July 8, 2025
Birding Report by Jane Burgess
I arrived at Bill and Barbara's
place at 6:40 and heard an Eastern Phoebe singing. I loaded my
stuff into their vehicle and off we went. We met Barb, Eleanor, Ann and
Ian and Kichi Zibi Parkway and Champlain bridge parking lot. Barb had a
long list of birds they had seen while waiting for us -- Double-crested
Cormorant, Mallard, Common Merganser, Canada Goose, American Goldfinch,
Chipping Sparrow, Red-wing Blackbird, Song Sparrow, American Crow and
Ring-billed Gull. Gee maybe we should have come 10 minutes later, who
knows how long the list would have been.
Bill
and Ann turned east on the parkway, while Ian opted to go via the
Quebec side. We encountered a traffic jam because of the set up of
Blues Fest with port-a-potties taking up a lane. Oh well. I got a call
from Ann asking for directions because they lost us in the traffic
jam. We could not pull over because of the traffic so we waited for her
once off the highway on the Quebec side. I called to give more
directions. We pulled off to wait for Ann and she showed up minutes
later. Then I got a call from Eleanor to ask where we were, they were
already at Marais des Laichest Esst. Once in the parking lot, some put
on rubber boots. We noticed a bus converted to a recreational vehicle
was parked just beyond the parking lot. People were sleeping in it, no
doubt we woke them up.
Once on the 'path',
the grass was very high, like up to my shoulders and of course the
grass was wet because of the overnight rain. Needless to say we all got
very wet. Barb thought they should cut the grass and maintain the
path. Ann, Ian and Eleanor were at the back of the line and lucky them
they got to see a Wilson's Snipe. Looking out over the river we saw
lots of reeds and other vegetation, but did not see any birds. All of a
sudden, we heard a loud, resonant wooden rattle hkkkkk or hkarrrr, a
rolling bugle, typically a long slightly descending roll, but
some variation to quote the Sibling Birds app. SANDHILL CRANES, but
where. The Sandhill Cranes rounded the trees and flew toward us and
then changed their minds and flew away from us. What an absolutely
wonderful way to start our morning. We were all sure they would be the
bird of the day.
We had a hawk fly over us and
into some trees, We thought the hawk was Sharp-shined but Bill's photos
will help with the final decision. We were right, it was a Sharp-shined
Hawk. At one point Ann went to investigate because we were all pretty
sure it did not fly out from the trees. The hawk flew out with what
looked like a small bird in its talons. Ann returned, we told her the
hawk had come out, thanks for flushing it. We had a Great Egret
Flyby. A Belted Kingfisher made its presence known. We heard Warbling
Vireo, Red-Eyed Vireo and a Great-crested Flycatcher. We set off again
in the tall grass, I asked Bill to be the front person, I was tired of
getting all the spider webs in my face. We thought we were getting
nothing else, so we turned around and headed to the vehicles. Of course
while we were walking to the cars, we heard Swamp Sparrow, American
Goldfinch, Common Yellowthroats and Yellow Warblers.
Other
birders had arrived and Bill and Barb spoke with them. I told Bill I
would start walking up the road, to see if I could actually see the
Sparrows, other than Song that is. I saw a pair of Northern Cardinals.
Ian
passed me saying he would meet us at the Little Frog Marsh. Bill
picked me up and off we went. Turning down the road to the Little Frog
Marsh, there was a good long piece of the road washed away, but it was
safe to drive on. Here we did not have a path to walk on but a road, so
no more getting wet....or so we thought. We saw Eastern Kingbirds,
more Yellow Warblers and the usual Sparrows. Bill saw a Northern
Flicker fly off. While walking along the water, we saw a Black-crowned
Nightheron that flew the closer we got to it. Bill pointed out a Muskrat
on the other side of the water, chewing on some type of vegetation.
We had to dodge some water puddles.
Bill, Barb
and I got to the viewing area first. Barbara came next, oh boy she was
covered in clay - her camera, her arm and her pants. She had fallen in
the big puddle. We heard laughing from the others and it turned out Ann
had fallen as well and Ian had helped her out. Didn't know birding was
so dangerous. Bill and Barbara saw an American Bittern, the rest of
us didn't. We continued walking toward the Ottawa River, where another
American Bittern showed itself.
Coming back to
the cars, I saw a singleton Leopard Frog, I had seen one going as
well. But in years gone by, there were so many frogs, not so this
year. Back at the car, Barbara tried to clean off all the clay and
mud. Ann indicated that she was getting tired and would leave. I gave
her directions to the ferry and she then left us. Again I decided to
walk the road. Ann had parked because a car was coming down the narrow
road. She also told me she saw a Purple Finch family. We said our
goodbyes and I continued walking. While I did not see anything new, I
did see yet another American Bittern. How lucky are we 3 American
Bitterns. Ian passed me and told me he would see me at Plaisance.
Bill
came along, Barb had cleaned up as much as possible, and off we went to
Pleasance. Bill paid the park entrance fee for us all and we decided
to have lunch in the visitors centre.
We drove
over to Sentier de la Zizanie des Marais. Ian was there already and was
sitting on a bench taking photographs. He said he had a Baltimore
Oriole on the other side of the pond. After a bit, we all saw a bird
bathing. Was it an Oriole or a Redstart. We were not at all sure, but
photos don't lie, the Baltimore Oriole sighting was confirmed. We
walked to the boardwalk. Barb pointed to this tall vegetation asking if
it was the bad one. Yes was the answer after checking with the
Inat
classic app. Wild Parsnip is the plant that causes itchy and painful
rashes. Funny I would have thought the park would have dealt with
them. The boardwalk was so safe and touching the rails it was not hot, I
thought it was aluminum but aluminum gets hot and the rails were cool
to the touch.
The water near the boardwalk
was filled with Pickerel Weed. I thought it was an invasive plant but
it is not. It plays a beneficial role in the ecosystem by stabilizing
shorelines, filtering water and providing habitat for wildlife. I saw
lots of Honey Bees flying from flower to flower. Along with the
Pickerel Weed, there were the white Pond Lilies and Variegated Yellow
Pond Lily. On the island we saw White-breasted Nuthatch, Downy
Woodpecker, Veery and American Robin. We heard birds but not all that
many wanted to show themselves.
Over the road
and continuing down the path, Bill and I reminisced about last year and
seeing an American Bittern out in the open that stayed like forever.
It was not there this year. Bill said time to go. We returned to the
car and decided we should check out the blind. Driving close to the
water we were seeing waterfowl - Common Gallinule, Pied-billed Grebe and
Mallards. A car stopped and the man told Bill where we could find a
Bald Eagle. We drove to just beyond the 'first house' and there it was,
high in a tree. We turned around and checked out the blind. In one of
the holes in the blind was perched an Eastern Phoebe. Once at th blind
and checking out the water, we were quite disappointed because the
grass was so tall, it was difficult to see the water, but we did see
Common Gallinule.
Time to go home, we stopped
at the Visitors Centre for some pop and to use the facilities. I al
so wanted to complete the bird list. Again Ian left first and we were
surprised he had not arrived to the parking lot before us, guess the
traffic was heavier on the Quebec side
Another
excellent day of birding - 2 Sandhill Cranes, 3 American Bittern, 3 or 4
Green Herons, 1 Black-crowned Nightheron, several Great Blue Herons
among all the song birds.
This trip I will say
definitely the bird of the day was Sandhill Cranes, the dirtiest person
by a long shot was Barbara Bowman (she reaally rolled around in the mud)
and she was such a good sport about it and of course the persons who
likes to play in the mud goes to Ann and Ian.
Thank you Bill and Barbara for your photos. And thank you Government of Canada for sending Bill on French language training.
Species Seen
- Eastern Phoebe
- Double Crested Cormorant
- Mallard
- Common Merganser
- Canada Goose
- American Goldfinch
- Chipping Sparrow
- Song Sparrow
- Red-wing Blackbird
- Green Heron
- American Crow
- Ring-billed Gull
- European Starling
- Osprey
- Savannah Sparrow
- Wood Duck
- Mourning Dove
- Common Gallinule
- Sandhill Crane
- Wilson's Snipe
- Great Egret
- Great Blue Heron
- Turkey Vulture
- Sharp-shinned Hawk
- Belted Kingfisher
- Great-crested Flycatcher
- Warbling Vireo
- Red-eyed Vireo
- Tree Swallow
- White-breasted Nuthatch
- Gray Catbird
- American Robin
- Cedar Waxwing
- Swamp Sparrow
- Common Yellowthroat
- Yellow Warbler
- Northern Cardinal
- Eastern Wood Pewee
- American Bittern
- Black-crowned Nightheron
- Northern Flicker
- Purple Finch
- Eastern Kingbird
- Blue Jay
- Baltimore Oriole
- Downy Woodpecker
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Veery
- Common Grackle
- American Redstart
- Pied-billed Grebe
- Bald Eagle
- Brown Thrasher
Critter Seen
- Bullfrog (h)
- Northern Leopard Frog
- Green Frog
- Otter
- Muskrat
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