Ontario Ottawa/Gatineau 15 December 2008 Birds mentioned:
Wood Duck Long-tailed Duck Bufflehead Barrow's Goldeneye Common X Barrow's Goldeneye Hooded Merganser Gray Partridge Wild Turkey Bald Eagle Red-shouldered Hawk Gyrfalcon 8 spp. owls Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Northern Flicker Pileated Woodpecker Northern Shrike American Crow Common Raven Tufted Titmouse Hermit Thrush Northern Mockingbird Bohemian Waxwing Yellow-rumped Warbler Dark-eyed Junco Northern Cardinal Pine Grosbeak Purple Finch Red Crossbill White-winged Crossbill Common Redpoll Pine Siskin Evening Grosbeak Hotline: Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club Phone number: 613-860-9000 For the Bird Status Line PRESS * (star) To report bird sightings PRESS 1 (one) Rare bird alerts are now included in the introductory message Coverage: Ottawa/Gatineau (Canada National Capital Region) E. Ontario, W. Quebec Compiler & transcriber: Chris Lewis hagen...@primus.ca At 5:00 pm, Monday December 15, 2008 this is Chris Lewis reporting. A week of rollercoaster weather and interesting bird reports led up to the Ottawa-Gatineau Christmas Bird Count on December 14th. A preliminary total of 71 species was tallied as well as several record high numbers including Wild Turkey, Bald Eagle, Pileated Woodpecker, Common Raven, Dark-eyed Junco, Northern Cardinal and White-winged Crossbill. Over 34,000 American Crows, most of them in the huge evening roost in the Alta Vista area, nearly tripled the previous CBC record. Ten species of waterfowl included a few lingerers such as Wood Duck, Long-tailed Duck, Bufflehead and Hooded Merganser. Four Barrow's Goldneyes - 2 males and 2 females - were observed, and a male Common X Barrow's hybrid seen on the Rideau River near the Hurdman bridge on the 14th and 15th was not found on the count but may have been elsewhere or out of view at the time. A grey morph Gyrfalcon flying west over the Deschenes rapids and 2 Red-shouldered Hawks were among the raptor highlights, as were 6 species of owls. Late lingerers included Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Northern Flicker and Hermit Thrush. Ten Northern Shrikes and 685 Bohemian Waxwings were good numbers, although "winter finch" counts produced very mixed results. Aside from 81 Red Crossbills, found mainly on the Quebec side, and a record high of 464 White-winged Crossbills, other species such as Pine Grosbeak, Purple Finch, and Common Redpoll were hard to come by, only 3 Pine Siskins were recorded, and Evening Grosbeaks were evidently nowhere to be found. The results will be finalized in the New Year and posted on the OFNC web site at www.ofnc.ca Another local event, the Dunrobin-Breckenridge CBC is coming up on January 3, 2009. Contact information is on the "Coming Events" page of the web site. During the week before the count, noteworthy sightings included a couple of small coveys of Gray Partridge along Concession 20 near Ste-Rose, 2 Great Gray Owls in the Almonte/Carleton Place area on the 10th and 11th, a couple of Short-eared Owls south of the international airport on the 8th and another chased off by crows in Barrhaven on the 12th. A Tufted Titmouse has been sporadically visiting a backyard bird feeder in Russell since late November and was most recently reported on the 7th; the feeder is not visible from the road and the owner does not wish the property to be entered. A Northern Mockingbird first reported on Grandview Rd. on the 6th was still present on the 13th, a Yellow-rumped Warbler reported on the 10th has been coming to a feeder in Carp since late November as well, and an "Oregon" Junco was a nice find in the Hull, Quebec, sector on the Christmas Count. Thank you - Good Birding! _______________________________________________ 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
