October 3,2013 Birding Lake Deschenes

I spent a couple of hours this morning birding Lake Deschenes from Dick Bell Park. I stationed myself down towards the mouth of the harbour and scanned the lake with my scope. The overall viewing conditions were good  at first but as the winds pick up and the temperature rose it became more difficult to identify water birds at a distance due to the choppy waters and distortion. There had been an obvious increase in northern diving ducks with a flock of 16 White-winged Scoter,  mainly adult males, 22 Greater Scaup, 28 Lesser Scaup, 1 Bufflehead, 3 Common Goldeneye, and 1 Red-breasted Merganser. I  also observed, 1 Common Merganser, 2 American Wigeon, 6 American Black Duck, 2 Mallards and 6 Horned Grebe all out on the lake. Few gulls flew by mainly ring-billed Gull but did record 2 Great Black-backed Gulls. Not much else except for a couple of flocks of Canada Geese. 
Good birding, 
Bruce

October 1, 2013 Eurasian Wigeon in Ottawa. .

 A male Eurasian Wigeon in eclipse plumage put in a brief appearance along the Ottawa River between Andrew Haydon Park and Britannia Pier. The wigeon was first observed off the east end of the main park. It was present for a short period of time before disappearing. It was finally observed at 12:00 noon as it fly by and landed off Scriven's Road area. It appeared very wary-nervous and didn't associate with any of the other water fowl that were present. It finally took flight at around 12:30 p.m. and was last seen flying east. A good location to look is Mud Lake at the Britannia Conservation Area.  

Good birding,
Bruce

A male Eurasian Wigeon  in eclipse plumage. 

September 29,2013 Birding Renfrew County: Westmeath Provincial Park, Pembroke Marina, and Lake Dore.

Spent most of the day birding Renfrew County. Our first stop of the day was at Muskrat Lake at Cobden. Overall quiet but a few Wood Ducks were found feeding along the edge of the cattails. The next stop was Westmeath Provincial Park for Nelson's Sparrow. With high water levels the search along the shoreline took some time but we did managed to find 2 individuals. Other species noted  in the park included Pileated Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Blue-headed Vireo, Hermit Thrush, Pine Warbler, lots of Yellow-rumped Warbler, both Ruby and Golden-crowned Kinglet and a small variety of sparrows, White-throated, White-crowned, Swamp, Song and Savannah Sparrow. At the Pembroke Marina a small number of Ring-billed, Herring and Bonaparte's Gulls were resting on the small mudflat at the mouth of river. At Lake Dore a feeding frenzy of 50+ Common Loon, 80+ Bonaparte's Gull, 7 Horned Grebe and 2 Red-necked Grebe were found. Overall a beautiful day in the county!

Good birding,

Bruce

The Nelson's Sparrow is a regular fall migrant in small numbers along the shore of the Ottawa River at Westmeath Provincial Park. 

The  Nelson's Sparrow is a secretive sparrow and  easy to overlook. 

The Nelson's Sparrow was formerly called the Sharp-tailed Sparrow. 

T
The American Pipit is a regular fall migrant throughout eastern Ontario and the Outaouais region.  

September 28, 2013 Adult Sabine's Gull still present at Deschenes Rapids.

Hi Everyone
The breeding plumage Sabine's Gull was still present today, September 28th, off Britannia Point. It was spending most of its time feeding above the rapids and would disappear for 20-30 minutes at a time before feeding below and visible from Britannia Point.
Good birding,
Bruce

Directions: From Carling Avenue and Richmond Road intersection head east on Richmond Road for 100 metres. Turn left (north) onto Poulin Avenue.Follow Poulin Avenue 600m until it swings left and becomes Howe Street. After 200m turn right at the stop sign onto Britannia Road. At the "T"intersection with Cassels Street turn right and proceed about 800m to a gravel parking lot at the filtration plant and Britannia Point.

September 26, 2013 Adult Sabine's Gull still present at Deschenes Rapids

The adult breeding plumage Sabine's Gull first discovered on September 22nd by Jake Walker continues to draw birders and  was still present today at 3:30 a.m.. This Arctic breeder and highly pelagic species is a very rare and irregular migrant in eastern Ontario during the fall.  Over the years there have been approximately 40-50 records of Sabine's Gull across eastern  Ontario and all have been in juvenile plumage except for 4-5 individuals adults which are extremely rare inland. Unlike most other"hooded" gulls  adult Sabine's Gull moult later in the season as they migrate south to their wintering grounds off South America in the Pacific and in the Atlantic off Africa.   I've observed 2 adults at the Cornwall Power dam along the St.Lawrence during the 1980's and 1990's and both were in obvious moult. This individual appears to be moulting tail feathers and the white primary tips are worn. 

Directions: Britannia Point is located at the east end of Cassels Road on the Britannia filtration Plant property.   

Adult Sabine's Gull

An immature Herring Gull pursues the Sabine's Gull. 

Adult Sabine's Gull 

Adult Sabine's Gull 

Adult Sabine's Gull 

The adult Sabine's Gull in unmistakable in flight with its tricoloured upper wing pattern, dark gray hood, and yellow tipped bill.  

September 23,2013 Sabine's Gull and Ross's Goose in Ottawa!

Hi Everyone 

The  local Ottawa birding continues to be exciting with an adult Sabine's Gull found yesterday evening by Jake Walker. This individual was still present today, Sept.23rd, feeding below  Deschenes Rapids with 11 Bonaparte's Gulls and 100+ Ring-billed Gulls as they were fly-catching or picking emergent insects off the surface of the water. The Ross's Goose was feeding in a sport's field just west of Moodie Drive along Carling Ave. along with 100+ Canada Geese this afternoon at around 3:00p.m. It was still present at 4:00 p.m. 

Good birding, 

Bruce

The Ross's Goose was first recorded in the Ottawa-Gatineau district in April 1997 and now there are over 40 records .  

This represents the earliest fall record for the Ottawa-Gatineau district  of Ross's Goose. 

Adult Sabine's Gull records are very rare in eastern Ontario. The majority of records are typically juvenile birds.   

The adult breeding plumage Sabine's Gull is unmistakable. The bold wing pattern is obvious at a distance. Unlike other gull species the adults retains its breeding plumage late into the fall season. There are at least 5 records of adults compared to 40+ records of juvenile plumage birds in eastern Ontario. 

September 22, 2013 Birding Lake Dore

Hi Ontbirders

Today, September 22nd, I spent 5 hours this morning birding the Lake Dore area. There were lots of flocks of Canada Geese migrating along with a few species of both diving and puddle ducks. Both the previously reported Long-tailed and Parasitic Jaegers were still present at 7:45a.m. but disappeared to the south after about 30 minutes. No Sabine's Gulls were found but a winter adult Little Gull was observed resting with 50+ Bonaparte's Gulls. At 11:15 a.m. a juvenile Long-tailed Jaeger was chasing Bonaparte's Gull off the boat launch at Biederman Park and disappeared at 11:30a.m. I left the area at noon without relocating any jaegers. An adult and 2 juvenile Northern Mockingbirds were observed feeding in an apple tree near Biederman Park. Other species of note included 4 Red-necked Grebe, 2 Horned Grebe, 1 imm. Bald Eagle, 30+ Palm Warbler, 2 Orange-crowned Warbler, 150+ Rusty Blackbird, and 8 White-crowned Sparrow.

Directions: From Ottawa take 417 west to the second exit to Renfrew. South into Renfrew then west (at the Tim Horton's) on hwy 60 to Kelly's Corners then north on hwy 9 then slightly north on hwy 41 then west on Lake Dore Rd and look for a location where you have good sight lines over the lake.

 Juvenile Northern Mockingbirds were at surprise at Lake Dore. This is a late date for young mockingbirds but I  have recorded young in mid August in the 1990's in both Kanata and Ste. Rose in eastern Ontario.   

A male Eastern Bluebird was among a flock of bluebirds feeding in the open areas near Lake Dore. 

I was again surprised to find juvenile birds, this time bluebirds  at a late date. Bluebirds are known to have a second broods but this makes me wander if its a 3rd brood.