Feb 17, 2010 2:00 pm
I made a quick visit to the Tennis Club. We had seen a male Barrow’s Goldeneye at Remic Rapids recently, so was not sure what to expect. But virtually the first duck I spotted was a male Barrow’s Goldeneye with a bunch of Common Goldeneye.
There were a couple of other suspicious characters, which may have been hybrids. I was just getting on them when a fly-by flock of Mallards spooked the whole crowd, and they all took off.
I moved upstream to where most of them had landed, but could not relocate those ducks, only the male Barrow’s and a possible female.
There were two male Common Mergansers and one female enjoying the open water.
The only other ducks were American Blacks and Mallards.
I made a quick visit to the Tennis Club. We had seen a male Barrow’s Goldeneye at Remic Rapids recently, so was not sure what to expect. But virtually the first duck I spotted was a male Barrow’s Goldeneye with a bunch of Common Goldeneye.
There were a couple of other suspicious characters, which may have been hybrids. I was just getting on them when a fly-by flock of Mallards spooked the whole crowd, and they all took off.I moved upstream to where most of them had landed, but could not relocate those ducks, only the male Barrow’s and a possible female.
There were two male Common Mergansers and one female enjoying the open water.
The only other ducks were American Blacks and Mallards.
8 House Sparrow (feeder on Jamieson)
17 American Tree Sparrow (Hilda)
I had to depart, but the group carried on for several more stops.
Most of us had to purchase day passes at the gate (first seniors rate for me!). We reconvened briefly at the Squirrel Rapids Bridge, and then proceeded to the Barron Canyon Trail, where we parked along the road.
the trail, while we went counter-clockwise with the second group, led by Carolyn.
Carolyn instructed us in the characteristics to look for and was able to discover tracks of Red Squirrel, Pine Martin, Ermine, Snowshoe Hare, Red Fox, Deer Mouse, Fisher and Moose. It was a chilly exercise, as we did not move around much.
Carolyn tried howling to the wolves (she is a wolf expert), but there was no response.
The only other birds seen were Common Ravens. Returning to the cars, Jeff pointed out some wolf tracks. 
With some daylight still left, Jeff led those interested back via Snake River Line to look for the Northern Hawk Owl. 
We did find it, rather far off, and a bonus Snowy Owl on the other side of the road.
As I was the only one who had brought a scope, I suddenly became very popular!
Ottawa - Ottawa River around Tunney's Pasture and Remic Rapids 11 Barrow's Goldeneye12 Common Goldeneye13 European Starling 
Gatineau - Miller St. (Off Taché - near downtown Gatineau; feeders in back yard at park) *** American Goldfinch*** Black-capped Chickadee*** European Starling14 House Sparrow (Jane's name "Snow Sparrow")15 Rock Pigeon
Gatineau - Ottawa River East of Vanier Road 19 Canada Goose20 Hooded Merganser 
Ottawa - Cowley Ave (Barb Robertson's) 21 Northern Cardinal (f)
Still a good day for birding.
1 American Crow 2 Black-capped Chickadee3 Blue Jay4 Common Raven5 Downy Woodpecker (at feeder)6 European Starlings (big flock over dump)7 Great Black-backed Gull8 Herring Gull9 Mourning Dove10 Northern Cardinal11 Northern Hawk Owl12 Red-tailed Hawk (more than one)13 Rock Pigeon14 Rough-legged Hawk (light morph)15 Snowy Owl (usual location - Concession 20 between Ste. Rose and County Rd. 8) 
Total: Birds Observed =15 Birds Heard Only =0 Note: Coyotes seen several places including Frank Kenny Road, St. Rose Road (St. Isadore)
Heading south from there along Huntmar Drive, some of the group members spotted a NORTHERN SHRIKE. Our next stop was a storm water management pond off of Iber Road in the Goulbourn Industrial Mall, where the combination of a little bit of open water and a nearby backyard birdfeeder has concentrated ducks including 4 CANADA GEESE and a male WOOD DUCK (unusual in winter in Ottawa).
We headed south through the agricultural lands between Ottawa and Richmond, adding a few SNOW BUNTINGS and a darkly-barred SNOWY OWL. Along Akins Road we also had another small group of GRAY PARTRIDGE running about between rows of corn stubble in the fields. At the frozen Moodie Drive quarry ponds we found a group of 100+ gulls loafing on the ice. The presence of a coyote on the ice nearby made the gulls skittish, but we still got great scope looks at the birds, which were unusually close to the gate.
The group was composed mainly of GREAT BLACK-BACKED and HERRING, but there were a few adult and juvenile GLAUCOUS GULLS and at least 1 juvenile ICELAND GULL. A couple of RED-TAILED HAWKS were present in the area, as well as a single light phase ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK. We moved on to the Jack Pine Trail feeders where amongst the usual suspects we had good looks at an obliging BROWN CREEPER and a close encounter with an 8-point buck White-tailed Deer.
At the Hilda Road feeders we added AMERICAN GOLDFINCH and AMERICAN TREE SPARROW. It was already noon, but a few of the group decided to continue on to Remic Rapids. Unfortunately, the Peregrine Falcon that I had seen perched on the nearby R.H. Coates building early that morning hadn't stuck around, but a male BARROW'S GOLDENEYE was quickly found amongs the COMMON GOLDENEYE off of the lookout and provided great views. 
I'd like to thank everyone who participated in this very enjoyable morning of birding! 
Tony and Rick heard Cedar Waxwings and we struggled to see a couple in the dense shrubbery.
Heather spotted a House Sparrow, a Hairy Woodpecker, a Blue Jay and a European Starling on the building adjoining the Beer Store parking lot.
We drove to the Clyde Avenue snow dump to check the quarry for you know what. But all we got was a Common Raven. We drove all the way out to Hilda Road where there was nothing but Black-capped Chickadees, a Blue Jay and several American Tree Sparrows.
