Hi Everyone Lots of activity in the area, both winter birds and a few spring migrants. Today birded various areas around Ottawa and noted a few Red-winged Blackbirds back on territory at Britannia along with a few Common Grackle and American Robin in the area. Near the corner of Barnsdale Road and Moodie Drive we observed a large flock of gulls resting in a cornfield, 300+ Herring, 150+ Great Black-backed, 11 Glaucous and 4 Iceland Gulls. The birds flushed and were later observed at the Moodie Drive ponds and the landfill site. A few Canada Geese were also noted. A flock of 100+ Bohemian Waxwings were observed along Grandview Road while 150+ were seen on Thomas Dolan Parkway. The Hilda Road feeders were active with 100+ Common redpoll, including 2 Greater Common Redpoll "rostrata subspecies", and 2 Hoary Redpoll. Snowy Owls appear to be on the move north, I observed 5 individuals in the Ottawa area. Also, 2 Northern Shrike were present along Carp Road near Carp. Yesterday there was a Merlin in our backyard chasing siskins.
Good birding, Bruce Directions: Directions: From Ottawa take Hwy 417 west to Hwy 416. South on the 416 to exit 66 (Fallowfield Rd.) Right (west) on Fallowfield to Moodie Dr. Left (south) on Moodie, go past Trail Rd. on your left and Cambrian Rd. on your right until you come to a very large sand & gravel operation on the left (east) side of the road. ***PLEASE NOTE*** - do NOT cross the gate to the sand & gravel operation. This is private property, and most of the birds can be well-viewed from the road. The landfill site is located on Trail Road. There is no access but the gulls can be viewed from Trail Road just south of the main entrance. Di Labio Birding Website Courses and Field Trips http://www.dilabiobirding.ca 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/