Art Prints

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Weekend Excursions April 9th and 10th – 2011

Song Sparrow - Melospiza melodia

It was the last days of the winter birding program, and what a Grand Finale we had!!

Saturday morning, we started at the Dewbarry Trail achieving a list of 30 species before 8am.
From there we went to the Mer Bleue boardwalk, a conservation area in Ottawa with almost 5000 acres of peat bog. Not as productive as the morning it was still a most relaxing and refreshing walk.

_DSC3598---cropped
Saturday's enthusiastic crowd

_DSC3603---after-merge
Mer Bleue Boardwalk

Highlights amongst the 61 species were Eastern Bluebird, Barn and Tree Swallows, Sandhill Cranes, Great Blue Heron, Eastern Phoebe and Osprey.

Day list:
1.       Canada Goose        
2.       Mallard
3.       Red-tailed Hawk
4.       Ring-billed Gull
5.       Rock Pigeon
6.       Blue Jay
7.       American Crow
8.       Common Raven
9.       Black-capped Chickadee
10.   American Robin
11.   European Starling
12.   American Tree Sparrow
13.   Northern Cardinal
14.   Red-winged Blackbird
15.   Common Grackle
16.   American Goldfinch
17.   House Sparrow
18.   Bohemian Waxwing
19.   Turkey Vulture
20.   Downy Woodpecker
21.   Common Goldeneye
22.   White-breasted Nuthatch
23.   Mourning Dove
24.   Killdeer
25.   Herring Gull
26.   Common Merganser
27.   American Black Duck
28.   Coopers Hawk
29.   Hooded Merganser
30.   Ring-necked Duck
31.   Lesser Scaup
32.   Tree Swallow
33.   Black-crowned Night Heron
34.   White-throated Sparrow
35.   American Wigeon
36.   Wood Duck
37.   House Finch
38.   Double-crested Cormorant
39.   Red-necked Grebe
40.   Wild Turkey
41.   Dark-eyed Junco
42.   Common Redpoll
43.   Purple Finch
44.   Sandhill Crane
45.   Cackling Goose
46.   Northern Harrier
47.   Great Blue Heron
48.   Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
49.   Eastern Phoebe
50.   Northern Pintail
51.   American Kestrel
52.   Eastern Bluebird
53.   Barn Swallow
54.   Bufflehead
55.   Ruddy Duck
56.   Snow Goose
57.   Green-winged Teal
58.   Osprey
59.   Wilson's Snipe
60.   Brown-headed Cowbird
61.   Pied-billed Grebe

_DSC2493
Osprey - Pandion haliaetus

Sunday, the last day of Tony's Winter program, started with approximately 5000 Bohemian Waxwings! We barely had time to leave our cars before the most impressive flock came flying over head at the corner of Blvd Gamelin and Promenade du Portage in Gatineau.

April's-Bohemian
Bohemian Waxwing - Bombycilla garrulus - Photo courtesy of Heather Pickard 

We were mesmerized and spent quite some time photographing and admiring the birds, whereof we also had the pleasure of viewing a Leucistic Bohemian Waxwing in addition to a single Cedar Waxwing.

BohemianWaxwings001
Bohemian Waxwing - Bombycilla garrulus - Photo courtesy of Tony Beck

After indulging with the flock, we drove east to the Plaisance Wildlife Reserve.
Before the end of the excursion we had again 61 species on our day list, with highlights like Barrow’s Goldneye, Common Loon, Bufflehead, Peregrine Falcon, Bald Eagle and Red-shouldered Hawk.

Day list:
  1. Canada Goose
  2. Mallard
  3. Red-Tailed Hawk
  4. Ring-billed Gull
  5. Rock Pigeon
  6. Blue Jay
  7. American Crow
  8. Common Raven
  9. Black-capped Chickadee
  10. American Robin
  11. European Starling
  12. American Tree Sparrow
  13. Song Sparrow
  14. Northern Cardinal
  15. Common Gracle
  16. American Goldfinch
  17. House Sparrow
  18. Bohemian Waxwing
  19. Turkey Vulture
  20. Downy Woodpecker
  21. Common Goldeneye
  22. White-breasted Nuthatch
  23. Mourning Dove
  24. Killdeer
  25. Herring Gull
  26. Common Merganser
  27. American Black Duck
  28. Hooded Merganser
  29. Ring-necked Duck
  30. Ring-necked Duck
  31. Lesser Scaup
  32. Tree Swallow
  33. Black-crowned Night Heron
  34. White-throated Sparrow
  35. American Wigeon
  36. Wood Duck
  37. House Finch
  38. Red-necked Grebe
  39. Wild Turkey
  40. Dark-eyed Junco
  41. Common Redpoll
  42. Cackling Goose
  43. Northern Harrier
  44. Great Blue Heron
  45. Eastern Phoebe
  46. American Kestrel
  47. Bufflehead
  48. Green-winged Teal
  49. Osprey
  50. Brown-headed Cowbird
  51. Pied-billed Grebe
  52. Great Black-backed Gull
  53. Merlin
  54. Cedar Waxwing
  55. Hermit Thrush
  56. Pileated Woodpecker
  57. Common Loon
  58. Peregrine Falcon
  59. Barrow's Goldeneye
  60. Bald Eagle
  61. Red-shouldered Hawk
_DSC2461
~ Always An Adventure ~

_DSC2334
American Robin - Turdus migratorius

_DSC2466
Pussy Willow

_DSC3626
Tapping for Maple Syrup


Now, we are ready for the next wave of SPRING Migration!!
Bring it on!

2 comments: