Waterfowl East of Ottawa - OFO trip with Bob Cermak

Apr 13, 2014

Bob reports:

"Sunday morning, April 13th, 17 OFO members found 55 species east of Ottawa at the Petrie Island causeway and bridge and on the flooded fields along Trim, Milton and Frank Kenney Roads.The day was very cold, 2 C and windy with the wind chill well below freezing and light rain until mid morning. 

Snow (2), Cackling (10 including one group of 9) and over 1000 Canada Geese were found. Fourteen duck species were found the most interesting being American Wigeon (1 m), Blue-winged Teal (1 m), Northern Pintail (500+), Redhead (pair), Lesser Scaup (14), and Bufflehead (27). Also found were Pied-billed Grebe (2). The highlights of the day for many were single Great Egret and Greater Yellowlegs, Sandhill Crane (15), Lapland Longspur (2 calling) and Tree Swallow (45+).  Good birding, Bob"

Barbara & I went on this despite a very late night the day before.  Bernie Ladouceur co-led the trip.  Our friend Rick Collins spotted the Sandhill Cranes after several cars had driven right past them.  A special treat was a Great-horned Owl at an undisclosed location.

Plaisance Wildlife Reserve – Gatineau East

Tuesday April 8

Although prospects for open water were not good, we decided to go anyway to check it out.  Today there were Tony, Nina, Karen, Josh, Margaret and me.

We met at the Gamelin entrance to Gatineau Park, then headed east on Hwy 50.  First good bird was a Red-tailed Hawk on the fence along side of the throughway.

We exited at Masson and took the 148 east towards Plaisance.  Margaret spotted a lone Sandhill Crane in a field beside a house just outside of the village.

We turned into the park and debated about paying the fee, finally deciding to have a look first.  Just past the entrance, Josh spotted a Ruffed Grouse in the bush at the edge of the road.  A quick drive around showed that there was no open water and no prospects of seeing any waterfowl.  So we turned around and headed back to Gatineau, stopping to view a perched light-morph Rough-legged Hawk and a Snowy Owl.

We drove all the way back through Gatineau to Aylmer, turning at Vanier Rd to check the Ottawa River.  At least the river was open, but there were only a few ducks to be seen.

Bird List

1. Canada Goose
2. Common Grackle
3. American Robin
4. American Crow
5. Ring-billed Gull
6. European Starling
7. Red-tailed Hawk
8. Sandhill Crane
9. Killdeer
10. House Sparrow
11. Brown-headed Cowbird
12. Red-winged Blackbird
13. Song Sparrow
14. Ruffed Grouse
15. Rough-legged Hawk
16. Snowy Owl
17. Common Goldeneye
18. Mallard
19. Common Merganser
20. Herring Gull
21. Wood Duck
22. Great Blue Heron
23. Hooded Merganser
24. Lesser Scaup

Red-shouldered Hawk

April 6, 2014

Returning from skiing in Gatineau Park, Barbara spotted a hawk perched beside Highway 5 as we sped past.  A quick glimpse at 100 km/h was enough to convince me that it was not a Red tail.  So we turned around at the next exit and went back for another look.  This time we pulled over in advance and Barbara got a great shot out the window.

Late Winter Birding – Ottawa East with Always an Adventure

April 1, 2014

The first spring arrivals would have to wait for spring weather - this was a winter outing! 

We met at Petrie Island - Tony, Nina, Josh, Margaret, Rick & me.  There were no waterfowl at Petrie Island in the only tiny trickle of open water under the causeway.  So we went to Wall Road to get our Snowy Owl fix, but could not locate the bird.  We tried Bear Brook on Milton and Frank Kenney, but there was no open water to speak of.

We proceeded to Larose Forest, and picked up a few finches and nuthatches.  No sign of any grosbeaks.  So we continued on to east of Caselman where we saw lots of Horned Larks and some Snow Buntings.  We also located 5 Snowy Owls, including 3 cooperative ones.  We saw a very dark Rough-legged Hawk, which was nice to find. 

Finally, we went back to Mer Bleue to pad the list.

Bird List

1. Red-winged Blackbird
2. Downy Woodpecker
3. American Crow
4. American Robin
5. House Sparrow
6. Common Raven
7. Pileated Woodpecker
8. Blue Jay
9. American Goldfinch
10. White-breasted Nuthatch
11. Blue Jay
12. Purple Finch
13. Red-breasted Nuthatch
14. Common Grackle
15. Hairy Woodpecker
16. Snow Bunting
17. Horned Lark
18. Ring-billed Gull
19. Snowy Owl
20. Rough-legged Hawk
21. Mourning Dove
22. Turkey Vulture
23. Northern Cardinal
24. European Starling

Full Day Trip to Amherst Island with Always an Adventure

March 27, 2014.

We met at the Coliseum at 5:40 am.  Heather Pikor and Jariya drove with me, while Josh and Karen drove with Tony and Nina.

We spotted 12 Snowy Owls today, starting with one on the trip down.  Tony also spotted a Great-Horned Owl in the gloom just before we got onto the 401.

We easily made it to the 8:30 ferry on time.  We saw 2 more Snowys on the ice and a Red Fox on the trip over.

The highlight of the day was Barred Owl on the way into Owl Woods.  It was buried in the branches, so hard to get a clear shot.  We found no other owls in Owl Woods.

Back on the roads, we saw several Rough-legged Hawks, American Kestrels, Northern Harriers and Red-tailed Hawks.  I also saw a Merlin.  There were lots more Snowys out on the ice.

There was one small patch of open water on the south shore, where there were hundreds of Long-tailed Ducks and Common Goldeneyes along with a few Redheads and Buffleheads.

We decided to take the 4pm ferry and go to the Dupont Invicta lagoon in Kingston on the way back.  This proved fruitful with dozen of Gadwalls and a few American Coots and a lone male Wood Duck and a single Red-necked Grebe.  A beautiful male Common Merganser was a new bird for Heather.

Bird & Mammal List

1. Red-tailed Hawk
2. Canada Goose
3. American Crow
4. Great Horned Owl
5. Snowy Owl
6. Wild Turkey
7. Ruffed Grouse
8. Red Fox
9. European Starling
10. Mourning Dove
11. American Kestrel
12. Ring-billed Gull
13. Red-winged Blackbird
14. Rough-legged Hawk
15. Snow Bunting
16. Mallard
17. Long-tailed Duck
18. Common Goldeneye
19. Redhead
20. Red-breasted Mergnaser
21. Bufflehead
22. Great Black-backed Gull
23. Northern Harrier
24. Common Raven
25. American Robin
26. Herring Gull
27. Gadwall
28. Common Merganser
29. Red-necked Grebe
30. American Coot
31. Wood Duck

Hawk Watch with Jon Ruddy

Mar 25, 2014

Jon offers these to OFNC members on Tuesday and Saturday afternoons on Greenland past the Thomas Dolan Parkway. 

I went to the Lincoln Fields meeting place for 11:30 and only Eric was there.  Soon Jon arrived and we drove out to Geenland.  I noticed a line of cars and a few scopes already out.  Brenda McRea and Dave Moore were the ones I knew.  A few others arrived and some left.

The first bird spotted was a Turkey Vulture, FOS!  We saw a couple more and one came in quite close.  Suddenly Jon spotted a Bald Eagle right overhead, and we even got a few images.

Jeff Skevington arrived and spotted a Merlin coming straight at us.  We had great looks but no chance for a photo.

There were  few very distant raptors, one of which was surely a Red-tailed Hawk. 

It was a good introduction to hawk-watching while getting caught up with news from friends.  I was telling Brenda about our upcoming arctic trip on the Thelon, when another watcher, Gene, came up and said he had done that trip several years ago.  What a coincidence, as most people have never even heard of the Thelon.  We had a good chat.

D90 Sports Setting

March 24, 2014

For some time I have been dissatisfied with the quality of my images taken with Aperture Priority.  For an experiment, I switched to the Sports setting and shot some images of feeder birds through my back window.  Seems promising ...