- RBA * Ontario * Ottawa/Gatineau * 08 October 2007 * ONOT0710.08
- Birds mentioned GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE ROSS'S GOOSE Brant Cackling Goose Canada Goose Redhead Lesser Scaup Surf Scoter White-winged Scoter Black Scoter Long-tailed Duck Wild Turkey Red-throated Loon Merlin Peregrine Falcon Sandhill Crane Black-bellied Plover American Golden-Plover Semipalmated Plover Greater Yellowlegs Lesser Yellowlegs Sanderling Pectoral Sandpiper Dunlin Long-billed Dowitcher Bonaparte's Gull Lesser Black-backed Gull Winter Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Eastern Bluebird American Pipit Orange-crowned Warbler Palm Warbler NELSON'S SHARP-TAILED SPARROW Fox Sparrow White-throated Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow - Transcript hotline: Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club date: 08 October 2007 number: 613-860-9000 for the status line : press 2 for rare bird alerts: press 1 to report a sighting: press # coverage: Ottawa/Gatineau (Can. Nat. Capital Reg.), E.Ont., W.Que. compiler & transcriber: Chris Lewis [EMAIL PROTECTED] internet: Gordon Pringle [EMAIL PROTECTED] THE OFNC BIRD STATUS LINE @ 7:00 pm, Monday Oct. 8, 2007 This is Chris Lewis reporting. Our amazing summer-like weather ended abruptly with rain, thunderstorms and a major cool-down for the Thanksgiving weekend. Waterfowl gathering season is now fully upon us, with huge flocks of Canada Geese congregating just about everywhere that there is free food & open water. Among them were a GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE at the large quarry pond on Moodie Dr. south of Trail Rd. on the 2nd, and a juvenile ROSS'S GOOSE - 1st discovered at the Bruce Pit on Cedarview Rd. on the 1st, subsequently seen at the Moodie Dr. pond, and most recently at the Richmond lagoons off Eagleson Rd. until at least the 5th. A Cackling Goose was in a field along Eagleson Rd. south of Rushmore Rd. on the 2nd. The Moodie Dr. pond this week also hosted a single Brant . Seven Redhead and a large raft of mostly Lesser Scaup were seen at Shirley's Bay on the 7th. Also on the morning of the 7th, another movement of sea-ducks was observed on the Ottawa River with 12 male Surf, 62 male White-winged and 17 male Black Scoters making an appearance off Dick Bell Park, along with 4 Long-tailed Ducks. Single Red-throated Loons were seen on the Ottawa River at Constance Bay on the 1st and Dick Bell on the 7th. On the morning of the 5th two Sandhill Cranes flew over Carling Avenue near Rifle Rd. and a dozen were in the cornfields on the west side of Milton Rd. northeast of Carlsbad Springs on the 7th. Two Peregrine Falcons were seen heading south over Andrew Haydon on the morning of the 6th, and both a Peregrine and a Merlin were hunting shorebirds on the mud flats at this location on the 7th - among their targets were several Black-bellied Plovers, 2 American Golden Plovers, a Semipalmated Plover, and a mixed flock of mainly Dunlin, with a few Sanderlings and Pectoral Sandpipers. Small numbers of Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs are still around in various locations, a single juvenile Long-billed Dowitcher was at the Moodie Dr. pond until at least the 2nd and another (perhaps the same bird) on the west side of the Shirley's Bay causeway on the 4th and 5th. Nine Bonaparte's Gulls were feeding below the Deschenes rapids on the 8th, and a probable record high number for Ottawa of 27 Lesser Black-backed Gulls were counted at the Moodie Dr. pond and surrounding area on the 2nd. Noteworthy passerines included Eastern Bluebirds along Earl Armstrong south of the International Airport, single Orange-crowned Warblers and Palm Warblers along the Ottawa River since the 1st, an eastern or "yellow" race Palm Warbler at Shirley's Bay near the boat launch on the 4th and 5th, the 1st seasonal reports of Fox Sparrow from the 1st onward, and a Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow in the vegetation along the mud flats at the east end of Andrew Haydon on both the 1st and 2nd. Winter Wrens, Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, as well as numerous American Pipits, White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows continue to move through. And finally, a large flock of Wild Turkeys stopped traffic along Franktown Rd. south of Richmond in the early part of last week - a protest march against Thanksgiving dinner? Or just another bunch of turkeys running for the upcoming provincial election...? Thank you - Good Birding! - End transcript _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For instructions to join or leave ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/ontbirdshow.htm ONTBIRDS Guidelines may be viewed at http://www.ofo.ca/ontbirdsguide.htm
