Hello Ont. Birders,
Hope you are enjoying the mild conditions in Ontario. It certainly has
shifted the number and species we normally observe in Jan. With the Ottawa
River still wide open, except for some shoreline ice in protected bays, I
observed a good variety of water birds, that are usually absent/or in low
numbers, during this time of year. Today, between the Champlain Bridge and
Shirley's Bay, I observed 5 Lesser Scaup, 1 Greater Scaup, 3 Ring-necked
Duck, 1 Bufflehead and 1 male Wood Duck. Yesterday, in the same area and in
addition to the above, I observed 1 Long-tailed Duck, 2 Red-breasted
Mergansers and an immature Double-crested Cormorant. Also, 2 adult Bald
Eagles were found at Shirley's Bay.
With the continuing mild conditions, today, I did a roost count of gulls
off Andrew Haydon Park from 3:00-4:45 p.m. I was amazed at the number of
gulls coming into the river to roost for the evening. In total, 7 species
were observed including Herring Gull (7,000+), Great Black-backed Gull
(1650+), Ring-billed Gull (175+), Glaucous Gull (27), Iceland Gull (11),
Lesser Black-backed Gull (2 adults) and 1 first winter Thayer's Gull. These
numbers are unprecedented in January. At South March, near the corner of
March Rd. & Klondike Rd (just east along Klondike), a Great Blue Heron was
feeding in the creek. It has been present since Dec. 30th. The White-crowned
Sparrow was still present at the Hilda Road feeders this afternoon. A quick
check along Kerwin Rd. today, produced 0 three-toed woodpeckers but a few
male White-winged Crossbills were displaying.
If you require additional information, please email me privately.
Happy New Year & Great Birding,
Bruce
Bruce Di Labio
400 Donald B. Munro Drive
P.O.Box 538
Carp,Ontario,K0A 1L0
(613)839-4395 Home (613)715-2571 Cell
Di Labio Birding Website
Courses and Field Trips
http://www3.sympatico.ca/bruce.dilabio/
