This morning I was joined by 18 birders for a pleasant morning of casual birding in the Ottawa area. The weather was very pleasant with mostly clear skies, no wind and temperatures around -8 degrees Celsius We began west of Ottawa, along Huntmar Rd. where, just north of Highway 417, we had a nice comparison of both light and dark morph ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS as well as a nearby RED-TAILED HAWK. A NORTHERN SHRIKE was in the same area. A little further north on Huntmar, between Richardson Sideroad and the Carp River Bridge, a flock of 200+ SNOW BUNTINGS in a field of corn stubble on the east side of the road also contained one LAPLAND LONGSPUR. Despite a fairly intensive search, we were unable to turn up the overwintering Red-shouldered Hawk at Huntmar and Old Carp. We headed back down March Valley Road, finding a couple more Red-tailed Hawks and a single Rough-legged. In the fields east of Herzberg Rd. south of Carling Avenue we managed to find a couple of small groups of WILD TURKEYS and had a flyover of approximately 38 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS. Moving on the feeders on Hilda Rd. near Shirley's Bay, we had several more groups of waxwings and the usual feeder birds, including a number of COMMON REDPOLLS. An AMERICAN ROBIN hanging around the feeders was the first one I've seen in Ottawa this month. After reprovisioning at Tim Hortons we headed to 7 Millbrook Crescent near Meadowlands and Merivale where we had the TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE in its usual juniper tree on the left side of the house. The bird was quite hunkered down close to the trunk eating berries and took a little bit of searching to find. After wrapping up the trip, Maris Apse and I made a quick run along the Ottawa River and had the female HARLEQUIN DUCK off Bate Island at the Champlain Bridge. Thanks to everyone who participated in a great morning of birding! For specific directions to any of the aforementioned sites, contact me directly. David Britton Ottawa_______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list ONTBIRDS@hwcn.org For instructions to join or leave ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdssetup.php ONTBIRDS Guidelines may be viewed at http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdsguide.php
