Ottawa Area Birding: Greenland Road Hawk Watch with JC Birding

March 21, 2023

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

Barb C., Eleanor and I met at Bill and Barbara's place at 7:30. First time birding since my Colombia trip. I won't say much about the trip other than it was fantastic, I got 150+ new birds and saw over 500 species. I have posted far too many photos on Facebooks.

Today was a much slower birding day than I had become accustomed to in Colombia, but this is March 21, Ottawa and while it is "spring", still lots of snow and the temperature hovered about 0.

At Bill and Barbara's place we saw American Robin, Blue Jay, North Cardinal, Black-capped Chickadee and American Crow. There really was nothing between Bill & Barbara's place and Berry Side Road, we were hoping to see the overwintering Eastern Bluebirds, but sadly we saw none all day. We did see Wild Turkeys, about 10 of them, one doesn't often see them flying, but they flew a good distance, landed on a coniferous tree and disappeared, how can 10 large birds disappear like that???

Bill, Barbara and I were in one vehicle and Barb and Eleanor were in another. We proceeded down Berry Side Road, only to get a phone call from Barb saying they had a Pileated Woodpecker. We turned around and the female Pileated Woodpecker flew, but not too far, just to the hydro post.

Driving further down Berry Side Road we saw a single Dark-eyed Junco and the first of many Red-winged Blackbirds. There was a very quick fox that ran from one side of the road to the other and quickly disappeared into the woods. Five deer were enjoying themselves until we came along and they too disappeared into the woods.

Finally at 9:30 we got to Greenland where people watch for hawks, 15 minutes later a car drove up -- Bev Scott. She took out her scope, and started checking out the skies. Eleanor goes over to talk to her and shouts to us there is a Northern Shrike just beyond the fenced pasture. Good bird, we all get good views. Bev says she sees a big bird far away, first she says Turkey Vulture, then Golden Eagle. It was a Golden Eagle, and I must say our scopes were in the vehicles so the Golden Eagle was a wholly unsatisfying view. I learned a big difference between Golden and Bald Eagles, Bald Eagles are always huge birds with flat wings, while Golden Eagles are huge birds with a slight dihedral. Good to know. Mark Patry shows up and says he saw 3 Trumpeter Swans, a few minutes later Barb C. sees 3 large white birds in her scope, well we saw the Trumpeter Swans as well. A couple of Common Raven announce their presence, I just love the sound they make, always puts a smile on my face. We stay for an hour, our feet are cold so we decide to move on. We continued down Greenland to the end of the road, seeing really nothing but American Crows, no birds at any of the feeders. We checked out the small suburb off Greenland and we saw another Dark-eyed Junco.

We returned to the hawk watch area and asked if we missed anything, No, says Mark, just a single Sandhill Cane, darn. We stay for another hour, but see nothing. So we decide it is time to move on, first stop the gas station on Dunrobin Road for a pit stop and treats. We drive a number of country roads only to find an American Tree Sparrow, House Sparrow and a Downy Woodpecker. Barb and Eleanor heard a Killdeer at one of the stops, but did not see it.

At the hawk watch we heard someone say a Red-bellied Woodpecker was seen on Berry Side Road near the Ottawa River. We drove down the road and saw nothing but a few Back-capped Chickadees. Time to head home, via March Valley Road. Bill was saying this road always had

hawks, but not so now. Bill, stop the car!, on the tree I think it is a Cooper's Hawk, it turned out to be a Merlin.

Last stop was the Hilda feeders, oh so many Red-winged Blackbirds, I asked when did the Red-wings start showing up, answer was maybe a week ago. Males always show up before the females. There were a couple of American Tree Sparrows along with a single Common Grackle.

The weather had turned downright balmy by then, no gloves needed and the sun was out, finally spring like weather. Driving back to Bill's, a Ring-billed Gull and a Rock Pigeon was sighted.

26 species of birds. Good Day