Ottawa West with Connie & Jane's group

(text by Connie)

Wednesday, February 24, 2010 Ottawa West - Jack Pine, Hilda, Grandview, Western Roads (Akin, Brownlee, etc)

(Jane,Nadine,Bill, Rick,Connie)

Ottawa West - Jack Pine Trail

1 American Crow (near here)

2 Black-capped Chickadee

3 Downy Woodpecker

4 Red-tailed Hawk (near here)

5 White-breasted Nuthatch

Ottawa West - Brownlee Road and Eagleson Road

6 Snow Bunting (large flock)

7 Snowy Owl (very dark; Eagleson at Brownlee)

Ottawa West - Akin Road

*** Red-tailed Hawk

8 Rock Pigeon

Ottawa West - Iber Road Near Abbott - Storm Water Pond Across from Campbell

9 Canada Goose

10 Mallard

11 Wood Duck

Rideau Tennis Club Winter Ducks

Feb 17, 2010 2:00 pm

I made a quick visit to the Tennis Club. We had seen a male Barrow’s Goldeneye at Remic Rapids recently, so was not sure what to expect. But virtually the first duck I spotted was a male Barrow’s Goldeneye with a bunch of Common Goldeneye. There were a couple of other suspicious characters, which may have been hybrids. I was just getting on them when a fly-by flock of Mallards spooked the whole crowd, and they all took off.

I moved upstream to where most of them had landed, but could not relocate those ducks, only the male Barrow’s and a possible female.

There were two male Common Mergansers and one female enjoying the open water. The only other ducks were American Blacks and Mallards.

West End Birding with Connie & Jane’s Group

Wednesday, Feb 10, 9:00 am

It was another beautiful sunny day with comfortable temperature.
Today’s was another large turnout - Jane, Nadine, Janet, Bill, Russell, Hedrik, Barb R., Peggy, Marc D'A, Lena & Connie.

We met at Mud Lake and toured the ridge and the forest across the road. Picking were a bit slim:
1 American Black Duck (flying over)
2 American Crow
3 Black Duck
4 Black-capped Chickadee
5 Common Goldeneye (m, f)
6 Common Raven
We also heard a Northern Cardinal and White-breasted Nuthatch.

Jane knew of some finches on Jamieson, so we made a stop there.
7 House Finch (m, f; feeder on Jamieson) 8 House Sparrow (feeder on Jamieson)
9 Mallard
10 White-breasted Nuthatch

We headed west to Scrivens St. down by the river. The river was completely frozen, and not offering much. But we did get both small woodpeckers at a feeder.
11 Downy Woodpecker
12 Hairy Woodpecker (m)

Some of the group went to the Coliseum to set up a car pool, while a few went to Tim Horton’s for a beverage. I went ahead to Grandview road where I saw a couple of European Starlings at the corner of Carling. While driving down Grandview, Hedrik spotted a Coopers Hawk, which was the highlight of the day.
13 Blue Jay
14 Cooper's Hawk (Grandview)
15 Dark-eyed Junco (Hastings)
16 Rock Pigeon

From there, we went to Hilda Road to check the feeders. En route, we saw a flock of perhaps 50 Bohemian Waxwings on Rifle Road. 17 American Tree Sparrow (Hilda)
18 Bohemian Waxwings (50+; Rifle)
I had to depart, but the group carried on for several more stops.

OFNC Snowshoe Outing to Algonquin Park with Jeff Skevington

February 7, 2010, 8:30 am

Today a group of 43 of us went to the Barron River Canyon for some mid-winter exploration. Over half were non-members of OFNC, who heard Jeff being interviewed on CBC’s In Town and Out on Saturday.

We met at Lincoln Fields Plaza and car pooled, meeting up at the Irving Gas Bar on Paul Martin Drive in Pembroke. Margaret Ann, Barbara and I (followed by Peggy, Jane & Marc) made a slight detour on Snake River Line to look for the Northern Hawk Owl, but did not spot it.

After hot chocolate, we proceeded in convoy to Achray Road, where we came upon an unexpected treat, a pair of Red Crossbills on the road, just before the Sand Lake Gate.
Most of us had to purchase day passes at the gate (first seniors rate for me!). We reconvened briefly at the Squirrel Rapids Bridge, and then proceeded to the Barron Canyon Trail, where we parked along the road.

We donned our snowshoes and split into two groups. Jeff took half the group clockwise around the trail, while we went counter-clockwise with the second group, led by Carolyn.

We stopped often to study tracks in the snow. Carolyn instructed us in the characteristics to look for and was able to discover tracks of Red Squirrel, Pine Martin, Ermine, Snowshoe Hare, Red Fox, Deer Mouse, Fisher and Moose. It was a chilly exercise, as we did not move around much.

Finally we joined the other half of the group at the canyon rim and enjoyed the magnificent view while munching on our lunch and sipping our hot soup. Carolyn tried howling to the wolves (she is a wolf expert), but there was no response.

After lunch we returned to the cars and drove a short way to the McManus Lake Road. We explored the black spruce swamp beside the road on snowshoes. There was ample sign of Black-backed Woodpeckers, but even with Jeff’s calling, we only saw a Hairy Woodpecker and a couple of singleton Chickadees. The only other birds seen were Common Ravens. Returning to the cars, Jeff pointed out some wolf tracks. With some daylight still left, Jeff led those interested back via Snake River Line to look for the Northern Hawk Owl. We did find it, rather far off, and a bonus Snowy Owl on the other side of the road. As I was the only one who had brought a scope, I suddenly became very popular!

Fletcher Wildlife Garden and Ottawa River & environs

February 3, 9:00 am


(text by Connie)
Birds Observed Wednesday, February 03, 2010 Ottawa and Gatineau - Fletcher Wildlife Gardens, Ottawa River, Miller St., Maple Grove (Gat.)
(Jane, Janet, Bill, Russell, Hedrik, Barb R., Peggy, Marc D'A., Lena, Connie)


Ottawa - Fletcher Wildlife Garden 1 American Crow2 American Goldfinch3 Black-capped Chickadee4 Dark-eyed Junco5 Downy Woodpecker6 Hairy Woodpecker7 House Finch8 Mallard (4 flying over)9 Mourning Dove10 Red-tailed Hawk Ottawa - Ottawa River around Tunney's Pasture and Remic Rapids 11 Barrow's Goldeneye12 Common Goldeneye13 European Starling Gatineau - Miller St. (Off Taché - near downtown Gatineau; feeders in back yard at park) *** American Goldfinch*** Black-capped Chickadee*** European Starling14 House Sparrow (Jane's name "Snow Sparrow")15 Rock Pigeon

Gatineau - Maple Grove Rd. and streets in vicinity (Off Aylmer Road, across from Golf Road) 16 American Black Duck17 Mallard18 White-breasted Nuthatch
Gatineau - Ottawa River East of Vanier Road 19 Canada Goose20 Hooded Merganser Ottawa - Cowley Ave (Barb Robertson's) 21 Northern Cardinal (f)

Total: Birds Observed =21 Birds Heard Only =0 Note: On Miller St. looking for Carolina Wren and White-throated Sparrow -- did not find. On Maple Grove Road looking for Red-shouldered Hawk - did not find.

Ottawa East - Frank Kenny and East to St. Isidore

Jan 27 2010

(text by Connie)
Here is the list of birds we had for today. We spent so long looking for the Snowy Owl, that my eyes were starting to get sore! Thanks to Janet for finally spotting one and encouraging us to look at the suspected form more closely. We saw both Red-tailed and Rough-legged Hawks today, but in all the driving around there were no snow buntings. Even feeders (with seed) seemed to be lacking in birds and there weren't even any House Sparrows at the Casselman Tim Hortons!

Still a good day for birding.

Connie

*************************************************************************

Birds Observed Wednesday, January 27, 2010 (Jane,Janet,Bill,Rick,Russell,Connie) Ottawa East - Frank Kenny and East to St. Isadore 1 American Crow 2 Black-capped Chickadee3 Blue Jay4 Common Raven5 Downy Woodpecker (at feeder)6 European Starlings (big flock over dump)7 Great Black-backed Gull8 Herring Gull9 Mourning Dove10 Northern Cardinal11 Northern Hawk Owl12 Red-tailed Hawk (more than one)13 Rock Pigeon14 Rough-legged Hawk (light morph)15 Snowy Owl (usual location - Concession 20 between Ste. Rose and County Rd. 8) Total: Birds Observed =15 Birds Heard Only =0 Note: Coyotes seen several places including Frank Kenny Road, St. Rose Road (St. Isadore)

OFO outing with Dave Britton

Jan 23, 8:00 am

(text by Dave Britton)

A group of about 25 birders met in Ottawa this morning for the annual OFO January winter field trip. It was a beautiful mid-winter morning - sunny and almost windless, if a bit cold first thing. While winter birding has been a bit slow in the Ottawa area this winter with a dearth of owls and finches, we had a very enjoyable morning and saw 29 species, including a number of the regional specialties. We began the trip along Maple Grove Road in Kanata, where we quickly found 3 GRAY PARTRIDGE coveyed up underneath the pines at the City of Ottawa public works yard. Heading south from there along Huntmar Drive, some of the group members spotted a NORTHERN SHRIKE. Our next stop was a storm water management pond off of Iber Road in the Goulbourn Industrial Mall, where the combination of a little bit of open water and a nearby backyard birdfeeder has concentrated ducks including 4 CANADA GEESE and a male WOOD DUCK (unusual in winter in Ottawa). We headed south through the agricultural lands between Ottawa and Richmond, adding a few SNOW BUNTINGS and a darkly-barred SNOWY OWL. Along Akins Road we also had another small group of GRAY PARTRIDGE running about between rows of corn stubble in the fields. At the frozen Moodie Drive quarry ponds we found a group of 100+ gulls loafing on the ice. The presence of a coyote on the ice nearby made the gulls skittish, but we still got great scope looks at the birds, which were unusually close to the gate. The group was composed mainly of GREAT BLACK-BACKED and HERRING, but there were a few adult and juvenile GLAUCOUS GULLS and at least 1 juvenile ICELAND GULL. A couple of RED-TAILED HAWKS were present in the area, as well as a single light phase ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK. We moved on to the Jack Pine Trail feeders where amongst the usual suspects we had good looks at an obliging BROWN CREEPER and a close encounter with an 8-point buck White-tailed Deer. At the Hilda Road feeders we added AMERICAN GOLDFINCH and AMERICAN TREE SPARROW. It was already noon, but a few of the group decided to continue on to Remic Rapids. Unfortunately, the Peregrine Falcon that I had seen perched on the nearby R.H. Coates building early that morning hadn't stuck around, but a male BARROW'S GOLDENEYE was quickly found amongs the COMMON GOLDENEYE off of the lookout and provided great views. I'd like to thank everyone who participated in this very enjoyable morning of birding!

David Britton, Ottawa

Complete Trip List: Canada Goose Wood Duck Mallard Common Goldeneye Barrow's Goldeneye Gray Partridge Red-tailed Hawk Rough-legged Hawk Herring Gull Iceland Gull Glaucous Gull Great Black-backed Gull Rock Pigeon Snowy Owl Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Northern Shrike Blue Jay American Crow Common Raven Black-capped Chickadee White-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper European Starling American Tree Sparrow Snow Bunting Northern Cardinal American Goldfinch House Sparrow