Good evening. I spent a good part of the day, to-day Nov. 24, at Shirleys Bay, West of Ottawa.
Upon arrival, at about 11:45, from the parking lot at the end of Rifle Road, things looked quiet. Shortly after, though, things picked up. A group of nice birders arrived, and we all started to check a flock of ducks that were near the dike. Among Common Goldeneyes and Lesser Scaups we found 4 White-winged Scoters and one male Redhead. We also found a Common Loon, a Horned Grebe and 2 Gadwalls, in front of the boat launch. I spent most of the afternoon on the dike (with permission). There were lots of waterfowl in the bay, West of the dike; although identification was very difficult at this time of the day (the position of the sun would be better in the morning), I could identify the following, among other common waterfowl: - a male Redhead (most likely the same bird that we saw earlier on the East side of the dike) - 20+ Ring-neckned Ducks - one gallinule, seen far away along the weeds, presumably a Common Moorhen, but I cannot be sure, since I could not see the white line on the side of the body; the body looked very dark, the white patch on the tail was quite visible, and the characteristic back and forth movement of the head was easily discernible - 12-15 American Coots, some on a Muskrat mount, others around, feeding? or playing?; seen from the dike, passed the first island - one Red-necked Grebe, seen near Innis Point from the dike - 2 Red-breasted Mergansers East of the dike - one Wood Duck, between the two islands. Hope these birds will stay around until the early days of December for the benefit and pleasure of winters listers. It was already sunset when I returned. The scenery from the dike was just beautiful. Directions courtesy of NeilyWorld website: >From Highway 417 (The Queensway) take exit 134 (Moodie Drive). If traveling west, the 0.4 km offramp dumps you right or north onto Moodie. If driving east, a 0.3 km offramp brings you to Moodie Drive, where you will turn left or north onto it and in 0.5 km join the westbound offramp traffic. Both groups will now follow Moodie Drive north 1.3 km from here to Carling Avenue. Turn left or northwest on Carling and go 2.2 km to Rifle (Range) Road. Turn right or north onto Rifle Road. Don't forget that permission is required from National Defense to go on the dike. The number to call is 613-991-5740. Good birding! Langis Sirois, Ottawa From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fri Nov 24 21:11:45 2006 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from BAYC1-PASMTP06.bayc1.hotmail.com (bayc1-pasmtp06.bayc1.hotmail.com [65.54.191.166]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5669F63973 for <[email protected]>; Fri, 24 Nov 2006 21:11:44 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> X-Originating-IP: [64.229.25.159] X-Originating-Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Received: from VALUED7B9600FA ([64.229.25.159]) by BAYC1-PASMTP06.bayc1.hotmail.com over TLS secured channel with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.1830); Fri, 24 Nov 2006 18:15:13 -0800 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "Norman Murr" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "ONTBIRDS" <[email protected]> Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2006 21:11:36 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2869 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2962 X-OriginalArrivalTime: 25 Nov 2006 02:15:14.0187 (UTC) FILETIME=[8AD5EDB0:01C71037] Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.1 Subject: [Ontbirds] Razorbill at Niagara-on-the Lake and Barrow's Goldeneye at Stoney Creek X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2006 02:11:45 -0000 Good evening folks. Sorry about the late posting but I did not want to sit on these reports. = :-)) To add to the morning Razorbill sightings at 11:00am and 4:00pm we ( = Ian Cannell and Jay Peterson and I )also saw it at 1:15pm, 2:00pm, = 3:00pm and 3:20pm. Just to let you all know that it can be seen at = almost any time with a little luck. Just hang in there and keep looking. The Barrow's Goldeneye was well seen at about 9:00am off the end of = Gray Road in Stoney Creek. We were lucky as it was pointed out to us = only about 200 yards out on the edge of several hundred Common = Goldeneye. On the way home we kind of strayed off the QEW into the Nelle's Corners = areas (east of Hagersville and south of Stoney Creek) and added 4 = Short-eared Owls and 3 Eastern Screech Owls and a couple of stops but we = arrived in these areas kind of late so our Owl count was way low. Directions: If the bird is not off Gray Rd then check the lake off = Sayer's Park and Green Rd. GRAY ROAD, LAWRENCE SAYER=92S PARK & GREEN ROAD IN STONEY CREEK >From the Toronto direction exit the QEW highway at Centennial Parkway on = the south end of the Burlington Skyway. Drive under the QEW and drive a = short distance to the North Service Road, turn right and drive along the = Service Road to Drake Drive (just past the Gray Road overpass). Turn = left on Drake and drive the short distance to Frances Avenue and turn = left, drive to Gray Road and turn right and drive to the lake. Alternately you can turn right at Frances Avenue and drive to Green = Road, turn left at Green Road and drive to the lake. For Lawrence Sayer=92s Park you can turn right off Gray Road just before = you get to the lake and drive to the park (obey the no parking signs = here as others have received a ticket). Or you can drive straight down = Drake to the park from the Service Road. Niagara-on-the Lake Razorbill Here are directions as posted thanks to Chris Escott and Kayo Roy. From the golf course clubhouse (at the south end of the golf course,=20 nearest the parkette) drive north beside the first fairway until the=20 road turns left, and park there. Look for the signboard and gravel path=20 leading to Fort Mississauga (the red brick boxy structure at the far=20 side of the golf course, where the river enters the lake). Before=20 reaching the fort, walk over the grass to the right, behind the putting=20 green for the first hole, and look for a gravel ramp down the wooded=20 slope to the walking trail at the water's edge. Half way along this=20 trail (about 50 m) is a wide gap in the trees where you get a great view = of the green buoy (if you get to the pink wing-backed chair another 50 m = further on, you've gone too far!). We were seeing the bird almost = straight out from the viewing area to the are just to the left of the = fort over on the USA side. Norm Murr Richmond Hill, ON --------------------------------------------------------------------- "Eliminate annoying spam! My mailbox is protected by iHateSpam, the #1-rated spam buster." http://www.ihatespam.net
