Mud Lake to Richmond with JC Birding

 April 2, 2026

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

Bill and I met up with Eleanor and Barb C at Mud Lake.  We were all dressed for winter conditions, but Eleanor said she brought a lighter jacket for the afternoon.  But at 8:00, it was cold and damp.  Mud Lake was frozen, Barb C said she had gone over to check the lake so she walked on the ice, it immediately cracked, so melting will happen soon.  We walked down to the river and saw Mallard Ducks, a pair of Wood Ducks and Common Mergansers.  The water was flowing very fast, the ducks did not have to work to go down river.  We watched the ducks and Canada Geese go from the water to the ice to land.  Mallards made it look easy, while the Canada Geese were rather clumsy getting on land.

Down at the filtration plant we looked over to the Quebec side, many many Ring-billed Gulls, along with Double-crested Cormorants and four Great Egrets.  We were there with one other birder who didn't stay long because of the cold.

We then went over to Britannia Yacht Club, gee I haven't been there for years.  There we saw many Herring Gulls and a sprinkling of Lesser Black-Backed Gulls (they have yellow legs as opposed to pink legs of the Great Black-backed).

Driving to the next location we stopped on Britannia Road to watch a male Wild Turkey strut around in full courtship behaviour.  I then noticed three female turkeys on the other side of the street.

We continued onwards to Solva street to check out the bird feeder on the trail,  American Robins and a single Song Sparrow met us at the head of the trail.  Northern Cardinals were singing.  There was a huge puddle on the trail, I did not proceed, but Bill and Barb C did, at the feeder they saw American Tree Sparrows.  Eleanor and I saw White-breasted Nuthatch and a very small flock of American Goldfinch.

We then drove to Grandview and turned into the Barry Mullen Park parking lot and walked over to the wooded area.  Still some snow on the trail, but it was not slippery.  At one point Eleanor said Bohemian Waxwings were heard by Merlin.  She looked and looked and her patience paid off, she spotted a small flock of Waxwings.  I went back to where she was standing and saw them fly off.  A Downy Woodpecker was spotted along with a White-breasted Nuthatch.  Back in the cars we drove to the end of Grandview.  Barb C was out first she thought she spotted a raptor but no positive identification.  We walked the trail a bit and watched a Common Ravens at their nest.  The question was asked where do Crows nest, high up in trees often 60 feet or more.  Now I am wondering if we saw a Crow or a Raven nesting.  Crows nest between late March and August.  Ravens  nest between February and March.  A bit later we heard guttural calls that I thought were Ravens.  Upon listening to both Raven and Crow calls  I am not at all sure.  I downloaded my photo and Merlin identified it as an American Crow.

Next stop was Rifle Road.  Eleanor had told us she had seen American Woodcock Monday evening.  Bill was very interested in knowing exactly where, hence Eleanor led the group down Rifle Road.  She stopped and told us this was the spot.   We drove down to the water, frozen, no bird activity at all.  While walking to the car, we heard and then saw a Common Raven.  Exiting the parking lot we looked down Rifle Road at the Osprey nest, no sign of any Osprey there.

Barbara C was hosting her bridge club so she said her goodbyes and left us.

Then we went to Emerald Meadows storm ponds.  There we saw a whole lot of Canada Geese, 2 Common Mergansers and 1 Hooded Merganser.  In the trees beside the pond, we saw a single Mourning Dove, three Common Grackles and heard but did not see a House Finch.

It was about noon, time for lunch at the Richmond Lagoons parking lot.  Eleanor joined Bill and me and we chatted as we ate.  Then we saw some students rushing over to the path to the lagoons.  Eleanor checked her phone, Great White-fronted Goose reported 10 minutes ago.  We got out of the vehicle, rushing down the path with our scopes and cameras.  We were told where the Greater White-fronted Goose was, it took a bit of time and we all found it.  Take your eyes off your scope and then it's a mystery where the bird is.  Most of the time it was sleeping with its head under its wing, so we had to look for the white line on the side.

The four students were excited to see the goose.  Wow they came with just sweaters on, golly they must have been cold.  When asked they said no.  One guy was more excited than the other, he had seen the Ross's Goose.  They told us they were in Grade 12 at South Carleton and taking the Photography Class.  Lucky for them they were in that class when the boy had seen the notification of the Greater White-fronted Goose.  It is always good to see young people interested in nature.

Along with the Greater White-fronted, we saw a pair of Northern Pintail and about 5 or 6 Mallards.  While looking at all the Canada Goose, we saw a polka dotted headed Canada Goose.

Our next stop was at Twin Elm road, there we saw one single blue morph Snow Goose, who very randomly would lift its head, otherwise it was pointed away from us.  I said to Eleanor Connie saw Killdeer last week, Eleanor said yes, I just heard one.  Actually she probably heard three, located in the drier part of the field.  While driving to the Ottawa dump a Turkey Vulture flew over.

Both Eleanor and Bill had driven down Cambrian Road near the dump earlier in the week.  Bill said he was loath to go there, it is so muddy.  When we got to Cambrian , surprise, surprise.  It was dry and it appeared that they either graded it or they had put some gravel on it.  The only birds at the dump appeared to be Ring-billed Gulls, American Crows and European Starlings.   We drove to Trail road and around to Moodie Pond, only birds at the back of the pond were Canada Geese and more Gulls.  At the front of the pond, we could see only Canada Geese.

At this point Eleanor left us.  She never did put on the lighter coat, weather did not warm up, still cold and damp.

Bill and I went to one other spot - Sarsaparilla Trail hoping we might see a Fox Sparrow, we did not.  Getting out of the vehicle, we were greeted by 5 Red squirrels feeding on seeds on the trail.  They still had their winter coats on.  We walked up to the feeder and saw Northern Cardinals and one Red-breasted Nuthatch.

Species Noted

1. American Robin
2. Song Sparrow
3. Dark-eyed Junco
4. Canada Goose
5. European Starling
6. Mourning Dove
7. Red-winged Blackbird
8. Mallard
9. Ring-billed Gull
10. Black-capped Chickadee
11. Common Goldeneye
12. American Crow
13. Wood Duck
14. Double-crested Cormorant
15. Great Egret
16. Hairy Woodpecker
17. Rock Pigeon
18. White-breasted Nuthatch
19. Lesser Black-backed Gull
20. Herring Gull
21. Wild Turkey
22. American Tree Sparrow
23. Northern Cardinal
24. Turkey Vulture
25. American Goldfinch
26. Blue Jay
27. Bohemian Waxwing
28. Downy Woodpecker
29. Common Raven
30. Common Merganser
31. Hooded Merganser
32. House Finch
33. Common Grackle
34. Greater White-fronted Goose
35. Northern Pintail
36. Snow Goose
37. Killdeer
38. Red-breasted Nuthatch

Jock River

 March 29, 2026

GHOW

 March 25, 2026

Undisclosed location.

This second GHOW on the nest is in Greely.  Hard to see her.

Up the Valley with JC Birding

 March 24, 2026

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

I almost phoned Bill to say I would not be joining the group (2 1/2 hours sleep), but it's birding how could I possibly say that.  While putting my scope in the back of my vehicle I heard an American Robin singing.  Joined Bill and Barbara and we drove to the Kanata Park and Ride.  Barb C was there, but she wasn't looking for birds, sitting in her car - unusual for her.  Eleanor and Ken soon drove up.  

Of course we stopped at Antrim Truck stop for our usual sugar fill.  Bill suggested that we check out the Arnprior Generating Station for the Peregrine Falcon,  Yep it was there.  Barb C wanted to go to Clay Banks, maybe the water is open.  Nope it was not, but we all got to see a Northern Shrike, always good to see,

We checked the water at Cobden, frozen, we proceeded to Snake River Line.  For the longest time nothing.  Ken and Eleanor are not following us, we called them, they thought they had a Rough-legged Hawk.  We joined them, but the bird was far away, on the wrong side of a tree and facing the wrong way.  We could wait, but....

We drove a little further and we got to see a Rough-legged Hawk well.  First glance I thought Eagle, second glance a Red-tail Hawk.  But with the use of binoculars obviously I was wrong, wrong, wrong.  We saw another Rough-legged Hawk on the other side of the road,  Then we saw 2 Bald Eagles high in the sky.  While Bill was checking out the Eagles, he saw a Red-tailed Hawk.  A Turkey Vulture was spotted overhead.

For lunch we stopped on Ross Road - an awesome place in spring and summer, but today it was just frozen.  I was passing the time looking through my binoculars and I spotted a Pileated Woodpecker.  Funny because as we turned on to Ross Road, I said to Bill, we haven't seen any Woodpeckers.

Where should we go now, are there Sandhill Cranes reported, yes, just up the way on our right.  Well birds have wings and they obviously used them, cause we did not see any Sandhill Cranes all day.  Barb C suggested going to the Pembroke Dump (Ottawa Waste Recovery Station), Bill said sure it's 6 minutes away.  We all depend on our GPS way too much, he lost service and then it made us do a complete circle before we got to the dump.

We got to the dump and I asked if we could go in, go to gate 2 and look from there.  Okay we did, kind of, we drove in beyond the gate, but just slightly.  We could see the birds well, Many Herring Gulls, in fact we looked for other Gulls, but there were just Herring Gulls.  We spotted at least 6 Bald Eagles. Of course there were many, many American Crows and European Starlings.  I did see two amorous Bald Eagles do their thing.  An 'official' dump person came to see us and told us we should not be there, but at the gate.  I apologized for my misunderstanding (honestly it was not a misunderstanding I was stretching what the first person said to me). She was very nice and told us about phoning before, etc, etc,.  After she was done, I asked can you show us to the place in the dump.  Affirmative, she would get her vehicle and show us the place, we could get out of the vehicles, "but do not go on the roads". She repeated the same thing once we were at our assigned spot.  We did not see anything new, but Bill and Ken were busy photographing birds.

We went  then went to the Osceola  Dump, nothing.  Bill did remark that maybe we becoming 'dump people'

On the way home we went to various places, but it yielded nothing. I was fading fast.  Well my tiredness hit me hard, I think I slept once we got onto highway 17.  Once I got home I pretty well hit the sack at 5:00 pm and woke up at 7 am.

Well rested today. 

Oh but I am glad I went birding because every day birding is such a good day.

Species Noted

1. American Robin
2. Black-capped Chickadee
3. American Crow
4. Rock Pigeon
5. Red-winged Blackbird
6. Canada Geese
7. European Starling
8. Common Grackle
9. Peregrine Falcon
10. Common Raven
11. Ring-billed Gull
12. Northern Shrike
13. Rough-legged Hawk
14. Bald Eagle
15. Red-tailed Hawk
16. Mourning Dove
17. Turkey Vulture
18. Wild Turkey
19. Pileated Woodpecker
20. Herring Gull
21. Blue Jay

Rideau Tennis Club

 March 20, 2026

We decided to check the Rideau River by the Adawe Bridge.  It had snowed a bit, so had to scrape the windshield.  We no sooner got underway than it started to snow, coming down fairly heavily most of the time we were out. Protecting our equipment with plastic bags was a challenge.  We did well to get a few photos.

Eastern Fields to the St Lawrence with JC Birding

 March 18, 2026

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

I got out of my vehicle to close the garage door and all I could hear was bird song - a large flock of European Starling singing.  What a beautiful way to start the morning.  I drove to the Bowman's place and once there I heard a Common Raven, then saw it fly over, calling all the while.  I glanced over at his neighbours and saw an American Robin and a Northern Cardinal.

We met Barb C and Ken at Elmvale Acres shopping centre, they carpooled.  Driving out of the shopping centre we saw a large flock of Rock Pigeons.  Flying amongst them were 3 Ring-billed Gulls.  There was an American Crow perched on a light standard.

Which way are we going to go to Milton, straight down Russell Road or via Ridge Road, Bill indicated Russell Road, but decided at the last minute to go via Ridge Road, no birds anywhere.  As we turned onto Russell Road, we stopped to look at the Red-tailed Hawk in a tree.  Always the optimist, I suggested seeing the hawk so early might be a good omen for the day.  I had let Alan and Carol know we would meet them somewhere on Milton Road, wherever there was room to park.  We stopped to check out the fields, yeah no open water, no birds.  Further up we noticed the ditch water was flowing, but no birds.  We drove past a silo looking for Common Raven nesting, nope.  Later when we met up with Carol and Alan, they told us there was a Common Raven on the top of the silo not on the nest.

We met up with Carole and Alan at the bridge on Frank Kenny, there were lots of Canada Geese, no ducks with them.  We checked out several flocks of Canada Geese, looking for the Greater White-fronted Goose that had been seen, nope did not see it.  We drove over to Dunning and parked in front of the Commando Paintball establishment.  There was lots of space to set up all the scopes, we checked and checked, Canada Geese only.  I got a little bit bored so I started checking the trees, in the far distance we saw two Bald Eagles high in the trees.  

Ken suggested with all these frozen fields perhaps we should drive south, for open water.  We decided that would be the plan, however Carol and Alan did not want to make a full day of it, so they opted out.  Bill suggested we check out Cobb Creek first.  Off we went, Bill took Russell Road while Ken decided on a parallel road.   We got to Cobb Creek first, to find a very small flock of Canada Geese.  A call to Barb C found they were 20 minutes out, so we decided to meet them at Farren Park  (We never got there).

Well we found lots of open water, but no birds.  Finally after an hour + driving we ended up just in front of the Long Sault Parkway.  Bill let's go there, it's usually pretty good.  Well that was an understatement.  On one side of the bridge nothing but Canada Geese, but on the other side, we hit pay dirt.  Two close up Long-tail Ducks, such beautiful birds in breeding plumage.  Lots of Common Goldeneye and Ring-neck Ducks.  The Hooded Merganser males were in full breeding plumage.  We watched 4 or 5 male Hooded Mergansers do their full courtship ritual for one female while she paid absolutely no attention to them.  They would swim up close to her and extend their necks and somehow blow up their throats, shake their heads and open their beaks, sing and bob up and down.  There were lots of Common Mergansers and I think only one Red-breasted Merganser.  It was good seeing Redheads.  Strangely I think we saw only one pair of Mallard, usually there are so many.  There was a large flock of Canada Geese there as well, all of a sudden with a lot of noise, another flock of Canadas joined the swimming Geese.  Directly in front of us a little Black-capped Chickadee was busy going from branch to branch singing Chick a dee dee dee.  Love nature.

A man came over and spoke to us, he was a photographer from Metcalfe.  We spoke for a while (I was doing the Barb C thing chatting him up).  I called Barb and Ken to tell them where we were and what species we were seeing.  They said they would be there in 20 minutes.  As I spoke to the gentleman, a car pulled up and asked what we were seeing, I listed all the species for him. The woman in the passenger seat said there are Snow Geese at Glen Walter, they just landed there.  Oh thank you we will go there.  What goes around comes around.

Barb and Ken drove up and they too were so happy seeing all the ducks.  We all had smiles on our faces, not sure there were smiles before that though at just seeing water and no birds.

We all had lunch and decided we would go to Glen Walter, wherever that was - the woman said it was east of Cornwall.  Thank goods for GPS.  Bill took the 401 while Ken took highway #2.  We arrived at Glen Walter, drove past it, no Snow Geese, then all of a sudden Oh My Goodness, so many Snow Geese, what a wonderful sight, must have been between 4 and 5000 of them. The gentleman that we were talking to was also there. As I went back to the vehicle feeling one with the world.

Asked Bill what next, he made a suggestion. I went back to Ken and Barb's vehicle and told them.  Barb handed me three wrapped candies, I gave one to the gentleman thanking him and the other two went to Barbara and Ken.

Our day finished on a very high note, seeing a Great Horned Owl on the nest.

Species Noted

1. European Starling
2. Common Raven
3. American Robin
4. Northern Cardinal
5. Rock Pigeon
6. Ring-billed Gull
7. American Crow
8. Red-tailed Hawk
9. Wild Turkey
10. Canada Geese
11. Mourning Dove
12. Blue Jay
13. Red-winged Black-bird
14. Common grackle
15. Bald Eagle
16. American Tree Sparrow
17. Ring-necked Duck
18. Common Goldeneye
19. Long-tailed Duck
20. Hooded Merganser
21. Red-breasted Merganser
22. Common Merganser
23. Redhead
24. Mallard
25. Black-capped Chickadee
26. Snow Geese
27. Turkey Vulture
28. Merlin
29. Great Horned Owl