The waterfowl spectacle east of Ottawa seems to be nearing its end, with much less land flooded than last week, both in the Milton Road area and the Cobb Lake/Creek area. No *Snow Geese* were present today along Milton Road, but there were 200 along Frank Kenny Road 3 km north of Russell Road, a flock of 100 flying over Dunning at Russell Roads, and another 500 about 3 km sw of Pendleton. The Lalonde Rd. bridge over Cobbs Lake had several dozen *Northern Pintails* calling, one pair of *American Wigeons* and my first *Northern Shovelers* of the year (1 pair).
In summary, the *Snow Geese* seem to have arrived east of Ottawa between April 4 and April 7, seemed to peak at perhaps 100,000 individuals on April 14 and are mostly gone by April 20. When they arrived, there was some open water in the fields but still considerable areas of ice and snow, whereas by April 20 all the ice and snow has gone from the fields, as well as most of the water. This year the entire spectacle lasted about two weeks. This includes results posted on OntBird and on eBird. Perhaps one of the local pros can indicate whether these numbers east of Ottawa represent a record for this expanding species that is wreaking havoc on its Arctic breeding grounds, turning them into mud. The pond/lake on the south side of Giroux Road was half covered with ice and had 35 *Common Mergansers*. Mud Lake, Britannia, had *Pine and Yellow-rumped Warblers, a Hermit Thrush*and *Fox Sparrows*. -- *www.babina.ca* Robert Alvo Author: "Being a Bird in North America" (2013) Tel.: 613-236-0660 219-140 Mann Ave. Ottawa Ontario K1N 1E5 Canada [email protected] _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
