Birding in the Summer Heat and loving it!

Northern Waterthrush - Parkesia noveboracensis, Photo credit Tony Beck

Photography Excursion at Jack Pine Trail, Ottawa, ON.

Red Squirrel, Photo credit Jariya Rasaputra

Mallard ducklings, Photo credit Ben Ivany

Tuesday July 12

Today was the summer program’s first of three Photography days.

We spent the whole morning at Jack Pine Trail.

We had a most cooperative Mallard with 2 ducklings posing for us. Interestingly, we greeted the same Swamp Sparrow on the same perch as our previous excursion to the same location.

We photographed everything we saw and surprisingly we had several warblers such as Black & White, Pine and Black-throated Green Warblers.

Day list:

1. American Crow
2. American Goldfinch
3. American Robin
4. Baltimore Oriole
5. Bank Swallow (Sand Martin)
6. Black & White Warbler
7. Black-capped Chickadee
8. Black-throated Green Warbler
9. Blue Jay
10. Canada Goose        
11. Cedar Waxwing
12. Chipping Sparrow
13. Common Grackle
14. Common Raven
15. Common Tern
16. Common Yellowthroat
17. Double-crested Cormorant
18. Eastern Kingbird
19. Eastern Towhee
20. Eastern Wood-Pewee
21. European Starling
22. Field Sparrow
23. Great Blue Heron
24. Great-crested Flycatcher
25. Hairy Woodpecker
26. House Sparrow
27. Mallard
28. Mourning Dove
29. Osprey
30. Ovenbird
31. Pileated Woodpecker
32. Pine Warbler
33. Red-breasted Nuthatch
34. Red-winged Blackbird
35. Ring-billed Gull
36. Rock Pigeon
37. Ruddy Duck
38. Solitary Sandpiper
39. Song Sparrow
40. Swamp Sparrow
41. Turkey Vulture
42. White-breasted Nuthatch
43. White-throated Sparrow
44. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Female Mallard, Photo credit Ben Ivany

Swamp Sparrow, Photo credit Jariya Rasaputra 

Tony Beck

Turkey Vulture, Photo credit Bob Watt

Thursday July 14

Our group of dedicated birders and photographers are enjoying the great outdoors, even through these dog days of summer.

A long hike into the Nortel Wetlands, yielded several species including the elusive Sora. For many of the participants, including me, it was a lifer.

At the end of this excellent day we had a list of 54 species.

Day list:

1. American Bittern
2. American Crow
3. American Goldfinch
4. American Redstart
5. American Robin
6. Baltimore Oriole
7. Barn Swallow
8. Belted Kingfisher
9. Black-capped Chickadee
10. Bobolink
11. Cedar Waxwing
12. Chipping Sparrow
13. Cliff Swallow
14. Common Grackle
15. Common Raven
16. Common Yellowthroat
17. Double-crested Cormorant
18. Downy Woodpecker
19. Eastern Kingbird
20. European Starling
21. Great Blue Heron
22. Great-crested Flycatcher
23. Green Heron
24. Grey Catbird
25. House Finch
26. House Sparrow
27. Indigo Bunting
28. Killdeer
29. Mallard
30. Mourning Dove
31. Northern Cardinal
32. Northern Flicker
33. Northern Harrier
34. Osprey
35. Red-eyed Vireo
36. Red-winged Blackbird
37. Ring-billed Gull
38. Rock Pigeon
39. Rose-breasted Grosbeak
40. Rough-winged Swallow
41. Song Sparrow
42. Sora
43. Spotted Sandpiper
44. Swamp Sparrow
45. Tree Swallow
46. Turkey Vulture
47. Veery
48. Virginia Rail
49. Warbling Vireo
50. White-breasted Nuthatch
51. Wild Turkey
52. Wilson's Snipe
53. Wood Duck
54. Yellow Warbler

Great-crested Flycatcher, Photo credit Bill Bowman

Great Egret, Photo credit Joshua McCullough

Virginia Rail, Photo credit Joshua McCullough

Saturday July 16:

A small group of Birders and Photographers met at Andrew Haydon Park where we had Bonaparte’s Gull and Common Tern at the beach.

The weather was extremely hot with no wind, but that did not stop the Virginia Rails from coming out onto the board walk at the Bill Mason Centre. They were literally everywhere, and so were Wilson’s Snipe.

A nice surprise was a great view of a Northern Waterthrush (intro picture by Tony Beck).

At the Carp Ridge we had one of our target birds - Eastern Towhee.

Day list:

1. Alder Flycatcher
2. American Crow
3. American Goldfinch
4. American Redstart
5. American Robin
6. American Kestrel
7. Baltimore Oriole
8. Barn Swallow
9. Black & White Warbler
10. Black-capped Chickadee
11. Blue Jay
12. Bonaparte's Gull
13. Cedar Waxwing
14. Chipping Sparrow
15. Common Grackle
16. Common Tern
17. Common Yellowthroat
18. Downy Woodpecker
19. Eastern Bluebird
20. Eastern Kingbird
21. Eastern Meadowlark
22. Eastern Towhee
23. Eastern Wood-Pewee
24. European Starling
25. Field Sparrow
26. Great Blue Heron
27. Great Eagret
28. Great-crested Flycatcher
29. Grey Catbird
30. Hairy Woodpecker
31. Hooded Merganser
32. House Sparrow
33. House Wren
34. Indigo Bunting
35. Killdeer
36. Mallard
37. Merlin
38. Mourning Dove
39. Northern Cardinal
40. Northern Flicker
41. Northern Waterthrush
42. Purple Finch
43. Purple Martin
44. Red-eyed Vireo
45. Red-winged Blackbird
46. Ring-billed Gull
47. Rock Pigeon
48. Savannah Sparrow
49. Scarlet Tanager
50. Song Sparrow
51. Sora
52. Spotted Sandpiper
53. Swamp Sparrow
54. Tree Swallow
55. Turkey Vulture
56. Veery
57. Virginia Rail
58. Warbling Vireo
59. White-breasted Nuthatch
60. White-throated Sparrow
61. Wilson's Snipe
62. Yellow Warbler
63. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Spotted Sandpiper, Photo credit Joshua McCullough

Lesser Yellowlegs, Photo credit Tony Beck

Spotted Sandpiper, Photo credit Joshua McCullough

Green Heron

Sunday July 17

It was a cloudy morning with a nice breeze, which made the birding quite pleasant.

We started at Petrie Island where we had all kinds of birds, including Sora, Green Heron, Belted Kingfisher, Osprey and Black Tern.

Although the various lagoons we visited didn’t produce the diversity we were hoping for, we managed to locate the Eared Grebe at Embrun, still hanging out with its Ruddy Duck buddies.

In addition we had 5 types of Swallows; Bank, Barn, Rough-winged, Tree and Cliff.

Other shorebirds we encountered this day were Lesser Yellowlegs, Killdeer, Least, Solitary & Spotted Sandpipers.

Day list:

1. American Bittern
2. American Black Duck
3. American Crow
4. American Goldfinch
5. American Robin
6. Bank Swallow (Sand Martin)
7. Barn Swallow
8. Belted Kingfisher
9. Black Tern
10. Black-capped Chickadee
11. Bobolink
12. Canada Goose        
13. Cedar Waxwing
14. Chipping Sparrow
15. Cliff Swallow
16. Common Grackle
17. Common Moorhen
18. Common Tern
19. Common Yellowthroat
20. Double-crested Cormorant
21. Eared Grebe
22. Eastern Kingbird
23. Eastern Wood-Pewee
24. European Starling
25. Gadwall
26. Great Blue Heron
27. Green Heron
28. Green-winged Teal
29. Hooded Merganser
30. House Sparrow
31. Killdeer
32. Least Sandpiper
33. Lesser Scaup
34. Lesser Yellowlegs
35. Mallard
36. Mourning Dove
37. Northern Flicker
38. Osprey
39. Pied-billed Grebe
40. Red-tailed Hawk
41. Red-winged Blackbird
42. Ring-billed Gull
43. Rock Pigeon
44. Rose-breasted Grosbeak
45. Rough-winged Swallow
46. Ruddy Duck
47. Savannah Sparrow
48. Solitary Sandpiper
49. Song Sparrow
50. Sora
51. Spotted Sandpiper
52. Swamp Sparrow
53. Tree Swallow
54. Turkey Vulture
55. Warbling Vireo
56. Wild Turkey
57. Wilson's Snipe
58. Wood Duck
59. Yellow Warbler

Queen Anne's Lace

Cooper's Hawk - Accipiter cooperii

Constance Creek , Ottawa, ON

Thank you to all the members and participants of "Always An Adventure", for sharing their pictures and letting me use them in my Blog.

All excursions organized by ~ Tony Beck, Always An Adventure