Ottawa Area Birding: Mer Bleue and Eastern Lagoons

November 11, 2024

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

I met up with the Bowmans at 7:20 and we were at Elmvale Acres by 7:40, we had forgotten that it was a government holiday, hence no traffic. But when we drove into the shopping centre, Ken followed us and Ann followed him so we were all early.

We drove to Dewberry Trail and Alan and Carole were there. At the feeder (the lady had just filled the feeders) we saw Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers, Dark-eyed Juncos, Blue Jays and White-breasted Nuthatch.

We drove to Ridge Road to the Mer Bleu hoping we would see Fox Sparrows, but no. We saw a Northern Cardinal and a small flock of Wild Turkeys. At the feeders more Blue Jays, maybe 8 to 10 American Tree Sparrows, a couple of White-throated Sparrows and further down the trail 6 or 7 camouflaged Mourning Doves. The Doves blended in with the fallen leaves so well.

Next stop was Embrun Lagoons. A few of us climbed the gate to check out the cells, many Green-winged Teal, three Northern Shovellers (1 m & 2 f), Mallards and of course there were plenty of Canada Geese. We then went to Casselman lagoons to see Ring-necked Ducks, Bufflehead, Scaups (sp) and of course Canada Geese.

Next lagoon was St Isidore. When we got out of the vehicles Ken asked us if we saw the Snow Geese flying, we did not. It is not uncommon to see a Bald Eagle there and we were not disappointed, he was perched but he took off and it was so beautiful seeing the white of his head and tail. The only other new species was an American Coot. The farm next to the lagoon usually has Guinea Fowl, but none were seen or heard, but the domesticated Muscovy Duck was there. Barbara asked what St Isidore is known for, so I looked it up. St Isidore is known for his love of the poor and there are accounts of

St.Isidore supplying them miraculously with food. He died in 636 AD. Now the town of St Isidore was established after WWII

by 10 francophone families from Quebec. There is an interactive St Isidore Museum, Plein Soleil folkloric dance troupe, in the town. If birding isn't so good, maybe it might get checked out someday.

We headed to Cobbs Creek, disappointment - just mud and no geese. We had lunch and then we thought we would go after the Slaty-backed Gull at Cobb Lake. We tried a couple of locations and at one place we saw Mark P. who was checking out a flock of gulls and he did not see the Slaty-backed. We checked the landfill area, nothing.

We decided to go to the Navan area, as we drove McFadden Road, Bill said Snow Buntings. We got out of the vehicle and slowly walked toward them. But we got distracted by the 40+ Sandhill Cranes, Bonus, and started photographing them.

We drove down Smith and our first critter sighting, an Eastern Coyote who just stood there and looked at us. We drove a bit more of Smith and turned around and Mr. Coyote was gone. The Eastern Coyote is a hybrid between the smaller western coyote and the eastern wolf.

We checked out Wall Road and saw our 4th flock of Wild Turkeys -- we saw 5 flocks of them over the course of the day,

I did not mention the weather. At the first lagoon, it was blowing and I was cold, Carole very nicely lent me a toque, so glad, Thank you Carole. The weather changed to spitting rain then maybe a bit harder.

Home by 3:30