- RBA * Ontario * Ottawa/Gatineau * 02 April 2006 * ONOT0604.02
- Birds mentioned TUNDRA SWAN GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE Snow Goose Cackling Goose Canada Goose Wood Duck Green-winged Teal Northern Pintail Northern Shoveler EURASIAN WIGEON American Wigeon Ring-necked Duck Lesser Scaup Ruddy Duck Turkey Vulture Northern Harrier Red-tailed Hawk Rough-legged Hawk American Kestrel GYRFALCON Wild Turkey SANDHILL CRANE Snowy Owl Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Northern Flicker Eastern Phoebe Tree Swallow Golden-crowned Kinglet Eastern Bluebird TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE Fox Sparrow Eastern Meadowlark White-winged Crossbill - Transcript hotline: Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club date: 02 April 2006 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] THE OFNC BIRD STATUS LINE, 9:00 PM, SUNDAY APRIL 2, 2006. This is Chris Lewis reporting. A warming trend in the weather this past week encouraged more migrants to move in, and in spite of the minimal flooding in the Bear Brook, Cobb's Lake Creek and S. Nation River areas east of Ottawa, several excellent birds were found here. Scanning the huge flocks of Canada Geese provided many rewards including Snow Geese, which built up to approx. 4000 including many blue-morph birds on April 2nd in the fields southeast of the intersection of Russell and Johnston Rds. east of Bourget on the 2nd and a male EURASIAN WIGEON was in the same area the same day. At least 4 Cackling Geese were seen on the 2nd in the Bear Brook and Bourget areas. Seven TUNDRA SWANS (a very high number by Ottawa standards) have also been present in the flooded fields between Milton and Frank Kenney Rds. on the 1st and 2nd. Single Greater White-fronted Geese were seen on Milton Rd. on the 31st and on the Jock River at Twin Elm on the morning of April 2nd. Other new waterfowl arrivals since the 31st have included Wood Duck, American Wigeon, Northern Shoveler and Green-winged Teal. Multiple 1000's of Northern Pintail were in the Milton Rd. and Bourget areas on the weekend, along with several Ring-necked Ducks and a few Lesser Scaup, and another great find was a male Ruddy Duck on the Ottawa River immediately west of the Champlain bridge near a small utility building opposite the Rivermead Golf course on March 31st. Increased sightings of Turkey Vultures, Northern Harriers, Red- tailed Hawks, Rough-legged Hawks and American Kestrels have come in, and a grey morph GYRFALCON has continued to haunt the quarry at the north end of Clyde Ave. until at least March 29th. A late Snowy Owl was seen in the Bourget area on April 2nd. Wild Turkeys have successfully overwintered in a broad variety of locations in the Ottawa-Gatineau area - a group of 18 females were seen along Earl Armstrong Rd. east of Limebank Rd. on the 1st, and 14 were along Steel Line Rd. in Quebec on the 30th. The 1st report of SANDHILL CRANES was of 5 birds seen on the west side of Milton Rd. on March 31st, and subsequently 2 have been seen here on the 1st and 2nd. A TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE, likely the same bird that over-wintered on 3rd Line Rd. near Kars, was briefly seen in the Baxter Conservation Area on April 1st. The 1st reports of Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Northern Flicker have also come in as of the 31st, and many other expected common migrants including Eastern Phoebe, Tree Swallow, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Bluebird and Eastern Meadowlark are now being widely reported. Early Fox Sparrows were found at Petrie Island on the 31st and along Milton Rd. on the 1st, and a female White-winged Crossbill came to a feeder in Merrickville on both the 30th and 31st. Thank you - Good Birding! - End transcript
