Hello Ontbirders, particularly Ottawa winter listers, Dave Moore and I saw a Northern Flicker today in the Britannia Conservation area woods at about 10:40 this morning. The bird was between the main trail and the pond about 200 m in from the main entrance, near the intersection with the trail that goes west to the sumac field and just where the scrubby undergrowth ends before the area with the large white pines. It was moving around on the trunks of large maple and oak trees.
All the best for the new year, Bev McBride, Ottawa corax(at)magma.ca Directions to the Britannia Conservation area, courtesy of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club's online birding site guide: The BCA can be reached by taking Pinecrest Road (exit 129) off the Hwy 417. Go north on Pinecrest, then turn right (east) onto Richmond Road. After Richmond crosses Carling Avenue, turn left (north) onto Poulin Avenue. Poulin intersects with Britannia Road. Turning right onto Britannia will take you to Cassels Street. Britannia Road and Cassels Street form the BCA's western and northern boundaries respectively, and a National Capital Commission (NCC) bicycle path borders it to the south. Parking is easy anywhere along Cassels; there are, however, no facilities in the CA.
