March 3, 2026
Birding Report by Barbc
It was a relatively chill morning when we
met up at Mud Lake. There were many Black capped Chickadees in
the bushes. The trails were icy. We carefully walked down to the
Ottawa River channel. There were about a dozen Mallards huddled
by the water. A look far west in the water found three Common
Merganser males and one female in the swift water. We walked the
road as the Hermit Thrush had just been seen flying across the
roadway to the ridge side. It came out shortly and allowed us to
take photos. Then it flew off again. Just like the birds, the
human birders came and went this morning. Barbc was thrilled to
see the Hermit Thrush.
We then drove our cars and parked on Howe Street to go into a
trail which is parallel to the houses on this stretch. The Fox
Sparrow has been seen at several feeders along this trail. We
walked into the woods and saw a couple of Hairy Woodpeckers and a
Downy Woodpecker. We were quiet and looked for the Fox Sparrow
with no luck.
We decided to park my car at the Ottawa Beach end of Andrew Haydon
Park and drive to Panmure Road in the Bowman's SUV. Barbara
picked up a pile of trash that some body left on the ground. Bill
and I picked up the remainder. Who does this sort of thing? The
garbage can was steps away..... We checked the tree with the snag
that the Screech Owls were roosting over the summer and fall of
2025. No owl here today.
While on the way to Panmure Road we looked at the Canadian Tire
Centre and the location of the Common Raven couple's nest building
behind the actual CT sign on a narrow shelf edge. Bill and
Barbara had discovered the new nest building location earlier in
the week. We could not see the nest today but we did see the
Raven couple flying around the CT sign from the 417.
We got off at Panmure Road and went down to the very nice lean-to
of hay, tarp and seeds location that the Western Meadowlark has
spent a good part of the winter, here in Eastern Ontario. The
bird is pretty and a good size and has an assortment of seeds on
the ground. We took several photos and the bird co-operated. To
get to see the bird we had to climb icy snowbanks along the
roadway. We took it easy and had no problems. We kind of felt
sorry for the Western Meadowlark: all alone with out a partner.
We wondered if the Western and Eastern Meadowlarks hybridized.
We saw a line of about 25 Wild Turkeys in the distant fields. It
looked like the lead Wild Turkey was leading them somewhere.
From here we took a detour to Pakenham Hills Ski Hill. The
parking lot was about half full. We did not see any birds here.
We continued on to Blakney. Maybe we would see something on the
Mississippi River from the new bridge there. NOPE. We also
looked for a Shrike but did not see one.
By
this time is was just before noon. It had warmed up a bit but
birds were few and far between. We did see two very
nice rare birds this morning: the Hermit Thrush and the Western
Meadowlark, along with the usual suspects. Thank you Bill and
Barbara.
Birds List
1. Mallard
2. Common Merganser
3. Hermit Thrush
4. Rock Pigeon
5. Mourning Dove
6. Downy Woodpecker
7. Hairy Woodpecker
8. American Crow
9. Common Raven
10. Black-capped Chickadee
11. White-breasted Nuthatch
12. House Finch
13. American Goldfinch
14. Northern Cardinal
15. Wild Turkey
16. Western Meadowlark
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