Ottawa Area Birding: Arnprior, Almonte & Carleton Place with JC Birding

October 28, 2025

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

Bill and I met Barb C and Eleanor at the Park & Ride off Eagleson Road. We had a short discussion of where we were going first, some thought McNamara Trail, I said no Antrim Truck stop. I have my priorities, mmm their scones are so good and I did not want to chance not getting any. Driving on highway 417, oh my goodness it was foggy but we did see a Red-tailed Hawk (we actually saw 5 of them during the course of the day). We stopped at the bakery and bought our stash, some to be eaten during the day and some to be shared once we got home.

We decided to check out Clay Banks Nature Park, only bird we saw was a Blue Jay, but the fog was a factor for sure. Bill drove over to the boat launch and the water appeared out of nowhere.

We then checked out Young Road, where we saw Dark-eyed Juncos. A huge piece of farm equipment pulled by a tractor met us just after the bridge, thank goodness there was a bit of a pull off. While we were parked another vehicle stopped to tell us a tractor trailer would be coming by shortly. Then a school bus passed us, like it was after 9:00, who goes to school that late in the day. We waited and then decided we would check the house on the hill for birds. The child was safely on the bus, then the tractor trailer left. We turned around and slowly moved on.

We drove a road that none of us had been on before Van Dusen. We saw a large flock of Canada Geese, Eleanor spotted a female Northern Harrier, good one. We checked out the Canada Geese for Cackling Geese - no luck on that one. We kept driving and saw a small mixed flock of birds, turned out to be Dark-eyed Juncos and American Tree Sparrow. We drove to the end of the road, ending at the river. We turned around and checked out the private road, nothing new. Coming back, we saw a very large flock of Red-winged Blackbirds with a couple of American Robins and European Starlings. Driving just a bit further, we came upon a bird feeder -- Northern Cardinal, Hairy Woodpecker, American Goldfinch and White-breasted Nuthatch. Stop the car Bill, we saw another Northern Harrier this time male. The two birds were too far away to photograph.

We then went to the Macnamara Trail - we were greeted by some Black-capped Chickadees. We walked part of the trail and nothing, it was so quiet. We turned around and at the head of the trail Eleanor played a bird mobbing tape, she was successful in bringing in Chickadees, Blue Jay and White-breasted Nuthatch. We checked out the river and saw nothing. We had checked the other side of the water and I think we saw one Ring-billed Gull.

Where to next - Pakenham 5 span bridge where we had a late season picnic. As usual we had a stimulating conversation.

We checked various areas and really it was so slow. We went up this road where we have seen Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, nope none. We played the mobbing tape again, same species brought in, Chickadees, Bluejays and White-breasted Nuthatch. This time we did not walk the road as we usually do, we drove down to a cottage on the water. Nothing on the water. We did notice that it had cameras, so we might have been seen by the homeowner, but we did nothing unsavory.

Eleanor checked ebird reports for both Almonte Lagoons and the storm water pond in Carleton Place. Both had recent reports. Off to Almonte Lagoons. Well finally we got some birds. First species I saw were the Bonaparte's Gull, then there were Bufflehead, one Snow Goose, 1 Killdeer (thanks to B Kennedy who pointed it out to us -- it looked like a speck beside a Canada Goose), lots of Black Ducks and Mallards, Green-wing Teal, American Widgeon, 3 Trumpeter Swans, Common Goldeneye, Ring-neck Duck and Ring-billed Gulls. Of course there were many many Canada Geese. My whole attitude changed, my spirits picked up big time.

Time was ticking, but we did head to the Carleton Place Stormwater Pond. There were Canada Geese, Green-winged Teal and Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs. It is late in the season for Yellowlegs.

We left Barb C and Eleanor and the park & ride and went to see if the Ross's Goose was still at Bruce Pit. Bill brought his scope, luck was on our side. It was quite close to the far end of the toboggan hill. But it was swimming fast and toward the hill. Photos weren't all that wonderful because it was swimming close to the edge where there is a lot of vegetation, but both Bill and I were able to capture its image.

Thank you Bill for driving and taking photos. Thank you Eleanor for doing the ebird list. Good luck next week.