East End Waterfowl with JC Birding

November 3, 2026

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

Bill and I met Barb C at Elmvale Acres Shopping Centre and decided we would make the Giroux Ponds our first destination.  There must have been 600+ Rock Pigeons flying around or perched on the hydro lines near the parking lot.  A man was feeding the Rock Pigeons and Ring-billed Gulls bread in the parking lot, While driving down Russell Road off in the distance was a Red-tailed Hawk.  On Milton we looked for birds but just Canada Geese, no Sandhill Cranes.  We checked out the northern pond on Giroux and found a small flock of Lesser Scaup.  Looking up from the scopes, we saw a flock of about 100 Snow Buntings flying about.  We went to the southern pond where we saw Common Merganser and a small flock of Canada Geese.  Driving down Giroux, Bill remarked the four people walking along the road must be hunters.  Once we got to their truck there was no sign of them, they must have been in a hide or in the woods.  

At one point we saw a Great Blue Heron flying low in the field.  I asked Bill to stop, I thought I had seen a raptor, it turned out it was a Wild Turkey and checking more trees, we found 3 Wild Turkeys in the trees.  Buddy that makes you a good target for the hunters..

I asked Bill, you know the place where we saw the Boreal Chickadee and met Ian for the first time?  Bill is good, he took us to Birchgrove and we found the place, lots of bird feeders, but only a few Black-capped Chickadees and one Downy Woodpecker.

We ended up at St Isidore lagoons -- good place to check out birds -- 4 White-wing Scoters along with a  bird we were debating what it was when Jeff Skevington came along with Vince F. (he held the record of 232 in the county before Giovanni broke it with 234).  Vince told us the duck we asked about was a Ruddy Duck (2), There were Bufflehead (3), many Green-wing Teal, Ring-neck Ducks and of course Canada Geese.  We spoke for a bit and checked out Jeff's new scope, small, light and bright.  Oh it looked so tempting.  They told us they had seen 1 Snow Goose and about 100 Sandhill Cranes, we were in the area where they had seen the cranes, but no luck for us.   It was raining so off we went while Jeff and Vince walked over to the third pond.

Next stop was to be Moose Creek, but we got a little bit side tracked.  I thought I saw white in the distance, so Bill took a road that parallels the 417, but the white turned out not to be Snow Geese.  There were no birds to speak of and we ended up taking the 417 back to Casselman.  We eventually got to Moose Creek Lagoons, nothing on the water.  We had our lunch there and only spotted a Song Sparrow.  Just as we were leaving the lagoons, we saw a tree, with many black birds in it.  Tails were just too long for Starlings, then I heard  the Red-winged Blackbird song, that definitely helped in the identification.

Somewhere along the route, we crossed a bridge over the South Nation River (I think it was the South Nation) .  Barb and I saw a small flock of waterfowl on the water, but as we slowed down the birds took off, a lot of white on top of the wings.  We decided to chase them, but with no luck.  We will call them mystery birds.

Next up were the Embrun lagoons, just Canada Geese.  Well lets try Russell stormwater pond, with a little help from the GPS we found it.  There we saw Canada Geese and many many Mallards (first ones we saw for the day).  There were two birds swimming low in the water -- Hooded Merganser.

On the way to the 417, we passed a huge building with a Ford sign on it. Well in Jane style, I googled  it - it is a parts  distribution centre for Ford.  The facility spans 53,1000 to 56,200 square feet and has 42 active loading docks.  It manages roughly 45,000 different types of parts and provides daily inventory to 154 Ford dealerships across Eastern Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes.  Its target employment size equals 150, I thought it would be more.

For a rainy day, we did well, 28 species. No Snow Geese unfortunately.  No photos from me, I think my camera enjoyed the ride, I did not want it to get wet, so it stayed inside.

Species Noted

1. American Robin
2. Northern Cardinal
3. Ring-billed Gull
4. Canada Goose
5. Rock Pigeon
6. American Crow
7. European Starling
8. Red-tailed Hawk
9. Black-capped Chickadee
10. Mourning Dove
11. Snow Buntings
12. Lesser Scaup
13. Common Merganser
14. Downy Woodpecker
15. Great Blue Heron
16. Wild Turkey
17. White-winged Scoter
18. Bufflehead
19. Green-winged Teal
20. Ruddy Duck
21. Ring-necked Duck
22. Swamp Sparrow
23. Blue Jay
24. Song Sparrow
25. Common Raven
26. Red-winged Blackbird
27. Hooded Merganser
28. Mallard

Dows Lake - Barrow's Goldeneye & Other Ducks

 October 31, 2026

St Lawrence River to St Isidore Lagoons with JC Birding

 October 27, 2026

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

Bill, Barb C and I set out just before 7:30, our first stop was at Winchester Lagoons, nothing, well Canada Geese.  Bill drove to the end of Bank Street.   Poor Bill had to contend with the bright sun shining right into his eyes. Once at the St Lawrence, all looked quiet, but that did not deter Barb from hauling out her scope to look for Common Loons.  And she did find one, which made Barb very happy.  We had two rather close flybys of Common Mergansers.

We headed east on Highway #2, where we stopped at the bay (back of the Ault Island causeway) with a huge flock of waterfowl.  My goodness there were so many Ring-necked Ducks, they actually outnumbered Canada Geese.  We saw at least 50 Redheads, many Wigeon, Green-winged Teal and Trumpeter Swans.  I was lucky I spotted a Pied-billed Grebe.  Bill and Barb looked for it, but to no avail. On the other side of the road, we saw a couple of Mallards.

We drove to the causeway, where we heard a tapping tapping, nope we never saw the source of the tapping.  Driving to the island four or five Wood Ducks were spotted.  We turned right at the t junction and at the end of the road the only birds seen were Black-capped Chickadees.  Bill walked to the end of the island while Barb played the mobbing tape, it did not attract any other species except Black-capped Chickadees.

We stopped at the place with all the bird feeders, but the man of the house was cutting the lawn, so we continued on.  As we turned,  in the distance on the other side of the water, we spotted a Great Blue Heron.  Bill said he saw 2 Trumpeter Swans flyby.  At the end of the road I looked at Merlin as I was playing it to see if it picked up any good birds singing.  Yes it did, Tufted Titmouse, well we will stay longer at the house, hopefully that man will be finished cutting his lawn.  We stayed at the end of the road for a bit, hoping to see maybe a sparrow, not  today.

We drove to the house with all the feeders, yeah the man was finished cutting his lawn, but now he was blowing leaves.   I got out of the car to talk to him and he told me a few jokes. He indicated his wife was the birder and she was out.  I asked if I could get closer to the feeder, I watched for maybe 15 minutes, no Titmouse.  There were European Starling eating at the feeder along with Red-wing Blackbirds.  Only new birds were White-breasted Nuthatch and Downy Woodpecker.  Driving the causeway, we noticed more Trumpeter Swans, must have been the swans that Bill had seen.

We went to the Upper Canada Bird Sanctuary and parked in front of the usual spot where feeders are, but they were broken.  We drove up to the Visitor Centre, where we saw 4 Bald Eagles high in the sky, cool.  On  the observation deck behind the Visitors Centre Barb spotted a Red-bellied Woodpecker.  We reminisced about the first time we had ever seen a Red-bellied Woodpecker, Bill even remembered the street in Bells Corners where we all had seen it separately.  It was a big deal back then.

We then headed for the Long Sault Parkway, Barb wondered if we would see any Wild Turkeys, none were  seen all day.  It was pretty quiet.  We stopped to photograph a lone Red-breasted Merganser, thinking it was something else.  We all had our moments of misidentifying birds, I think mine was the worst, Rock Pigeon, I thought was a small raptor.  Oh dear.  I won't give the details of the other misidentification.  I had seen a bird swimming close to the edge of the water, we slowly drove along the road and at the culvert,  a Long-tailed Duck.  Lots of photos were taken.  Maybe the best bird of the day.

We drove to Guidon Park to look at the gulls by the water.  Normally we see them on the water, but today they were on the lawn -- Ring-billed Gulls.  There were some Gulls on a rock about 4 or 5 were Herring Gulls.  What mystified us was a small gull with pink legs and almost the plumage of an adult gull, mmmm.  What the heck is it?  Merlin indicated Ring-billed Gull, but why the pink legs. Maybe it was just a very small Herring Gull.

From there we drove to the R.H. Saunders Dam and Generating Station.  The visitors centre is closed until May 2027, but we did go in.  The facilities are spotless, they were holding some kind of meeting there, we quietly walked by to the deck at the back.  There we saw a Double-crested Cormorant flyby and yet another Bald Eagle flying way high in the sky.

Bill headed to the highway, we spotted a bird in a tree, that I thought was a crow.  Bill pulled over for a better look,  yet another misidentification by Jane, Red-tailed Hawk.  After closer look, the head and beak certainly was not consistent with a crow.  

Bill drove to St Isidore Lagoons, where we were surprised to see a car was parked and a person was walking toward the lagoons.  He stopped and headed toward us, what a considerate guy, he did not want the birds to fly. 

Turns out we knew the guy - Giovanni (he is Barb, Eleanor and my 'boss' when it comes to the Munster Christmas bird count).  He is doing a Big Year for the area and has broken Christian Friss Big Year record of 224 birds.  Giovanni  is at 226 and he had two months to go.  Here we saw many familiar ducks we had seen during the course of the day.  Bill says to Giovanni, what's that bird in front of the Canada Geese on the right,   good find Bill. White-winged Scoters, 4 of them.  We were very happy seeing those birds.

Along with the Scoters we did see a Greater Scaup. On the way out Giovanni says shh quiet I think I hear Red Crossbills.  We all heard the song but we did not see the bird.  Giovanni went into the farmer's place to ask about his domestic birds.  Giovanni  then recorded the song and later he told us it was verified that the song was Red Crossbill.

All in all a long productive day.  The best birds -- White-wing Scoter and Long-tail Duck, too bad we did not see the Red Crossbill.  

Bill got to face the sun all the way home on the 417, sun in the eye in the morning, sun in the eye in the afternoon.  But it was such a good day.  Long day mind you, I got home at 5:45, Barb got home at 6:30.  We had smiles on our faces.

Species Noted

1. Canada Goose
2. American Crow
3. European Starling
4. Ring-billed Gull
5. Common Loon
6. Common Merganser
7. Blue Jay
8. Trumpeter Swan
9. Ring-necked Duck
10. Red-winged Blackbird
11. Green-winged Teal
12. Common Raven
13. Mallard
14. Hooded Merganser
15. American Wigeon
16. American Goldfinch
17. Wood Duck
18. Black-capped Chickadee
19. Great Blue Heron
20. White-breasted Nuthatch
21. Downy Woodpecker
22. Red-bellied Woodpecker
23. Bald Eagle
24. Redhead
25. Scaup (sp)
26. Pied-billed Grebe
27. Red-breasted Merganser
28. Long-tailed Duck
29. Herring Gull
30. Double-crested Cormorant
31. Rock Pigeon
32. Red-tailed Hawk
33. White-winged Scoter
34. Greater Scaup
35. Red Crossbill (h)

Ottawa Valley Tour

 October 25, 2026