- RBA * Ontario * Ottawa/Gatineau * 06 September 2005 * ONOT0509.06
- Birds mentioned Great Egret Black-crowned Night-Heron Northern Pintail Ring-necked Duck Lesser Scaup Common Merganser Red-breasted Merganser Ruddy Duck Osprey Bald Eagle Sharp-shinned Hawk Cooper's Hawk American Kestrel Merlin Peregrine Falcon Black-bellied Plover American Golden Plover Ruddy Turnstone Sanderling Baird's Sandpiper Stilt Sandpiper American Woodcock Lesser Black-backed Gull Great Horned Owl Barred Owl Carolina Wren Veery Swainson's Thrush Hermit Thrush Wood Thrush Yellow-throated Vireo Philadelphia Vireo Northern Parula Black-throated Blue Warbler Blackburnian Warbler Bay-breasted Warbler Blackpoll Warbler American Redstart Ovenbird Northern Waterthrush Wilson's Warbler Scarlet Tanager Eastern Towhee Chipping Sparrow Clay-colored Sparrow Field Sparrow Vesper Sparrow Grasshopper Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco - Transcript hotline: Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club date: 06 September 2005 number: 613-860-9000 for the status line : press 2 for rare bird alerts: press 1 to report a sighting: press # coverage: Ottawa/Gatineau (Can. Nat. Capital Reg.), E.Ont., W.Que. compiler : Chris Lewis [EMAIL PROTECTED] transcriber: Chris Lewis [EMAIL PROTECTED] internet : Gordon Pringle [EMAIL PROTECTED] OFNC BIRD STATUS LINE - TUE SEP 06 2005 AT 11:30 PM This is Chris Lewis reporting. A cool and comfortable Labour Day weekend was ideal for birding. 125 species were tallied on the annual OFNC Seedathon on Sept. 4th. Two Great Egrets were seen at Shirley's Bay that day, along with 4 Black-bellied Plovers and 1 Stilt Sandpiper among small numbers of the more common shorebirds. In the woods south of the Shirley's Bay causeway there were both Swainson's and Wood Thrush as well as 14 species of warblers including Northern Parula, Black-throated Blue, Blackburnian, Ovenbird and Northern Waterthrush. Before dawn on the 4th, 3 Great Horned and 2 Barred Owls were calling from the woods south of the village of Munster, and American Woodcock, Veery, Swainson's and Hermit Thrush were heard here as well. Waterfowl diversity remains low in the Ottawa area, but a few Northern Pintail, Ring-necked Duck and Lesser Scaup were found on the 4th, a female Common and Red-breasted Merganser have been present in the Des Chenes rapids below the Britannia Yacht Club since at least the 3rd, and 22 Ruddy Ducks were counted in a large pond on the east side of Moodie Dr. south of Trail Rd. Also on the 4th in the rapids below the Britannia Yacht Club there was a Ruddy Turnstone and an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull. Raptors are on the move, with multiple Ospreys, Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks noted over the weekend. A juvenile Bald Eagle stirred up the gulls in the Des Chenes rapids on the 3rd, and an adult was seen at Shirley's Bay on the 4th. Merlins and American Kestrels were seen in diverse locations, and an immature Peregrine Falcon was soaring over the Moodie Dr. pond on the 4th. The mud flats from Andrew Haydon Park through to the end of Scrivens St. remain good for shorebirds, with 5 Baird's Sandpipers present until at least the 5th, and 4 Black-bellied Plovers were joined by a juvenile American Golden Plover on the 5th. Three Sanderlings were at this location on the weekend. Single Yellow-throated and Philadelphia Vireos were reported from the Britannia Conservation Area on the 5th and 4th respectively, and the latter species was also found in the Carp Hills along the Thomas Dolan Parkway south of Dunrobin and in the woods at Shirley's Bay on the 4th. Warbler species in Britannia on the 3rd and 4th included Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, American Redstart and Wilson's, and several Scarlet Tanagers continue to be seen here. Eleven species of Sparrows were found on the Seedathon - most notable were 1 Eastern Towhee in the Carp Hills, 2 Field Sparrows with a group of Chipping Sparrows and a half-dozen Dark-eyed Juncos at Britannia, and 2 Vesper, 2 Grasshopper and 1 Clay- coloured Sparrow in the fields south of the International Airport. The most recent report of Black-crowned Night-Herons came from the Rideau Canal on the morning of the 6th, where 2 adults were seen on the small island below the Arboretum at the Central Experimental Farm. An immature bird was also seen in flight in the same area on Sept. 2nd. Finally, from a bit farther afield, a Carolina Wren was heard singing in a backyard in Carleton Place on the 5th, and has likely been present for about a week. Thank you - Good Birding! - End transcript
