Hi there, In March, over a span of 7 days, birders have surveyed for raptors from Greenland Rd., roughly 800 meters west of Thomas Dolan. Constance Creek is in the valley below, sandwiched between two ridges: Carp Ridge to the SW and Dunrobin Ridge (Greenland Road) to the NE. As far as hawkwatching in Ottawa goes, this is the place to be. Results so far:
Black Vulture: 0 Turkey Vulture: 36 Osprey: 0 Bald Eagle: 19 Northern Harrier: 3 Sharp-shinned Hawk: 1 Cooper’s Hawk: 7 Northern Goshawk: 3 Red-shouldered Hawk: 5 Broad-winged Hawk: 0 Red-tailed Hawk: 10 Rough-legged Hawk: 8 Golden Eagle: 9 American Kestrel: 1 Merlin: 2 Peregrine Falcon: 0 Unknown Accipiter: 1 Unknown Buteo: 0 Unknown Falcon: 0 Unknown Eagle: 0 Unknown Raptor: 2 Some notes regarding the tally so far: Golden Eagle: Greenland Road has turned out to be a surprise hotspot for this species! We have tallied 9 birds so far this season and just today we set our high count: 4 birds. This is by far our highlight and provides a nice draw to the site. Given that some of the raptor species observed from the site are well within their breeding range, we have found it difficult to confidently discern migrants from local breeders; I personally have found that this rings especially true for Turkey Vulture, Red-shouldered Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk, Northern Goshawk, Northern Harrier and Bald Eagle. In any case, distant raptors provide visitors with identification challenges and opportunities for developing a specific birding skill set. I highly recommend visiting this site on days when southerlies are in the forecast. It seems that the bulk of our raptor observations occur between 11:30 AM – 3:30 PM; with the estimated bulk of our eagle observations averaging between 1:00 – 3:30 PM. For photos and more details, please click this link: http://eontbird.ca/?p=2156 Also, there is an eBird hotspot for the site, located here: http://ebird.org/ebird/canada/hotspot/L2697365/activity?yr=all&m= Good birding, Jon _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide
