Ottawa Field Naturalists' Club Ottawa/Gatineau (National Capital Region) E. Ontario, W. Quebec Compiler and transcriber: Bob Cermak at [email protected] or [email protected]
Recent reports to September 3, 2014 I am out of town tomorrow so putting this report out a day early. Twenty warbler species including a CONNECTICUT WARBLER, numbers of AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER and BAIRD'S SANDPIPER, a juvenile female RUFF, a BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER and a BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER were found in the Ottawa area this week. The Britannia Conservation Area (BCA) on Cassels St continues to be very active and the sod farms south east of Casselman and east of Kempville have been very productive. The mudflats at the Shirleys Bay causeway continue to be mostly underwater and there were small numbers of shorebirds at the lagoons. A juvenile female RUFF (REEVE) was found on the sod farms east of Kemptville on the east side of Boundary Rd south of French Settlement Rd on the 31st. Unfortunately it was not subsequently found but those fields were active all week with up to 51 AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER, 8 BAIRD'S SANDPIPER, WILSON'S SNIPE, PECTORAL SANDPIPERS, SEMIPALMATED PLOVER and many KILLDEER. On the 31st a flock of about 500 COMMON GRACKLES including one partially leucistic bird were also present. A CONNECTICUT WARBLER was found near the Ottawa River in the bushes on the edge of the west side of the creek at the east end of Andrew Haydon Park on the 1st. Seen by a single observer it was not refound but there has been a good selection of warblers on both sides of that creek most of the week. Today, the 3rd at 6:20 pm, a BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER was found at Petrie Island at the west end of the trail that goes west from the north west parking area between the Ottawa River and the inner channel. The bird was seen near an observation platform overlooking the inner channel on what I believe is the Beaver Loop trail. An OFNC birding field trip on the 30th had an astonishing start at the trip meeting location on the Lincoln Heights north parking lot. At 8 am the gulls which spent the night on the parking lot took to the air and with them was a single WHIMBREL! That outing found 55 species at the BCA including 12 warblers (3 BLACKPOLL), 3 vireos (3 PHILADELPHIA) and 5 raptor species (OSPREY, SHARP-SHINNED, COOPER'S, BROAD-WINGED and AMERICAN KESTREL). Just east of the OFNC birding circle a BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER was found on the sod farm on Lafleche Rd at hwy 138 on the 31st. Also on that sod farm have been AMERICAN GOLDEN and BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS and a SANDERLING. There were STILT SANDPIPER (1 juv and 1 worn adult) at the Crysler lagoon (at the east end of Finch Cambridge Boundary Rd) on the 31st. There is a little shorebird habitat at the Giroux Rd ponds. There have been SEMIPALMATED and BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, GREATER and LESSER YELLOWLEGS, LEAST, SPOTTED, PECTORAL AND SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER with COMMON GOLDENEYE (2) also at that location. A flock of 12 EASTERN BLUEBIRD were found the corner of Timm Dr and Haanel Dr in Bells Corners on the 1st. An escaped RED-CHEEKED CORDON-BLEU, a sub-Saharan Africa finch, has been feeding at the feeders behind the Fletcher Wildlife Garden Interpretive Center since late August. Due to widespread concerns regarding disturbance of wildlife and property, the OFNC's Birds Committee no longer reports OWL sightings on the internet. We will continue to encourage the reporting of owls to [email protected] for the local records. Thanks to everyone who contributed bird observations. _______________________________________________ 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
