Ottawa Area Birding: September 2026

September 1, 2026

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

Bill and I arrived at Mud Lake around 7:45. We put on my rubber boots as it had rained overnight, the forecast called for rain during the day that never happened.

We walked over to Mud Lake, there to greet us was a single Mallard. Looking through my scope, I saw so many Wood Ducks. Bill wandered over to a small body of water on the other side of the road, there he saw a Green Heron. Bill called to me to let me know, I joined him to see the Green Heron disappearing into the vegetation, but I did see one later in the day.. No Red-winged Blackbirds. I went back to my scope to finish scanning around the lake, the only other species I found was a Great Blue Heron.

Instead of going to the ridge we walked toward the water and started checking the trees along the water. Bill should we go down to the water? Bill said yes. Bill had told me he got himself a speaker to hang on trees, freeing up hands. Such a thoughtful gesture.

First bird we heard was a Black-capped chickadee. Bill hung up the speaker and played the mobbing tape. It didn't take long before we had lots of Chickadees, then the warblers arrived -- American Restart, Black and White, Magnolia, Cape May and Blackburian. Ann and Guy joined us looking at all those warblers. Ann indicated she did not know all the warblers. I told her I am concentrating on taking photos and I will identify them at home. We walked closer to the water, Bill said I have a Black-throated Green. Ann pointed out a single Common Merganser. She also said hello to what she called the Mallard sewing circle, 7 or 8 female Mallards.

High in the dead trees were a couple of Cedar Waxwings and a couple of Eastern Phoebes.

Ann and Guy walked up the ridge, while Bill went to take off his rubber boots. I stayed a while hoping to see more, I did not. I met Ian on his way down to the water and I was on my way up to the ridge. I caught up to Ann and Guy as they were trying to determine what birds were flying to and fro, they could not. We saw a group of people checking out an area with cameras and scopes at the ready. I stopped to talk a bit and Ann and Guy went on. No sign of Bill. We really did not see much. Ann wanted to go sit on the bench at the head of the path. We waited for Bill. I could not phone him as I left my phone in Bill's vehicle. Ann received a call, she thought it might be her son, nope Bill saying he had birded with Ian for a bit. Luckily he did, he saw a Blackpoll Warbler.

He joined us and we walked down the path. We heard Chickadees, out comes the speaker, oh my the mobbing sound really draws birds in -- Yellow-rumps, Bay-breasted and some of the others that we previously had seen.

We stopped and looked at a flower -- Guy said this flower is called Turtle head. He sent me more information this morning regarding the flower. "Scientific name is Chelone glabra, Common name White turtlehead. Native from Georgia to Newfoundland to Labrador, thus Eastern North America. In Greek , chelone means "tortoise" and was the name of a nymph who refused to attend the wedding of Zeus and was turned into a turtle as punishment. Its natural habitat is wet areas, such as riparian forests and swamps. It has been used as a method of birth control by Abenaki people." Thanks Guy, always the very knowledgeable flower guy;

Ann walked back to the bench as we continued.

We continued to the viewing platform to check out what we could see on the water -- Wood Ducks, so many juveniles -- they all looked like females, but the juveniles look so much like female Wood Ducks.

We walked to the bridge, played the tape, it was more effective at the far end of the bridge, bringing in more warblers and a single Blue-headed Vireo. At one point, Bill saw a Red-eyed Vireo, not sure if it was on the way to the bridge or at the bridge.

Guy what do you call these flowers -- Wapoo or Arrowhead. Again he gave me more information. "Well it's not Wapoo but Wapato, scientific name is Sagittaria latifolia and common names Broadleaf arrowhead, Duck potato, Indian potato. This plant produces edible tubers that have traditionally been extensively used by Native Americans. The starchy tubers were consumed by Native Americans in the lower Columbia River basin, in addition to the Omaha and Cherokee nations. The tubers can be eaten raw or cooked for 15 to 20 minutes. The taste is similar to potatoes and chestnuts, and they can be prepared in the same fashions: roasting, frying, boiling, and so on. They can also be sliced and dried to prepare flour. "

I don't think we saw any new warblers on the way back, Ian joined us at this point. Bill did play it again, oh yes White-breasted Nuthatch and Downy Woodpeckers flew in during one of the playbacks. As well when Guy and Ann were walking with us, they mentioned seeing a Belted Kingfisher as they were parking. We later saw one at Richmond storm pond.

We saw some fungi on a log - Trembling Crust fungi -- Guy gave me this information -- The mushrooms on the log are, I believe, Schizophyllum commune. It is common in rotting wood. It can be found throughout the world, year-round in places such as North America. This mushroom is edible when young. The species was regarded as nonpoisonous but regarded as inedible due to its smallness and toughness. It is chewed by some natives of Madagascar. This mushroom is sold in markets in Guatemala. Known locally in Chinese as baishen , this mushroom is enjoyed as food in Yunnan. In Northeast India, in the state Manipur, it is known as kanglayen and one of the favourite ingredients for Manipuri-style pancakes called paaknam. In Mizoram, the local name is pasi (pa means mushroom, si means tiny) and it is one of the highest rated edible mushrooms among the Mizo community. As to the edibility of those that we saw at Mud , personally I would not risk eating them and would not recommend them to anyone. When in doubt avoid.

At one point we noticed an absence of Canada Geese, mm that is different.

Ann and Guy left us and we continued onto Andrew Hayden park. We noticed Colin and another man standing over to the right of where we would normally scan. We joined them, Colin very nicely pointed out the Hudsonian Godwit and the Black-bellied Plover and said the Franklin's Gull had not been seen. We checked them both out and took photos. Bill let me know he saw a single Red-winged Blackbird. I walked over a bit to get a photo of the Great Egret and I spoke to a very dedicated birder (he had an oxygen pack on his back and lines running to his nose.) His walker was for his camera and he had a scope set up. I asked if he had seen the Hudsonian, yes, how about the Black-bellied plover, no. I tried to find it with my bins, but had to use my scope, he came over and got the coordinates. I went back over to talk to Colin and asked me to give me a short lesson on Gull aging. Bill said the speaker at OFO conference is speaking on Gulls. Yes.but I want a primer. Colin gave me a short explanation. We decided it was time for lunch, we were on our way out, when Colin said I have Franklin's Gull. Appetite or seeing the Gull. No surprise the Gull won. We checked it out and took more photos and off we went to the vehicle to get our lunches.

A single Ring-billed Gull joined us while we were eating, it did not bother us, it moved its head back and forth ever so slightly as if listening to our conversation. After a stimulating conversation we decided we would move onto the Emerald Meadows stormwater ponds. Once there we found it was very difficult to see the water, the vegetation had overgrown so much. Lots of Canada Geese, Great Egret. Off to the Richmond's Stormwater Pond -- Double-crested Cormorant, Osprey, 4 Great Egrets, 1 Great Blue Heron, 1 Map Turtle, 1 Painted Turtle and as we were leaving a Belted Kingfisher.

Then we were off to the Richmond Lagoons. Bill and I were talking too much and we missed the parking lot to the lagoons. Oh well we just turned around and parked the vehicle. I brought my scope, and off we went. At the viewing platform, Ian said he saw something go into the grasses, bigger than a Virginia Rail. Well Bill and Ian were so lucky they saw an American Bittern, probably the best bird of the day (oh my I just discounted all those beautiful warblers). We checked out the first lagoon, it looked pretty dry, but looking through the scope, I saw many, many Mallards and one lone Great Blue Heron swimming or standing in the deep slime.

Bill played the tape at the viewing stand, more warblers. Ian decided to stay at the viewing stand, in hopes he would see the American Bittern again. Bill again played the tape just as we were leaving, more warblers. I spotted a Black-capped Chickadee lying flat out on a branch. Bill, look at that bird, why is he doing that -- we all had different speculations that were wrong. I googled it and my search indicated that birds do that for several reasons --sunbathing or to cool down. I can't remember if I have seen this before, the Chickadee just looked weird on the branch. High up on a tree we saw an Eastern Wood Pewee.

Ian left us and we continued on to Trail Road. We saw a big flock of European Starlings, Turning down Cambrian we saw some Ring-billed Gulls, but at the open garbage part of the dump many more Gulls joined by at least a dozen Turkey Vultures. I was fascinated by how the garbage truck dumps its load - it lifts the back of the truck upwards and pushes all the garbage out. We drove to the end of the road and there we saw a single American Goldfinch. Driving back, we found our first and only Common Raven of the day.

Back home by 4:45. Another really good day birding -- 13 species of Warblers.