Redpoll during Project Feeder Watch

 March 12, 2026

A juvenile redpoll showed up with no red on the head, making the ID tricky.  Lots of other bids were around too.

Arnprior, Galetta and Greenland Hawk Watch with JC Birding

 March 10, 2026

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

I met the Bowman's  at their place. I decided to bird because I had been up so early that birding sounded like a good plan.  Still jet lagged.  We met Ken, Eleanor, Carol and Alan and the Park & Ride in Kanata.  There were other people waiting to join a group, two ladies came over and asked if we were going for pancakes.  Nope we are birders.  Ken said we are scone people.  On the way to Arnprior we saw a couple of flocks of Canada Geese, great migration has begun.  Of course our first stop was Antrim Truck Stop for, you guessed it scones.

We drove into Arnprior to the river, hoping there would be waterfowl, Common Mergansers and Mallard.  While we were parked Bill said "who is that big lumbering guy -- Bald Eagle!"  We drove over to see Eleanor who told us Ken saw the Bald Eagle, he took a path down to the river and got some really good views of the bird.  Ken told Eleanor that he would meet her at the end of the path.  We drove to the church where a pair of Peregrine Falcons were nesting last year, no sight of them.  But we did see European Starlings and Black-capped Chickadees.  When Bill turned the vehicle around, we did find  House Finch, American Goldfinch and one Dark-eyed Junco.  We wondered where Alan had driven off to, we went back to the river's edge, nope not there.  So we decided we would drive to Galetta and meet them there.  When we turned down Galetta Side Road, their car appeared behind us.

We went to Galetta because there is a house with a big feeding station, the only species we saw there were more American Goldfinch, singing their little hearts out.  We drove Loggers way and many roads, we saw American Tree Sparrows and a couple of Red-winged Blackbirds.  Birds were few and far between.  

We drove over to John Shaw where swans had been reported.  There were flooded fields, with many, many Canada Geese.  We stopped and checked out the flocks, but there were only Canada Geese.  Eleanor told me that they had had a Song Sparrow while in Arnprior.  We drove just a bit and slowed to let a vehicle pass.  Bill kept driving and somehow we lost the other vehicle.  I called Eleanor when we were driving on Thomas Dolan and she reported that Ken had seen an Eagle in a far away tree ( he has 10's binoculars, so he can see further than the rest of us).  They had hoped it was a Golden Eagle (oh that would have been soooo good), but it turned out to be a Bald Eagle.

We met up at the bridge Constance Creek.  While we were stopping, I noticed a beaver in the open water near the beaver's hut, but it disappeared into the water.  I was looking at a far away bird on top of a tree, when four birds in the sky caught my attention -- Turkey Vultures.  They somehow disappeared from sight, I was the only one who saw them.  Alan drove up, we all got out and decided it was lunch time.

Carole really wanted to do a hawk watch on Greenland.  I was the only one who did not bring my scope, but that was okay, I had to keep moving otherwise I would have started to freeze (did not dress warm enough for the weather),  I walked down the road about a kilometer, hoping I might find something good, yeah Chickadees and I hear tapping of a Woodpecker and a call of a Common Raven.  On my return I asked the others what they saw Northern Shrike and maybe a Red-shouldered Hawk.  I kept walking and joined Barbara, we saw more Chickadees and heard Blue Jays.   We walked back to the group, I decided I would sit in the vehicle to warm up.  Not more than 5 minutes later, the others decided they had enough of a hawk watch - they did see a Red-tailed Hawk.

We saw no other new birds on the way back home.  Home by 2:15.

Species Noted

1. Black-capped Chickadee
2. Northern Cardinal
3. American Crow
4. Canada Goose
5. Rock Pigeon
6. Common Merganser
7. Mallard
8. Bald Eagle
9. European Starling
10. American Goldfinch
11. House Finch
12. Dark-eyed Junco
13. American Tree Sparrow
14. American Robin
15. Red-winged Blackbird
16. Song Sparrow
17. Ring-billed Gull
18. Turkey Vulture
19. Common Raven
20. Northern Shrike
21. Red-tailed Hawk
22. Blue Jay

Ken  saw a Green-banded Yellow Pufftail. (see photo)

Critters Noted

1. White-tailed Deer
2. Squirrel
3. Beaver

Northern Pintail at Mud Lake

 March 9, 2026

Inspired by Connie's success, we returned to Mud Lake to look for the pintails.  This time we found one, only one, but he put on a good show for us before flying off.

We drove around to the Howe St. entrance and tried for the Fox Sparrow again - no luck.  Bill tried the mobbing call and lots of common birds came right in, but not the target sparrow.

Mud Lake to Panmure / Blakeney with JC Birding

 March 3, 2026

Birding Report by Barbc

It was a relatively chill morning when we met up at Mud Lake.  There were many Black capped Chickadees in the bushes.  The trails were icy.  We carefully walked down to the Ottawa River channel.  There were about a dozen Mallards huddled by the water.  A look far west in the water found three Common Merganser males and one female in the swift water.  We walked the road as the Hermit Thrush had just been seen flying across the roadway to the ridge side.  It came out shortly and allowed us to take photos.  Then it flew off again.  Just like the birds, the human birders came and went this morning.  Barbc was thrilled to see the Hermit Thrush.  

We then drove our cars and parked on Howe Street to go into a trail which is parallel to the houses on this stretch.  The Fox Sparrow has been seen at several feeders along this trail.  We walked into the woods and saw a couple of Hairy Woodpeckers and a Downy Woodpecker.  We were quiet and looked for the Fox Sparrow with no luck.

We decided to park my car at the Ottawa Beach end of Andrew Haydon Park and drive to Panmure Road in the Bowman's SUV.  Barbara  picked up a pile of trash that some body left on the ground.  Bill and I picked up the remainder. Who does this sort of thing?  The garbage can was steps away..... We checked the tree with the snag that the Screech Owls were roosting over the summer and fall of 2025.  No owl here today.  

While on the way to Panmure Road we looked at the Canadian Tire Centre and the location of the Common Raven couple's nest building behind the actual CT sign on a narrow shelf edge.  Bill and Barbara had discovered the new nest building location earlier in the week.  We could not see the nest today but we did see the Raven couple flying around the CT sign from the 417.

We got off at Panmure Road and went down to the very nice lean-to of hay, tarp and seeds location that the Western Meadowlark has spent a good part of the  winter, here in Eastern Ontario.  The bird is pretty and a good size and has an assortment of seeds on the ground.  We took several photos and the bird co-operated.  To get to see the bird we had to climb icy snowbanks along the roadway.  We took it easy and had no problems.   We kind of felt sorry for the Western Meadowlark: all alone with out a partner.  We wondered if the Western and Eastern Meadowlarks hybridized.   We saw a line of about 25 Wild Turkeys in the distant fields.  It looked like the lead Wild Turkey was leading them somewhere.  

From here we took a detour to Pakenham Hills Ski Hill.  The parking lot was about half full.  We did not see any birds here.  We continued on to Blakney.  Maybe we would see something on the Mississippi River from the new bridge there.  NOPE.   We also looked for a Shrike  but did not see one.

By this time is was just before noon.  It had warmed up a bit but birds were few and far between.   We did see two very nice rare birds this morning: the Hermit Thrush and the Western Meadowlark, along with the usual suspects.  Thank you Bill and Barbara.

Birds List

1.    Mallard
2.    Common Merganser
3.    Hermit Thrush
4.    Rock Pigeon
5.    Mourning Dove
6.    Downy Woodpecker
7.    Hairy Woodpecker
8.    American Crow
9.    Common Raven
10.    Black-capped Chickadee
11.    White-breasted Nuthatch
12.    House Finch
13.    American Goldfinch
14.    Northern Cardinal
15.    Wild Turkey
16.    Western Meadowlark

Iber Pond and CTC

 March 1, 2026

Before leaving the house, we had a Pileated Woodpecker and the suet feeder and House Finches & Northern Cardinals at our seed feeders.

After seeing Al C's post of the hen Northern Pintail at Iber pond, we decided to investigate.  We parked at Cinnabar Way and hiked down to the pond, after negotiating the snowbank. 

We were surprised to find no open water at all and no ducks, although there were many tracks of them on the ice.  Many Mallards were flying back and forth overhead.

We met a dog walking lady who told us an owl was being seen in the adjacent woods, so we checked it out, but could not locate it.

We drove up Huntmar to the Canadian Tire Centre so see if Common Ravens were nesting this year.  We looked at the old nests on both sides of the arena, but they were all unoccupied.  We were on the point of leaving when Bill saw a raven fly in with nesting material.  He watched it closely and saw it disappear behind the large CTC symbol.  The nest was in a new place up higher behind the sign almost totally out of sight.  Two of them came out a flew off while we were there.