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
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ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial
birding organization.
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