Twenty-seven people attended a half day trip to explore three areas of the Lac Deschênes IBA in Ottawa. (Lac Deschênes is essentially a widening of Ottawa River.)
Our first stop was the “Nortel” marshes which we accessed by walking 500 m west along the Trans Canada trail/bike path that starts at Corkstown Road just west Moodie Drive (the entrance into the marshes is on the north side of the path). Here we hoped to find Willow Flycatcher, Marsh Wren, rails, and possibly Least Bittern. No luck with rails or Least Bittern but one of our scouts, Kim Zbitnew, discovered three Sedge Wrens in the wet grassy area 200 m to the east of the entrance off the bike path. All were able to hear at least one of the wrens and some were able to see it perched low in a bush. House Wren, Wilson’s Warbler, and Green Heron were among the other species making an appearance. Our next stop was the Britannia Conservation Area (Mud Lake). A Black-crowned Night Heron and a dozen species of warbler were among the birds we found there. Our last stop was Britannia pier. Would this be the year we see Arctic Tern on an OFO field trip? A Purple Sandpiper had been photographed the evening before and a Little Gull had been seen earlier that morning. We saw neither but we did have 2 Bonaparte’s Gulls and 2 Common Terns. It appeared that we would have to be satisfied with that until one of our participants shouted “Terns!” They were terns alright. Arctic Terns! At least 44 of them! They flew up river and then turned back down river mingling a bit with some Ring-billed Gulls, just above the Deschênes Rapids. Then they headed back down river and toward us, some landing with the 2 Common Terns that were sitting on floating sticks out on the river (or lake, if you insist). Then they lifted off and continued up river, leaving the 2 Common Terns to themselves. What a finish! The trip ended informally and most of the participants had left when other members of Ottawa birding community started to show up. The 44 had left but, fortunately, 2 more Arctic Terns would be spotted making their way up river. My thanks to Bob Cermak for driving and assisting me. In all we had about 71 species. The following is mainly the leader’s recollection of the species and numbers observed: Canada Goose 25, Mallard 12, Lesser Scaup 2, Common Goldeneye 6, Red-necked Grebe 1, Double-crested Cormorant 11, Great Egret 3, Green Heron 1, Black-crowned Night-Heron 2, Turkey Vulture 1, Red-tailed Hawk 2, Spotted Sandpiper 4, Wilson's Snipe 2, Bonaparte's Gull 2, Ring-billed Gull 300, Common Tern 2, Arctic Tern 46, Mourning Dove 2, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1, Downy Woodpecker 1, Hairy Woodpecker 1, Northern Flicker 2, Pileated Woodpecker 1, Willow Flycatcher 5, Great Crested Flycatcher 5, Eastern Kingbird 4, Warbling Vireo 11, Red-eyed Vireo 8, Blue Jay 1, American Crow 3, Purple Martin 1, Tree Swallow 7, Barn Swallow 1, Red-breasted Nuthatch 1, White-breasted Nuthatch 1, House Wren 1 Sedge Wren 3, Marsh Wren 3, Swainson’s Thrush 1, American Robin 2, Gray Catbird 4, Brown Thrasher 2, European Starling 4, Cedar Waxwing 30, Black-and-white Warbler 2, Tennessee Warbler 1, Mourning Warbler 1, Common Yellowthroat 6, American Redstart 17, Cape May Warbler 1, Magnolia Warbler 1, Bay-breasted Warbler 1, Blackburnian Warbler 2, Yellow Warbler 26, Chestnut-sided Warbler 1, Blackpoll Warbler 2, Pine Warbler 1, Wilson's Warbler 2, Chipping Sparrow 1, Savannah Sparrow 3, Song Sparrow 9, Swamp Sparrow 5, Northern Cardinal 2, Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1, Bobolink 5, Red-winged Blackbird 35, Common Grackle 2, Brown-headed Cowbird 3, Baltimore Oriole 8, House Finch 1, American Goldfinch 3. Bernie Ladouceur _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide
