Ottawa Area Birding: Arnprior, Galetta and Greenland Hawk Watch with JC Birding

March 10, 2026

Birding Report by Jane Burgess

I met the Bowman's at their place. I decided to bird because I had been up so early that birding sounded like a good plan. Still jet lagged. We met Ken, Eleanor, Carol and Alan and the Park & Ride in Kanata. There were other people waiting to join a group, two ladies came over and asked if we were going for pancakes. Nope we are birders. Ken said we are scone people. On the way to Arnprior we saw a couple of flocks of Canada Geese, great migration has begun. Of course our first stop was Antrim Truck Stop for, you guessed it scones.

We drove into Arnprior to the river, hoping there would be waterfowl, Common Mergansers and Mallard. While we were parked Bill said "who is that big lumbering guy -- Bald Eagle!" We drove over to see Eleanor who told us Ken saw the Bald Eagle, he took a path down to the river and got some really good views of the bird. Ken told Eleanor that he would meet her at the end of the path. We drove to the church where a pair of Peregrine Falcons were nesting last year, no sight of them. But we did see European Starlings and Black-capped Chickadees. When Bill turned the vehicle around, we did find House Finch, American Goldfinch and one Dark-eyed Junco. We wondered where Alan had driven off to, we went back to the river's edge, nope not there. So we decided we would drive to Galetta and meet them there. When we turned down Galetta Side Road, their car appeared behind us.

We went to Galetta because there is a house with a big feeding station, the only species we saw there were more American Goldfinch, singing their little hearts out. We drove Loggers way and many roads, we saw American Tree Sparrows and a couple of Red-winged Blackbirds. Birds were few and far between.

We drove over to John Shaw where swans had been reported. There were flooded fields, with many, many Canada Geese. We stopped and checked out the flocks, but there were only Canada Geese. Eleanor told me that they had had a Song Sparrow while in Arnprior. We drove just a bit and slowed to let a vehicle pass. Bill kept driving and somehow we lost the other vehicle. I called Eleanor when we were driving on Thomas Dolan and she reported that Ken had seen an Eagle in a far away tree ( he has 10's binoculars, so he can see further than the rest of us). They had hoped it was a Golden Eagle (oh that would have been soooo good), but it turned out to be a Bald Eagle.

We met up at the bridge Constance Creek. While we were stopping, I noticed a beaver in the open water near the beaver's hut, but it disappeared into the water. I was looking at a far away bird on top of a tree, when four birds in the sky caught my attention -- Turkey Vultures. They somehow disappeared from sight, I was the only one who saw them. Alan drove up, we all got out and decided it was lunch time.

Carole really wanted to do a hawk watch on Greenland. I was the only one who did not bring my scope, but that was okay, I had to keep moving otherwise I would have started to freeze (did not dress warm enough for the weather), I walked down the road about a kilometer, hoping I might find something good, yeah Chickadees and I hear tapping of a Woodpecker and a call of a Common Raven. On my return I asked the others what they saw Northern Shrike and maybe a Red-shouldered Hawk. I kept walking and joined Barbara, we saw more Chickadees and heard Blue Jays. We walked back to the group, I decided I would sit in the vehicle to warm up. Not more than 5 minutes later, the others decided they had enough of a hawk watch - they did see a Red-tailed Hawk.

We saw no other new birds on the way back home. Home by 2:15.