Hello Ontbirders Spent a couple of hours birding along the Ottawa and Rideau Rivers today. The Ottawa River is still wide open except for some shoreline ice and sheltered bays frozen. The Rideau River was mostly open but a few stretches of calm water were frozen. There were still 2 male Barrow's Goldeneye near the Rideau Tennis Club north of Hwy. 417 but most interesting was a molting male Northern Shoveler in a flock of Mallards. Along the Ottawa River I observed a female Barrow's Goldeneye below Deschenes Rapids. Other waterfowl of note included 1 Wood Duck, 3 Ring-necked Duck, 2 Lesser Scaup, 1 Long-tailed Duck, all 3 mergansers and 1 Bufflehead. Along Carling Ave. I observed a flock of 220+ Bohemian Waxwing near the corner of Moodie Drive, a flock of 40+ at March Road and Shirley's Brook and 30+ in Carp at Donald B. Munro and Salisbury Road. Still a few thousand gulls hanging around including 11 Iceland,6 Glaucous, 1 Lesser Black-backed and 200+ Ring-billed Gull. With very cold temperatures on the way, I sure most will be heading south. Good birding, Bruce
Directions: From Ottawa take 417 east to the Vanier Parkway and exit north. Follow parkway to Donald Street and turn left (west) and continue to Rideau Tennis Club/Rideau River. If you require additional information, please email me privately. 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/
