Ottawa Area Birding

September 25, 2026

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

We met Ottawa Beach (Andrew Hayden park east side) to hopefully see the Hudsonian Godwit and Franklin's Gull. Eleanor, Ken, Bill, Barbara and Jane all showed up around the swami time 7:45. We walked down the path to be greeted with some Lesser Yellowlegs and one Greater Yellow legs. Then we crossed the mud and walked east, Bill said over there is where the Franklin's Gull has been seen. It was a good thing Ann G told us to wear rubber boots, they were needed.

We stopped to talk with Mark G. who pointed out the Hudsonian Godwit. First let's check the two Caspian Terns and the Franklin's Gull. The Franklin' Gull was easy to spot, the colouration of its head is totally different than the Ring billed Gulls and it is a smaller gull. It is usually found in central and western North America during the breeding season and along the Pacific and Atlantic coast during the winter. And who cannot love to see the Caspian Terns with the large orange bills and little black caps. Ann joined us.

We walked through the mud to get better views of the Hudsonian Godwit. Love its long drooping bill that is slightly upturned and bicoloured pinkish to orange and the base and black at the tip. It uses its long bill to forage deep into the mud flats, eating worms, insects and other invertebrates hidden in the mud. Lots of photos of this bird, but somehow none of mine were worth sharing.

We watched the mud flats for other shorebirds to fly in. There was a small flock of shorebirds flying about but they did not appear to want to land. Then they landed for only seconds -- Semipalmated Plovers. Now those birds are so cute. I took photos but they were so far away. One spotted sandpiper appeared.

A larger group of bird watchers came in, mostly without rubber boots, Good luck with that. We left and drove over to the western part of Andrew Hayden, Lots of mud flats here, but not many birds. Mallards,,Wood Ducks, a few Canada Geese and eventually we saw a couple of Green-wing Teal. Bill pointed out a Great Blue Heron hunched over,in the reeds, the bird eventually flew over to the mudflats. I was lucky and got a photo of it landing.

Eleanor had told us, yesterday there was a single Black-bellied Plover, we looked for it, but could not find it. Another birder looking from a different angle found it, so we all got to see it. A Great Egret flew in. Then a flock of shorebirds decided to land on the mudflats.-- more Semipalmated Plovers and Least Sandpipers. We then walked over to the bridge between Andrew Hayden Park and the sailing club. A couple of Eastern Phoebes were flying from the reeds to the Manitoba Maple tree to the reeds, never staying long in one spot. Eleanor spotted a single Yellow Warbler.

We were quite surprised when we walked back to the parking lot. It was totally full of cars, we have never seen the parking lot full ever. We figured some company or teachers were having a team building exercise.

Bill suggested going to Carleton Place to see the Phalarope. Eleanor left us at this point as did Ann, both had other commitments.

Bill drove to the storm water pond and there must be birders around because there were cars parked along the road where we would have traditionally parked. We got our scopes out of the car and a birder who was leaving (Tom K) told us that the phalarope was a Wilsons and the people there would show us where it was. Initially we could not see any people but that was due to the long grass. We walked to one gentleman, Ian W, who was very helpful, he not only showed us where the bird was but gave such excellent directions, we were on the bird quickly. He then pointed out all the field markings of the bird saying yes it is definitely a Wilson's Phalarope. There are no photos of the bird because it was moving fast in and out of the reeds and it was raining. The little bird kept company with two Yellowlegs, who would now and again chase it away.

Along with the phalarope, there was a single Trumpeter Swan amongst I am guessing over a hundred Mallards. It was raining, so Barbara, Ken and I left to go to the car, while Bill stayed and spoke with another birder. At the car we saw a couple of Red-wing Blackbird females -- so they have not all gone south. Of course there were American Goldfinches flying around. Ken suggested we go to another place, but once Bill joined us, he suggested we stop for lunch first.

Once lunch was over we drove over to the Riverwalk Trail. Out of the car we saw an American Robin and heard Blue Jays. As Bill, Ken and Barbara were getting their stuff, I saw a bird high up in the sky moving fast, I took a single photo. Yeah a black bird in the sky, how can one identify it accurately? Later I asked Jeff S. what the bird was, his answer was Peregrine Falcon. Great

We walked over a bridge and spotted what I thought was a green frog. Bill, come here please and tell us what this frog is. Bill's answer was All the frogs were Bullfrogs. Gee I thought there was one frog, nope there were three. They were all swimming in this gross green muck. Bill very patiently tells me that Green frogs have a line along its dorsolateral ridges while Bullfrogs do not have these ridges. My view is that Bullfrogs have large bulging eyes, but I will look for the ridges. Hopefully I got that right. Bill often has to repeat his explanations re frogs, trees and sometimes turtles. He is a very patient man.

We walked toward the beginning of the Riverwalk Trail and there we saw an Osprey, a Bald Eagle and a couple of Cedar Waxwings. We kept walking and we checked out the houses that had bird feeders, nothing, we kept walking. Ken and Bill were ahead of Barbara and I, we ladies lucked out. At one feeder we had about 4 or 5 Black-capped Chickadees fly in along with one Baltimore Orioles. We kept walking and decided maybe we should turn around, I spotted a Black and White Warbler that turned out to be three Black and Whites. Then we saw other Warblers, Cape May or was it Bay-breasted. Was that a Pine Warbler They kept flitting about. Bill decided to play the mobbing tape, oh my goodness did it work, so many birds flew in - American Redstart, Cape May, Pine, Bay-breasted, White-breasted Nuthatch, Hairy Woodpecker and of course lots of Black-capped Chickadees. Not going to say photographing them was easy, but I think the trees were shorter, but that could be my imagination. I actually was able to take a few photos. Then my battery died, oh well, of course I had more batteries -- in the vehicle. Bill played the tape three times with the same effect, lots of bird flying in, we concluded they were the same birds flying over to find out what was going on.

We had such a good day with 47 species.