- RBA * Ontario * Ottawa/Gatineau * 15 January 2007 * ONOT0701.15
- Birds mentioned Green-winged Teal Ring-necked Duck Bufflehead Barrow's Goldeneye Hooded Merganser Wild Turkey Double-crested Cormorant Bald Eagle Northern Harrier Northern Goshawk American Kestrel Merlin Peregrine Falcon Great Horned Owl Snowy Owl NORTHERN HAWK OWL Red-bellied Woodpecker Black-backed Woodpecker Northern Shrike Carolina Wren Chipping Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Red Crossbill White-winged Crossbill - Transcript hotline: Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club date: 15 January 2007 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 & transcriber: Chris Lewis [EMAIL PROTECTED] internet: Gordon Pringle [EMAIL PROTECTED] THE OFNC BIRD STATUS LINE @ 6:00 pm, MONDAY JANUARY 15, 2007 This is Chris Lewis reporting. Another week of weird weather for this time of year produced a few good sightings of local interest. Exceptionally late species for Ottawa included a male Green-winged Teal in Sawmill Creek off Southgate Rd. in the South Keys area on January 12th and 13th, and another on the Rideau River at Strathcona Park on the 15th, a Double-crested Cormorant still on the Ottawa River east of the Deschenes Rapids Lookout on the 7th, Northern Harriers in various agricultural areas both east and west of Ottawa from the 4th through the 13th, and an adult White-crowned Sparrow still at the Hilda Rd. feeders by Shirley's Bay as of at least the 8th. The unprecedented open water on the Ottawa River from Bate Island to Constance Bay has hosted at least 5 Bufflehead and 3 Hooded Mergansers, and 3 Ring-necked Ducks were seen from the Deschenes Lookout on the 14th. However, also due to the open water on the Ottawa and Rideau Rivers, there have been no reports of Barrow's Goldeneye since New Year's Day. The 1st New Year's reports of Wild Turkeys included one bird in the Britannia Conservation Area (most likely the same bird that spent the entire year here in 2006), and a flock of at least 9 along March Rd. west of Klondike Rd. on January 10th. In local raptor reports, at least 8 Bald Eagles of various ages were seen on the 14th - most were perched in trees in the Shirley's Bay area; an adult Northern Goshawk was seen along Berry Side Rd. on the 7th, an American Kestrel seems to be quite attached to a farm on the north side of March Rd. west of Klondike Rd. since late December and was seen again here on January 13th, a Merlin was reported hunting birds at the Hilda Rd. feeders by Shirley's Bay on the 7th, and a Peregrine Falcon was seen soaring over Riverside Dr. at Smyth Rd. on the 13th. Single Great Horned Owls were seen in the Britannia woods on the 8th and on Quigley Hill Rd. in Cumberland on the 11th. Multiple Snowy Owls have been reported primarily east of Ottawa since the 11th. The NORTHERN HAWK OWL west of Brennan's Hill, Quebec, was still present along Ch. McDonald between Ch. Legault and Ch. Neely as of the 13th. The Red-bellied Woodpecker is still coming to the suet feeder in the backyard of #47 Evergreen Dr. in Bells Corners as of the 14th. A Black-backed Woodpecker was seen again along the Kerwin Rd. trail on the 8th, and another was observed harassing a Northern Shrike near the corner of Riddell and 6th Line Rds on the 14th. Yet ANOTHER Carolina Wren has been reported in our area, this time from the Quebec side in Aylmer at a suet feeder on Rue St-Malo. This bird was 1st seen at this feeder approx. 3 - 4 weeks ago, and was evidently not noted again until the 14th. An adult Chipping Sparrow has also been visiting a feeder in Carleton Place since December, and was seen on the property on the 14th. It seems that Red Crossbills are still around in small numbers - a couple were reported from the Kerwin Rd. area on the 7th, and 7 were seen in the Brennan's Hill area near the aforementioned Hawk Owl location. White-winged Crossbills continue to be seen and heard in a wide variety of locations on both the Ontario and Quebec sides of our area. Thank you - Good Birding! - End transcript
