Ontario/Quebec Ottawa/Gatineau 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
Thursday January 21, 2010: this is Chris Lewis reporting. The recent spell of comfortable temperatures (if not exactly a "January thaw") has made for pleasant conditions for both birds and birders. A CANADA GOOSE and a male HOODED MERGANSER continue to linger on the Ottawa River below Deschenes in Quebec, and 5 Canada's and a male WOOD DUCK were still at a storm water pond along Iber Rd. in Kanata on the 15th. Up to 4 BARROW'S GOLDENEYE (2 males and 2 females) were among the large roost of COMMON GOLDENEYE at Remic rapids on the 16th; as in past winters, the Barrow's appear to be moving back and forth between the Ottawa and Rideau Rivers. About a half-dozen WILD TURKEYS have been regular along Rockcliffe Parkway near the Rockcliffe airport, and 3 GRAY PARTRIDGE were seen a couple of times in the past week near the Ottawa maintenance yard on Maple Grove Rd. in Kanata, most recently on the 19th. On the Quebec side, several observers noted a BALD EAGLE hanging out near the Deschenes rapids on the 16th and 17th; other individuals were spotted near Quyon and Alymer on the 18th, and the wintering RED-SHOULDERED HAWK was still present along Rue du Golf in Alymer as of the 17th. Again, there were extremely few sightings of ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS - on the 17th, one was seen near St. Albert, and 2 were found along Conc. #19 near Ste-Rose. A grey morph GYRFALCON continued to play hide-and-seek last week; sightings on the R.H. Coats building at Tunney's Pasture on the 15th and in the Carling / Kirkwood area on the 16th have been complicated by the presence of at least 2 adult PEREGRINE FALCONS which are haunting the same areas as well as the Carlington quarry and downtown Ottawa-Hull. Look at any large falcon carefully before assuming its a Gyr! In the Britannia area, a MERLIN was seen again on the 15th. Views of Remic rapids from Parc Brebeuf in Hull, Quebec revealed a good-sized gull roost on the 16th; among the predominantly GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULLS were a few HERRING GULLS, 4 ICELAND and 6 GLAUCOUS GULLS, as well as a 1st-winter THAYER'S GULL. A definite movement of NORTHERN SHRIKES into our area occurred over the past couple of weeks, with multiple sightings in both rural and suburban areas. Ten HORNED LARKS were attracted to the Trail Rd. landfill site on on the 16th. A CAROLINA WREN continues to be present in the vicinity of Millar Rd. and Parc Baker in Hull, Quebec and was quite vocal on the 19th, and a BROWN THRASHER was observed in the same general area on the 16th. Also in Quebec on the 16th, another BROWN THRASHER was reported from Aylmer, visiting a property along Perry Rd. Mild tempertures on the 15th also stimulated a bit of singing among a group of 24 AMERICAN ROBINS near the Ottawa Civic hospital. BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS are still around, with flocks ranging from 30 - 200 birds seen in various locations including Rockcliffe Park, the Nortel Woods and the Kinburn / Dunrobin area and March Rd. at Terry Fox Dr. last weekend. A couple of feeders in Ottawa and Gatineau continue to support WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS. Flocks of SNOW BUNTINGS were again a fairly common sight mainly in rural areas with one flock near Ste-Rose containing 2 LAPLAND LONGSPURS on the 17th, and EVENING GROSBEAKS have been irregularly visiting feeders near the Larose forest. 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 information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
