Ottawa Field Naturalists' Club Ottawa/Gatineau (50 Km radius from Parliament Hill) E. Ontario, W. Quebec Compiler: Greg Zbitnew at [email protected] or [email protected]
Recent sightings to August 27, 2015 The LITTLE GULL was seen until the 22nd, from Deschênes on the Quebec side. There was a EURASIAN WIGEON at Embrun on the 23rd, and the last highlight was a YELLOW-THROATED VIREO, seen near parking lot P2 near Shirley’s Bay. Aside from this, it has been fairly quiet. A weather front on the 20th brought relief from the oppressive heat and humidity, but it did not bring much change to the bird population. Weather since then has been consistently warm and sunny, with no major weather systems. As a result, there has just been a fairly consistent and modest influx of migrants, with no major fallouts until the 27th. As last week, the only other notable waterfowl sightings were a few interesting lingering/ early birds. The lingering BRANT, up to 3 early GREATER SCAUP, and a COMMON GOLDENEYE were along the Ottawa River between Shirley’s Bay and Britannia. SHOREBIRD populations and variety made some modest gains this week. Shirley’s Bay had significant numbers of birds with appearances of 2 RED-NECKED PHALAROPE, 2 STILT, and a BAIRD’S SANDPIPER earlier in the week, but unfortunately numbers dropped precipitously by the 23rd; undoubtedly the situation was made worse due to the harassment by MERLIN and PEREGRINE FALCON. Elsewhere, RUDDY TURNSTONE was on the Ottawa River shore east of the Champlain bridge. Embrun had RUDDY TURNSTONE as well as BAIRD’S and WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER on the 22nd. Regionally, 17 species of shorebird were seen this week. Some recent sightings include: 1. Embrun: 50 birds 10 species on the 23rd. 2. Almonte: 44 birds of 6 species on the 23rd. 3. Petrie Island: 36 birds of 5 species on the 27th. 4. Shirley’s Bay: Up to 125 birds of 9 species on the 21st; 40 birds of 7 species on the 23rd. 25th, 11 birds of 3 species on the 25th; and 22 birds of 5 species on the 27th. 5. Ottawa river east of Andrew Haydon: still few birds 6. Chrysler dam: 12 birds of 4 species on the 24th Somewhat unusual were up to 17 BLACK TERNS at Shirley’s bay on the 23rd, a species soon to be leaving for the season. LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL continues to be regular at Deschênes in the evenings, and was seen a number of times at the Moodie Drive ponds. 9 species of flycatchers were seen this week. There was an OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER at the north end of Bilberry Creek on the 25th and a YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER on the trails east of Shirley’s Bay on the 27th. WILLOW and ALDER FLYCATCHER have been identified when they call. Next week will likely be the last week for many of the flycatchers. All 5 of the regular VIREOS were seen this week, with a number of reports of PHILADELPHIA VIREO and BLUE-HEADED VIREO. 22 of the 25 regular WARBLERS were seen regionally this week. New for the fall was WILSON’S WARBLER which was seen in a number of places. Of note as the season progresses is that the formerly abundant YELLOW WARBLER is now becoming tough to find, while YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS are increasingly been seen in numbers everywhere. Up to the 27th only modest (5-10 species per trip) numbers and variety of warbler were seen in a typical trip. However, on the 27th the trails east of Shirley’s bay had 16 species, while Britannia had 17. Other areas of the region, however, were quite dead on the 27th. A CAROLINA WREN at Shirley’s Bay on the 23rd was the only other bird of note among the passerines. 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 purpose of maintaining local records. Thanks to everyone who contributed bird observations. Good birding. _______________________________________________ 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
