Ottawa Field Naturalists' Club Ottawa/Gatineau (50 Km radius from Parliament Hill) E. Ontario, W. Quebec Compiler: Gregory Zbitnew at [email protected]
September 14, 2017 The highlight of the week was a YELLOW-THROATED VIREO, seen in Britannia on the 12th. Also, while the bird itself is not rare, the first sighting reported from an airplane was of a BALD EAGLE in Luskville (at 2000 feet) on the 2nd. It was mostly a sunny week with above average temperatures, more summer-like than most of the summer, although ironically it was not particularly good for migration. Mostly there was a decent variety with birds continuing to trickle through. Among the WATERBIRDS, CANADA GEESE are becoming more conspicuous, with small skeins of 10-100 being seemingly everywhere. Among the hundreds of CANADAS, single SNOW GOOSE was on Greenbank north of Hunt Club. Other species are becoming a little more common. The first recent report from Plaisance (Baie Noire) on the 10th was of 100 AMERICAN WIGEON, 75 RING-NECKED DUCKS and smaller numbers of others. This area will be excellent in a few weeks. A RED-NECKED GREBE was at Britannia on the 8th. 8 AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER in a field on Frank Kenny north of Giroux on the 12 th and 7 were on Snake Island Road on the 9th, but none stuck around. Embrun and the Carp River Reclamation area continue to have a few shorebirds, but nothing worth chasing. Almonte had virtually none, but BAIRD’S SANDPIPER and 2 SANDERLING were at Constance Bay on the 8th. An early ICELAND GULL was at the Trail Road landfill on the 8th. SANDHILL CRANES are starting to congregate on Smith near Milton Road. A GREY-CHEEKED THRUSH was on Trail 10 near Shirley’s bay on the 13th. The first of the season, 2 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS were seen on an OFO field trip on the 10th. 10+ WARBLERS can be seen on better trips in places like Britannia. 5 CLAY-COLOURED SPARROWS were at the "Sparrow fields" of Robert Grant in Goulbourn on the 12th. Finally, the first RUSTY BLACKBIRDS (7) were in Plaisance on the 13th and 3 were at Britannia on the same day. 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. We encourage everyone to report their bird sightings on eBird for the benefit of the entire birding community. Good birding. *Reminder regarding access to the Shirley’s Bay Causeway:* DND has amended our access procedure. You must call Range Control (613-991-5740) for permission, state that you are an OFNC member and give your name. DND will be provided with the OFNC's membership list and they will check, so you need to keep your membership up to date. Finally, you must call again when you have left the area. DND would also like to be informed if you see anyone on the property who should not be there, such as boats in the bay or people fishing on the causeway. They are trespassing and DND will deal with the situation. _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) - 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 Visit the OFO Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists
