Ontario/Quebec Ottawa/Gatineau 29 October 2009 Hotline: Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club Phone number: 613-860-9000 For the Bird Status Line PRESS * (star) To report bird sightings PRESS 1 (one) Rare bird alerts are now included in the introductory message Coverage: Ottawa/Gatineau (Canada National Capital Region) E. Ontario, W. Quebec Compiler & transcriber: Chris Lewis [email protected]
At 8:30 am, Thursday October 29, 2009 this is Chris Lewis reporting. Among the reports from the past week were a couple of firsts for the season: a male BARROW'S GOLDENEYE arrived at a traditional wintering location on the Ottawa River at Remic rapids on the 24th, and a RED-THROATED LOON was seen on the river off Andrew Haydon Park on the 23rd and 24th. Approx. 2,000 SNOW GEESE have been in the area of St-Isidore near Hwy 417 for about a week, and smaller flocks were noted along Milton Rd. southwest of Navan as well as at the Moodie Dr. quarry pond. Up to 9 CACKLING GEESE were on the sandy spit at the east end of Andrew Haydon Park on the 20th. On the 23rd and 24th several hundred mostly BLACK SCOTERS were spotted on the Ottawa River from Britannia Bay to Shirley's Bay, and numbers of other duck species have varied from day to day on the river and elsewhere, along with a smattering of COMMON LOONS and both HORNED and RED-NECKED GREBES. A thorough count of the SANDHILL CRANES on the 25th near Navan confirmed that there were 86 in the fields along Trim Rd. between Navan and McFadden Rd. - this is a record high number for the Ottawa area. The only recent shorebird reports were of 2 GREATER and 1 LESSER YELLOWLEGS at the stormwater pond on Eagleson Rd. south of Fernbank Rd. on the 25th. A few "white-winged" gulls have begun to arrive - single ICELAND and GLAUCOUS GULLS were noted in the vicinity of the Trail Rd. landfill since the 20th along with 16 mostly adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS, and a Lesser Black-backed and Glaucous Gull were also seen at Andrew Haydon Park on the 24th. On the 25th, 2 BALD EAGLES, several RED-TAILED HAWKS and a juvenile GOLDEN EAGLE flew over the Moodie Dr. quarry ponds. A few NORTHERN SHRIKES have begun to appear, most recently one was seen at Barnsdale and Cedarview Rds on the 21st. AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS have become more numerous, and lots of FOX SPARROWS were again widely reported. LAPLAND LONGSPURS continue to move through - 15 flew by the Shirley's Bay boat launch on the 25th. SNOW BUNTINGS were reported from widespread locations, and EVENING GROSBEAKS are back in Poland (west of Lanark) as of the 26th; 18 were counted at the same feeders that hosted large numbers last winter. A couple of Evening Grosbeaks were also noted on the Quebec side. Thank you - Good Birding! _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
