not a disappointment - Blue Jays, Mourning Doves, House Sparrows, American Tree Sparrows, Hairy Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatches and Dark-eyed Juncos and then on the return trip we saw Northern Cardinal and Black-capped Chickadees.

We stopped birding at 10:50 to about 11:20 to listen to the Remembrance Day coverage that was on the CBC.

Bill asked where to next, my response was I don't know the name of the street, you know the place where we see Snow buntings and sometimes Lapland Longspurs on corn spills on the road -- good thing Bill and I have been birding a long while, He knew exactly where it was - Lockhead. We got there and parked beside Foster Farms - so many Rock Pigeons, Ring-billed Gulls. The American Crows were definitely in the minority and so many Snow Buntings and Horned Larks. We watched them and took photos, they were in the fields and close or on the road. Of course trucks and cars passed and frightened them away, but they came back. After we finished looking at the birds we drove further down the road past the North Gower Grains where there are about 20 silos altogether. Bill was headed for the little hill that has lots of trees on it. He started to say something but didn't get out of his mouth, when a Red-tailed Hawk flew from the trees. Bill got out of the vehicle but it was on a mission and took off to places unknown. We turned around and drove to the other end of Lockhead, a small flock of Snow buntings. We decided we would go back and watch the show as we ate our lunch. Sadly the Buntings and Larks had flown, except for a few.

The last stop was Richmond Storm Ponds. My, oh my many many Canada Geese and Bill found one Hooded Merganser and two Mallards.

On our birding journey we saw many many Canada Geese in the fields and flying south. Eleanor would have had a challenge estimating the number of Canada Geese for the ebird report.

We were home around 1:45. I was cold and in fact I am still cold and it's 6:00, but we had a good day.

The absolute best bird of the day was the Northern Shrike.