Thursday, January 20, 2011

January 18, 2011 Birding in the Ottawa area.

The birding continues to be interesting but we are definitely now into winter birding. Not much changing in the bird life except some of the late lingering species are disappearing likely due to the colder temperatures. No recent reports of the Pine Warbler near Manotick which was attempting to overwinter but the Brown Thrasher near Dunrobin is still doing well. The birding east of Ottawa in the Casselman-Ste. Rose area was good this morning with a nice mixture of horned Lark, Snow Bunting and Lapland Longspur feeding along the roadsides. There is still a large flock of Lapland Longspur 125+ feeding near house # 3267 along the south side of CR 3. Look for the small group of cattle. Again no luck with Snowy owls but there were 3 rough-legged and 1 Red-tailed Hawk in the area. Check along the Rideau River at Manotick and had 400+ Mallards and a small number of American Black Duck, Common Goldeneye and Common Merganser feeding below the bridge. Along Eagleson Road near Rushmore Road had a flock of 27 Lapland Longspur feeding along the roadside. It's been one of the best winters in years for longspurs in eastern Ontario. There are still flocks of Bohemian Waxwing wandering around the region in search of berries. Observed a flock of 50+ along Huntmar Road near the hill. The Hilda Road area is still a good location to find them.

Directions: Take Hwy 417 east of Casselman and exit at #58 and go north. Take the first right turn ,Con. 20 and follow to Ste. Rose Road and turn left. Follow to Cty. Rd 3 and turn right. Continue east to Renaud Road and watch on south side of road. Please remember all the land is private property.




A Horned Lark searching for seeds along the roadside.



The Lapland Longspurs are easy to overlook feeding in the field or on a structure.



The bridge at Manotick is a great location to see overwintering waterfowl.


Lapland Longspur feeding along Eagleson Road.


Up to 7 Canada Geese and a number of Mallards are overwintering at a storm sewer outlet in Kanata south.

1 comment:

Ben said...

I am planning on trying to find the longspurs, horned larks and snow buntings tomorrow, although I am not sure what CR3 means. If you could provide general directions from Carling Ave, that would be great, thanks.