- RBA * Ontario * Ottawa/Gatineau * 24 April 2005 * ONOT0504.24
- Birds mentioned Common Loon Red-necked Grebe Double-crested Cormorant American Bittern Great Blue Heron SNOWY EGRET Green-backed Heron Tundra Swan Northern Shelduck Snow Goose EURASIAN WIGEON American Wigeon Common Merganser Red-breasted Merganser Wild Turkey Greater Yellowlegs Lesser Yellowlegs Northern Saw-whet Owl Purple Martin Tree Swallow Northern Rough-winged Swallow Barn Swallow Brown Thrasher Yellow-rumped Warbler Pine Warbler Chipping Sparrow Field Sparrow White-throated Sparrow - Transcript hotline: Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club date: 24 April 2005 number: 613-860-9000 for the status line : press 2 for rare bird alerts: press 1 to report a sighting: press # coverage: Ottawa/Gatineau (Can. Nat. Capital Reg.), E.Ont., W.Que. compiler : Chris Lewis [EMAIL PROTECTED] transcriber: Chris Lewis [EMAIL PROTECTED] internet : Gordon Pringle [EMAIL PROTECTED] OFNC BIRD STATUS LINE - APR 24 2005 AT 7:00 PM This is Chris Lewis reporting. The highlight of the week was a SNOWY EGRET in breeding plumage at the south end of Dow's Lake below the National Arboretum, discovered on Tues. April 19th and still actively fishing here on the 24th. Evidently the annual filling of the Rideau Canal will begin tomorrow the 25th, so it may become more difficult to see this bird. Other birds on Dow's Lake this past week included up to 20 Double-crested Cormorants, Great Blue Heron, American Wigeon and several pairs of Common Mergansers. A female Red-breasted Merganser has been here from the 19th through the 24th. An adult Tundra Swan at the Embrun sewage lagoons and a male EURASIAN WIGEON at Petit Baie Clement west of Masson, Quebec were still present until at least the 18th, and an American Bittern was in the Marais aux Grenouillettes a bit father west of Baie Clement the same day. An American Bittern and an early Green Heron were at the Richmond Conservation area on Eagleson Rd. south of Richmond Rd. on the 22nd. A Common Loon and 2 Red-necked Grebes were at Shirley's Bay on the 18th with a good variety of common ducks. Between 1500 - 2000 Snow Geese including many blue morph birds flew over the Embrun lagoons on the 18th and a flock of approx. 300 Snow Geese were in the fields near Marvelville southeast of Ottawa on the 20th. A Northern Shelduck, no doubt an escaped bird from a local waterfowl collection, was at the Embrun lagoons on the 24th. Two Wild Turkeys were at the Skeet Club on March Valley Rd. on the 22nd. On the 18th and 24th 1 Greater and 5 Lesser Yellowlegs were at the Embrun lagoons. Going back to the 14th, a Northern Saw-whet Owl was in the conifers near the bird feeder on the south side of the Fletcher Wildlife Garden. A change in the weather to cooler temperatures and strong winds from the north and northeast has no doubt stalled many passerine migrants. The first Purple Martin report came from Dick Bell Park on the 22nd, and many Tree and Barn Swallows and a few Northern Rough-winged Swallows were feeding over Mud Lake in Britannia on the 23rd. A Brown Thrasher along with the 1st reported local Field Sparrows were noted in Russell east of Ottawa on the 14th. Chipping and White-throated Sparrows are now widespread and the only warblers reported so far have been Yellow-rumped and Pine Warblers - singles of each species were found in various locations since last weekend. Thank you - Good Birding! - End transcript
