- RBA * Ontario * Ottawa/Gatineau * 28 April 2008 * ONOT0804.28
- Birds mentioned SNOW GOOSE Canada Goose Horned Grebe Red-necked Grebe American Bittern Black-crowned Night-Heron Broad-winged Hawk Peregrine Falcon Common Moorhen Spotted Sandpiper Greater Yellowlegs Lesser Yellowlegs Pectoral Sandpiper Dunlin Wilson's Snipe Wilson's Phalarope Ring-billed Gull Black Tern Common Tern Blue-headed Vireo Warbling Vireo Northern Rough-winged Swallow Cliff Swallow Carolina Wren House Wren Veery Nashville Warbler Yellow Warbler Black-and-white Warbler Northern Waterthrush Eastern Towhee Grasshopper Sparrow White-throated Sparrow RUSTY BLACKBIRD RED CROSSBILL Evening Grosbeak - Transcript hotline: Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club date: 28 April 2008 Number: 613-860-9000 For the status line PRESS * (star) To report bird sightings, PRESS 1 (one) Rare bird alerts are now included in the introductory message 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 @ 9:00 am, MONDAY APRIL 28, 2008 This is Chris Lewis reporting. Gorgeous but rather static weather this past week with light winds generally from the north prevented any significant migration events this week. However new birds continue to arrive almost every day with some on the early side, and most back right on time. The large flocks of Snow Geese in the Riceville area seem to have taken their show on the road and have moved closer to Ottawa. On the morning of the 27th, approx. 14,000 were seen in Cobb's Lake area east of Bourget. No new waterfowl were reported this week, and a visit to the marshes along the Quebec side of the Ottawa River near Masson & Thurso on the 27th revealed that there is a lot of flooding and very little access to some of the viewing sites. Many Canada Geese, 2 Greater Snow Geese and 15 species of ducks were present, along with a couple of American Bitterns, Common Moorhen, both Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, several displaying Wilson's Snipe, and the first sighting of a Black Tern. At least 10 Horned and 12 Red-necked Grebes were seen on the Ottawa River at Shirley's Bay on the 26th and 27th, and the first reports of Black-crowned Night-Heron and Spotted Sandpiper came from the Bruce Pit on Cedarview Rd. on the 22nd. Black-crowned Night-Herons were subsequently seen at Britannia as well as among the Ring-billed Gull colony in the Deschenes rapids. Broad-winged Hawks were noted in near Mayo and Ramsay Lake (Quebec) as well as in the Larose forest this past week - these are most likely local breeding birds. The resident downtown Ottawa pair of Peregrine Falcons evidently experienced a nest failure, but both are still frequenting the Crowne Plaza Hotel and may try again. Shorebirds at the St. Albert sewage lagoons on the 27th included both species of Yellowlegs as well as one each of Pectoral Sandpiper, Dunlin and Wilson's Phalarope. The first report of a Common Tern came from Shirley's Bay on the 26th. Northern Rough-winged and Cliff Swallows are back in small numbers in expected locations along the Ottawa River as of the 25th. A Carolina Wren was very vocal again in the Britannia Conservation Area on the 23rd. The first report of House Wren came in on the 24th, and other new songbirds reported from various locations this week included Warbling Vireo, Blue-headed Vireo, Veery, as well as Nashville, Yellow, Black-and-white Warblers and Northern Waterthrush. Eastern Towhees are back on territory in the Carp hills along the Thomas Dolan Parkway, and aside from a small influx of White-throated Sparrows since the 24th, most of our common sparrow species are now back in their typical breeding habitats including an ambitiously early Grasshopper Sparrow at Leitrim and Bowesville Rds. south of the international airport on the 26th. RUSTY BLACKBIRDS are still moving through, with flocks of up to 40 birds seen in the Luskville (Quebec) area and the Larose forest on the 27th. A surprising number of 60 RED CROSSBILLS was found in the Larose forest the same day. Small numbers of Evening Grosbeaks were seen in the Larose forest, and at Bradley Rd. at the base of the Gatineau Hills on the 27th as well. 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/information/ontbirdssetup.php ONTBIRDS Guidelines may be viewed at http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdsguide.php
