Hello Ontbirders,
Today 13 of us went on an OFO trip primarily focused
on the flooded fields east of Ottawa. We hit it right
for water levels with all areas at or near maximum
flood. However, there were still areas of ice in some
ponds and lots of snow still in the fields so the peak
of waterfowl migration is still a couple of days away.
Petrie Island (the meeting point) was still locked in
ice and the only highlights there were Yellow-bellied
Sapsucker, Tree Swallow and Eastern Phoebe. We saw
more of all of these species later in the day. Milton
Road and Frank Kenny Road both had lots of water and
moderate numbers of waterfowl. We had our only
Green-winged Teal for the day here. The bulk of the
ducks that we saw today were along Milton Road. A
singing Vesper Sparrow on Milton Road was a year bird
for all people in the group. Three Snow Geese were the
first of the day and the only Snow Geese that most of
the group saw.
We then headed to Larose Forest for lunch. There was
still over 2 feet of snow in the forest so it was very
quiet. American Woodcock and Evening Grosbeaks were
the only birds of note here. After Larose, we headed
east to Cobbs Creek. There were hundreds of Canada
Geese around but not too much else. Highlights were 1
Cackling Goose, 90 Snow Buntings and 1 Lapland
Longspur. Some of the Snow Buntings and the Longspur
were moulting into alternate plumage.
We decided to head further east to see if there was
much in the Alfred area. The Lagoons were still frozen
and it was getting late so most of the group decided
to head back to Ottawa at this point. The three of us
who continued on found two large groups of Snow Geese
along the South Nation River. The river is in high
flood and has formed an impressive lake over 2 km
across in spots. Many of the north south roads are
entirely blocked by the flooding. Over 5000 Snow Geese
were just south of Fournier in the flooded fields.
Another 4200 were in the flooded area about 2 km west
of Fournier.
A list of the 59 species birds observed today is
included below. If you need specific directions for a
particular species, please e-mail me privately.
Snow Goose 9200
Cackling Goose 1
Canada Goose 10000
Wood Duck 6
Gadwall 3
American Wigeon 4
American Black Duck 30
Mallard 100
Northern Pintail 280
Green-winged Teal 12
Ring-necked Duck 35
Bufflehead 4
Common Goldeneye 16
Hooded Merganser 5
Wild Turkey 12
Great Blue Heron 2
Turkey Vulture 12
Northern Harrier 18
Sharp-shinned Hawk 2
Red-tailed Hawk 2
Rough-legged Hawk 8
American Kestrel 5
Killdeer 10
Ring-billed Gull 30
Herring Gull 1
Great Black-backed Gull 1
Rock Pigeon 15
Mourning Dove 12
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 2
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 2
Eastern Phoebe 12
Blue Jay 5
American Crow 40
Common Raven 5
Horned Lark 20
Tree Swallow 7
Black-capped Chickadee 2
Brown Creeper 1
Eastern Bluebird 2
American Robin 70
European Starling 120
American Tree Sparrow 2
Vesper Sparrow 1
Savannah Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 40
Dark-eyed Junco 2
Lapland Longspur 1
Snow Bunting 90
Northern Cardinal 2
Red-winged Blackbird 400
Eastern Meadowlark 2
Common Grackle 300
Brown-headed Cowbird 80
House Finch 1
Common Redpoll 4
American Goldfinch 4
Evening Grosbeak 3
House Sparrow 3
Good birding,
Jeff
Jeff Skevington, Research Scientist
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
K.W. Neatby Building, C.E.F., 960 Carling Ave.
Ottawa, ON, K1A 0C6, Canada
Work Phone: 613-759-1647, FAX: 613-759-1927
Home Phone: 613-832-1970
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
alternate e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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