Redpolls at Last

Thurs, Jan 20 2011 2:30 pm

Grant and I went skiing in Gatineau Park, starting at P7. I followed Ridge Road, while Grant took Frank's, and we met up at Keogan's Shelter. I got there first and went to check the feeder. I saw many small birds on the ground, under the feeder, and was pleasantly surprised to discover that they were Common Redpolls.

After a few minutes, Garnt showed up and we went on to Shilly Shally - more Redpolls. There were none at Huron, but Grant saw a bunch later on the Fortune Parkway.

Rifle Road and Hilda Feeders

Jan 17, 3:00 pm

After working indoors all day, I finally decided to venture out to Hilda to see if any waxwings or winter finches were about.

Going down Rifle Road, I saw a woman out photographing something at the side of the road. It has to be Bohemian Waxwings. I pulled up nearby and saw quite a large group of perhaps 50, flitting about in the tops of trees, 100 m from the road. After a bit, I noticed one individual that was perched much closer.

I carried on to Hilda, where I interrupted a deer at the feeding station. Besides Chickadees, there wasn't a lot happening - a single American Tree Sparrow, two White-breasted Nuthatches, a group of Mourning Doves on the ground, and a Hairy Woodpecker. No Blue Jays or Northern Cardinals! And especially, no Redpolls.

I did a walk around the block without seeing anything else.

Lusk Cabin Ski with Kirk, Karine & Samuel

Jan 9, 2:00 pm

We skied from P19 to Lac Philippe, then on to Lusk Cabin by Trail 54. Karine towed the Chariot the whole way! Even though there are no feeders at Lusk, the Black-capped Chickadees will still come to your hand, although the White-breasted Nuthatches won’t. It’s downhill all the way back, and the snow was perfect.

Dewberry Trail, Mer Bleue & Ottawa East with Tony Beck

Jan 6, 8:00am

Today we met at Dolman Ridge Road. There were Bob, Peter, Al, Chris and a new lady, Bev, as well as Tony and Nina.

At the feeders there were lots of Hairy Woodpeckers, some American Goldfinches, a Pileated Woodpecker and the odd Blue Jay.

As we drove away, Tony spotted 4 adult Black-backed Gulls and 1 Herring Gull flying over. Where did they come from, and where were they going?

We drove straight to Larose Forest, and checked the feeders along the road. All we could scrape up were a Red-breasted Nuthatch, a Hairy Woodpecker and some more American Goldfinches. A few Common Ravens could be heard in the forest.  No sign of any Evening Grosbeaks.

We approached Casselman from the north, and spotted a light-morph Rough-legged Hawk, which Tony scoped for us.

After a break at Timmy’s, we drove out to Concession 20, where we saw a good-sized flock of Snow Buntings with a few Lapland Longspurs mixed in. We drove south to Concession 21, where we scoped another Roughie. We turned north on Ch. Des Forges, and Tony spotted a very-well hidden Red-tailed Hawk at the corner of Conc. 20.

We retraced to St Rose, then went west on Conc. 19. At the corner, we had a very good scope view of an American Kestrel, and further along we saw three more Rough-legged Hawks, the last one, a dark-morph.

We returned to Conc 20 and saw another Red-tailed Hawk, then a large flock of Snow Buntings with several Lapland Longspurs in amongst them. The flock alternated between the road and the wires. Then we had flocks both in front and behind us. We go good enough looks at the longspurs to be able to count them for our lists.

The Gatineau Escarpment & The Steele Line with Tony Beck

Jan 4, 8:00am

Today, to start the New Year, we had a good crowd out. There were Bob, Peter, Rick, Jeremy and his British friends, Martin & Judy and, of course, Tony & Nina.

At our first stop, we were trailing along chatting about birding trips, when Tony suddenly took off into the underbrush. He had heard a bunch of Black-capped Chickadees giving their alarm call, and figured t was worth investigating. Sure enough, he soon spotted a Northern Saw-whet Owl perched low in the branches. It was a lifer for Nina, Martin and Judy. Nina got the only decent photo. Here it is.

The only other excitement was a Hairy Woodpecker, but Rick said afterwards that he saw a Downy Woodpecker and a White-breasted Nuthatch too.

We headed out Hwy 148 and stopped at Elm Road where Nina had spotted a Northern Hawk Owl the previous week. No action. So we continued along Hwy 148 until Tony spotted an adult Bald Eagle perched on a tree at the back of a field. We scoped it for awhile and also saw a distant Red-tailed Hawk. Then we spotted a reddish Coyote in the adjacent field.

Suddenly the Eagle flew over and attacked the Coyote. It made a second pass, but this time the Coyote was ready, and leaped into the air to repel the Eagle. What a sight! The tactics worked as the Eagle returned to its perch while the Coyote slinked off to join its comrades in the woods at the edge of the field.

After that excitement, we turned down Terrien Road and scanned the escarpment for more eagles. We saw none, but there was a whole mob of Blue Jays, making quite a racket. We investigated, but they did not seem focused on any one spot, so we figured they were not on a raptor.

We headed for the restaurant for a coffee and bathroom break. Outside, at the back, at feeders, there were House Sparrows, American Goldfinches, more Blue Jays, and a single Dark-eyed Junco.

We proceeded down the Eardley-Masham Road, stopping to check out some feeders, where Rick had spotted some White-winged Crossbills before Christmas. Nothing this time but Blue Jays and Chickadees.

We carried on and stopped before the escarpment to scope the hills for raptors. Judy saw two Common Ravens together in a tree up on top of the ridge. With the naked eye, they looked like one large raptor. Nina spotted a flock of 15 to 20 Wild Turkeys just inside the bush.

We travelled up the hill into the Gatineau Park, and made three stops without netting anything. (Later we met John Dubois, and he saw 8 Pine Grosbeaks on the road, shortly after we had passed). We went back down and stopped along Bradley when we saw another Red-tailed Hawk. We looked at the house where Evening Grosbeaks had been present last year, but there were none. Also, the owner had erected a board fence to block the view of the new home across the street, which also blocked our view of the feeders.

We carried on to the Steele Line. We were the third car in line, so we did not see the Golden Eagle that the others saw briefly. It seemed to have gone to ground, so we spent quite a while driving back and forth trying in vain to relocate it. However, we did see two more Bald Eagles in the process. This is when John Dubois stopped and gave us directions to a different Northern Hawk Owl.

We went to the end of Steele Line and tuned on to Lac des Loups to check the feeders there. We did see an American Tree Sparrow and a Red-breasted Nuthatch, so it was worthwhile.

By this time, we needed another break and some food, so we drove into Quyon to a dépanneur and got some sandwiches, chips and so on to see us through. Tony could not resist returning briefly to Steele Line to look for the Golden Eagle – no luck, just Mourning Doves, House Sparrows and yet another Bald Eagle.

We returned to Breckinridge to look for the Hawk Owl, and there it was. It was skittish, and moved from tree to hydro pole to another tree. Nina and I tried for photos, but we were unable to get close. John stopped by again and enjoyed our success. He was curious about the Northern Saw-whet Owl, so my car led him back to the spot.

Our tracks had filled in with the light snow, so we had difficulty finding the spot. We knew we were close, so looked all around, but were unable to relocate the owl for John.

Tony & Nina's Wedding

Dec. 24, 12:00 noon

 We gathered at the Jack Pine Trial for the momentous occasion.

Best man was Mark Gawn and Maid of Honour was Jenn Spalin.

Those in attendance were two White-tailed Deer, a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers, a Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, a Red-breasted Nuthatch, countless Chickadees, Bill & Barbara, Rick & Sharon, Bob & Nancy, Tony’s sister Cynthia with husband Dave, and their daughter Morgan. An Anglican priest, who lives in their condo, performed the ceremony.

The reception was at Mark’s house.

Twitcher's Delight - Ottawa Centre & West with Tony Beck

Tuesday Dec 21, 8:00am

Today we had Al, Craig, Bob, Peter, Heather, Rick, Nina, Tony, & me.

We started at Britannia Ridge where we saw an adult Bald Eagle, lots of Great Black-backed Gulls and Common Goldeneye. Heather got a nice male White-breasted Nuthatch to come out for us. A Downy-Woodpecker showed up too, as we tried to hand-feed them. There were also a couple of American Goldfinches.

A quick fly-past by a Pileated Woodpecker got us excited. A Common Raven responded to Rick’s imitation.

We wandered down to the river launch and saw a Hairy Woodpecker at the edge of the river and a couple of male Common Mergansers way off in the distance on the Quebec side.

There were several Mallards, one Black Duck, a female Common Merganser and three Canada Geese.

Walking back up the road, Craig got a lifer – a male Pileated Woodpecker.

We drove to Aylmer to twitch for rarities that had been reported on the CBC. We checked for an Eastern Screech Owl, but could not locate it. Same story for a Carolina Wren. But we did see some Dark-eyed Juncos, a male and female Northern Cardinal, a White-throated Sparrow, and both Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers while looking for the Wren.

We decided to check on the owl again, but could only find a couple of American Robins. In the Deschenes Rapids, we saw a single female Bufflehead, a Lesser Scaup and three more male Common Mergansers and one female.