Ottawa Area Birding: Jack Pine, Old Quarry, Crystal Beach & Fletcher with JC Birding

January 6, 2026

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

We met at Jack Pine Trail, we were a large group - Bill, Richard, Ian, Barb C, Guy, Eleanor, Mitchell and me.

At the head of the trail there is a large rock where people had put bird seeds, it definitely attached Mourning Doves, Cardinals, White-breasted Nuthatch and Black-capped Chickadees. Opposite the rock, we saw a couple of Downy Woodpeckers, we were hoping to find a Red-bellied Woodpecker. We walked down the trail a bit and Richard spotted the Red-bellied Woodpecker, everyone had good views of the bird.

Bill and Richard knew the coordinates of where the Black-backed Woodpecker had been seen. We reached that place, no woodpecker.

There was a crossroads on the trail, 4 people went one way and the others went straight ahead. I was in the group that went straight ahead. Our big finds were Black-capped Chickadees and a very aggressive Red-breasted Nuthatch. The Red breasted Nuthatch is smaller than the Chickadee, but the one we saw had a major attitude and chased the Chickadee away. We did see Northern Cardinal (male and female) We met up with the other group as we were almost at the parking lot -- good timing. They reported seeing Blue Jays, Dark-eyed Juncos, Chickadees, Cardinals and Hairy Woodpecker.

We had a discussion on where to go next, after some discussion, we headed to Old Quarry Trail Stoney Swamp, our big find and we really did not find it, it told us of its presence above us -- Common Raven. No Black-backed Woodpecker. We met a gentleman on the trail and he said he had not seen the woodpecker in a couple of days. He showed us the tree that the woodpecker fed at, yes you could see that the bark was well worked. Annoyingly, it was seen twice in the afternoon.

Discussion on where to go, well we are in the general area, lets go to see if we can see a Snowy Owl.

On the way there on Eagleson most of us saw a big bird flying, it had very large broad wings and was flying quickly. Barb and Eleanor saw a white tail. Richard saw long legs, none of the others saw long legs. Richard concluded it was a Great Blue Heron. While Eleanor thought Bald eagle or Goshawk. Barb thought Bald Eagle and I was inclined to think Bald Eagle. Bill did not see it. The conclusion was not to put it on the list because no one was 100% sure of what species it was.

We drove as a convoy to Akins, where we saw lots of Snow Buntings. I was at the end of the convoy and decided I would tell Bill and Barbara that I was going over to Rushmore to look for the Owl. One was found at the top of a hydro post, I called Bill. When he arrived both Bill and Barb said that was exactly where they saw it the last time. I had seen Snowy Owls in November but apparently they kept flying south. At the CBC windup, it was reported that there were two in the Rushmore/Akins area.

Another discussion, where to go next, we decided Crystal Bay, for Pine Grosbeak. We parked the cars and headed off, again we split up, someone from each group would call if they saw them. I went straight again with 3 others. There was a bird feeder not too far down the trail, where were Black-capped Chickadees, American Goldfinch, American Tree Sparrows, White-breasted Nuthatch and away from the feeder high in two trees Pine Grosbeaks. We called Bill and left a message. The birds flew, Richard followed them down the other trail, where we found the others photographing Pine Grosbeaks, They asked if we got their message, Nope. Good sighting.

As we were walking back to the vehicles, Guy indicated he wished to go home, his hip was bothering him. Ian very graciously took him home.

Next place to go was Fletcher Wildlife Garden to find the Great Horned Owl and the Barred Owl. I asked Bill if he wanted to carpool, so I dropped my vehicle off at my sister's place and Mitchell and I joined Bill. Once at Fletcher we told the others we wanted to have our lunch. Sure, the others had been snacking on their lunch so there was no need for them to stop. They suggested they would go look for the owls. We were almost done with our meal when Barb called me to say that they got it. Okay we will be there, When we arrived they showed us the Barred Owl, high in a tree with lots of branches around it. Difficult to see and more difficult to photograph. But I thought you got the Great Horned Owl. Reply was, we searched but could not find it. After a bit Eleanor showed us the tree where she had seen the previous day. Richard was searching, searching the tree - maybe his motto is Never Give Up. He announced Got it, I see it's butt. Well finding the owl was challenging, truthfully what we saw was something like seeing a large hornet's nest. I did see a horn move. Richard took a photo of it and frankly I have no idea how he saw it enough to photo its face (see his photo).

Where next, well Wilson Hum had emailed me about a Hawk Owl at Brewer Park with good directions and photos. I had no idea where the place was, dah opposite Carleton University. We parked and walked up a small incline, both Bill and I fell half way up where it got slippery. We walked the path and checked the trees, nope didn't see it. We went back to the vehicles, I asked for Mitchell's arm going down the hill, Bill used Mitchell's arm as well.

At the parking lot, we met a lady who had said a friend of hers saw the hawk owl 10 minutes ago, near a building with a hummingbird. So Barb suggested going somewhere else. The end of this story is we did not find the bird nor the building.

Driving home Mitchell and I saw a flock of Wild Turkeys.

In spite of the fact we did not get the Black-backed Woodpecker or the Hawk Owl, we had a very good day - really a three owl day, Red-bellied Woodpecker and Pine Grosbeaks. Birding is time well spent. My favourite thing to do.

Little Educational Moment

When showing my husband Mitchell's photos he asked me how long do owls live - looked it up for the 3 we had seen.

Snowy Owls live up to 10 years in the wild and up to 25 years in captivity.

Barred Owls - 10 years but some have reached 18 years in the wild and 20 to 30 in captivity

Great Horned Owls - around 13 years but can reach 23 years in the wild and in captivity one owl lived 50 years.

The first year is the toughest for owls.