Hi there, In March, over a span of 8 days, totaling 34 hours and 25 minutes, birders have surveyed for raptors from Greenland Rd., roughly 800 meters west of Thomas Dolan. Constance Creek is in the valley below, sandwiched between two ridges: Carp Ridge to the SW and Dunrobin Ridge (Greenland Road) to the NE. As far as hawkwatching in Ottawa goes, this is the place to be. Results so far:
Black Vulture: 0 Turkey Vulture: 42 Osprey: 0 Bald Eagle: 19 Northern Harrier: 2 Sharp-shinned Hawk: 2 Cooper's Hawk: 6 Northern Goshawk: 5 Red-shouldered Hawk: 3 Broad-winged Hawk: 0 Red-tailed Hawk: 31 Rough-legged Hawk: 9 Golden Eagle: 8 American Kestrel: 1 Merlin: 2 Peregrine Falcon: 2 Unknown Accipiter: 0 Unknown Buteo: 0 Unknown Falcon: 0 Unknown Eagle: 0 Unknown Raptor: 5 Some notes re: the tally thus far: Golden Eagle: Amazingly, we have tallied 8 birds so far this season. This is by far our highlight and provides a nice draw to the site. 7 out of 8 birds were identified as adult or near-adult (sub adult IV; as I have since found out, it is impossible to confidently separate sub-adult IV vs. adult birds without a spread-tail view to inspect whether or not the base of the retricies reveals some white). 1 bird was identified as an immature (29 March). Northern Goshawk: 4 birds (adults) unknown re: migrant or local but likely local. 1 bird (first yr.) deemed migrant (29 March). In some cases, we have found it difficult to confidently discern whether some raptors were migrants or local birds, this is especially true for: Turkey Vulture, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Bald Eagle, Cooper's Hawk and Merlin. There is an eBird hotspot for the site, located here: http://ebird.org/ebird/canada/hotspot/L2697365/activity?yr=all&m=. We also have a Facebook group: Ottawa-Gatineau Hawkwatchers. Lastly, the hawkwatch schedule is viewable here: http://www.ofnc.ca/events.php#.VRlz6-GPM4s Good birding, Jon _______________________________________________ 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
