Hello Ontbirders After almost a month in Australia, I'm finally birding local areas. Today had a few spare hours and birded number of locations. Along Greenbank Road near Hunt Club Road I observed 3 adult Ross's Geese feeding in a field along with 11 Snow Geese and 100's of Canada Geese at around 11:00 am. My next stop was the Ottawa River where, along with Tom Hanrahan, we observed a flock of 120+ Red-throated Loons in flight to the west. I checked Dick Bell Park and Shirley's Bay and observed another 2 additional flocks, 27 and 12 along with a few individuals swimming. The largest group (120+) had disappeared to the south over land at Dick Bell Park earlier. Since the early 80's I've observed a number of Red-throated Loons flights in Ottawa, most flocks between November 8 to November 14/1983-1995, with the largest on November 12, 1984 - 2000+ birds. Today is the latest date for a flight, the previous late high for Red-throated Loons was 33, on November 14, 1995. Good Birding, Bruce
Directions: Britannia Pier and Dick Bell Park: Both areas are accessible from Carling Ave. west of Carling and Richmond Rd. intersection. Directions: Shirley's Bay: From Ottawa take Hwy. 417 west to the Moodie Drive exit and turn north (right) on Moodie Drive and continue to Carling Ave. Turn left at Carling Ave. and follow Carling to Rifle Road. Turn right (north) on Rifle Rd. Park at the lot at the end (boat launch). Walk back to the road, and continue through the gate on the Department of National Defense property. There is a trail on your right (clearly marked with vehicle "No Entry" signs) which heads into the woods, and, eventually to the dyke. There is lots of POISON IVY along the dyke. **** PLEASE NOTE**** YOU MUST OBTAIN PERMISSION FROM THE RANGE CONTROL OFFICE BEFORE ENTERING THE DYKE AREA-- Call (613) 991-5740 and request permission to visit the dyke area for birding. Di Labio Birding Website Courses and Field Trips http://www.dilabiobirding.ca http://www.brucedilabio.blogspot.com Bruce Di Labio 400 Donald B. Munro Drive P.O. Box 538 Carp, Ontario K0A 1L0 Office 613-839-4395 Mobile 613-715-2571 _______________________________________________ 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/