Ottawa Area Birding

April 14, 2026

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

The day started out pretty amazing for the Bowmans -- while waiting for me to arrive, what should fly in was a Brown Creeper. Excellent bird. Gee I wished I arrived earlier so that I could have seen it. Maybe it was an indicator of how the day would go. We met up with Eleanor and Ian at the Eagleson Park and Ride. While talking someone drew our attention to the small flock of Wild Turkeys in the field beside the Park & Ride. (We saw a number of flocks over the course of the day)

I had mentioned to Bill, maybe we should go to Holland Marsh because of all the rain. We all agreed and so we headed there. The first song we heard getting out of the car was the Eastern Meadowlark. They are back and so glad they are. Their song "spring of the year" puts a smile on everyone's face. We also heard Song Sparrow and Savannah Sparrow. Bill pointed out an Eastern Phoebe and Eleanor saw a Northern Harrier through her scope. But Holland Marsh, well that was a disappointment because there was nothing there - well that is a lie, there was one Mallard and one Wood Duck. We were hoping for shorebirds and waterfowl. Oh well. Maybe next week.

Moving to the bridge, we saw a distant flock of waterfowl take off, but unfortunately we could not identify them. But when another flock took off, we could Identify them. Mallards with about 4 Black Ducks. We also saw our first female Red-winged Blackbird.

We drove to the Panmure area, hoping to see maybe Eastern Bluebirds or, stretching our luck, see an Upland Sandpiper, but sadly we did not see either. Bill parked the car and I got out and was joined by Ian. I walked a bit and looked and walked some more, finally I saw a male Northern Harrier. I yelled to Bill. Ian tried to get a photo, but my directions must not have been good because he did not get a bead on it. It started to spit so I got into the vehicle.

Leaving that area and driving not far, Bill stopped the car and looked at a water flooded area -- two Greater Yellowlegs. I took a photo but it was quite far and with the rain, the photo was terrible at best. Bill got a far better one.

We drove to the Burnt Lands Provincial Park, it was still spitting out so we walked part of the path. Bill was lucky to see the Clay-coloured Sparrow, while the others of us, saw a couple of birds we could not identify. As we were walking back to the vehicle, we noticed a vehicle parking behind Bill -- dog walkers. We wondered what went into his decision to park behind him as opposed to parking on the side of the road. While Bill was able to back out, it was made more difficult with the parked car behind him.

We drove to a place that had a Yellow-headed Blackbird reported, no luck there, just American Robins walking around. We discussed if we should go to the Almonte Lagoons given it was raining. The decision was no decision. We ended up driving towards St George's cemetery, we decided we must have missed the turn and turned around. We took Old Union Hall road and ended up beside the Lagoon. The rain had lightened up, so we decided to check out the lagoon. I donned my rubber boots and raincoat. Bill could not find the plastic bag he had put his camera in, so the umbrella came out.

The decision to check out the lagoon was a good one. Ian and Eleanor had walked ahead of us and we met Ian coming back to get his camera since the waterfowl were close to the shore. Sadly as Eleanor came closer to the hut, the birds took off. But even so, we got good views of Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead, Ring-neck Ducks, Hooded Merganser and Lesser Scaup views using our scopes. We checked the perimeter of the lagoon, hoping we would spot something 'good', but no, the water was really high and the birds we were looking for are what I call walking around birds. While we were in the hut, Bill found the big plastic bag -- in his pocket!!!!

Bill and Barbara walked back to the vehicle. We waited for Ian to return from his walk to "don't go any further zone". When he returned he showed us his video of the Common Goldeneye doing their stretching out their neck thing (courtship behaviour). It started to rain really hard, we opted to stay until it lightened up a bit. Good thing we did, a pair of Common Mergansers flew in and then flew off before we left.

We decided to have lunch at St George's cemetery, eat and watch the birds, hoping for Eastern Bluebirds. No bluebirds but Meadowlarks singing, Bill stepped out of the vehicle to photograph the Meadowlarks, he opened the door and said I saw a Turkey Vulture.

Once we finished our lunch we continued on. I believe this is when Ian and Eleanor left us. We drove to Taylor Lake, as we were leaving a Pileated Woodpecker flew over the vehicle. Then when driving a bird flew over mega speed, saw it well enough to say Peregrine Falcon. Bill saw a Northern Flicker and then another.

Bill had told me about a good feeding station he had visited earlier in the week. He got out, to check things out, Barbara and I opted to stay in the vehicle. We noticed the lady of the household getting into her car, she stopped and spoke to Bill at length. She left and Bill joined us. She has invited us to drive up her laneway for better views. We did. She joined us again and told us about herself. Good stop, we saw Mourning Dove, White-crowned Sparrow, White-breasted Nuthatch, White-throated Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, American Tree Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Hairy Woodpecker and Northern Cardinal at that stop. That was at the very end of Ferguson Falls Road. We left after about 30 minutes of enjoying the birds.

Driving out the road, we saw a bird flying, Bill slowed. I lost the bird, Bill said it landed on the wire. Can't see it, we went by and looking back, Bill was 100% correct. It was a smallish bird with a rose chest and white under the tail -- Eastern Bluebird. I went to take a photo and yes the bird flew. Still on Ferguson Falls Road, I asked Bill to stop and backup. Too busy on the road, "I will turn around", he then turned around and I pointed to a tree. There on a branch was a Red-tailed Hawk, no bins needed the red tail was splayed out. Obviously it was spreading its tail to dry off its feathers, to regain the ability to fly efficiently and return to hunting. Drench feathers are heavy, reduce insulation and make flight difficult, so hawks must air them out. Things we notice after a rainstorm.

We crossed the Mississippi River and Bill noticed a Common Loon. We parked and walked back to the bridge. It had moved quickly because when Bill noticed it, it was close to the bridge., While we stood on the bridge it had moved quite a good distance. And it had turned into they, there were two of them.

Finally stop was the storm water pond in Carleton Place -- another Common Loon.

What a wonderful day we had despite the weather. 49 species with 9 species of sparrows. I know Turkey Vultures are not raptors, but frequently they are grouped with them so we had 5 raptors. We had a simply wonderful day.\