~ The Visual Adventure ~: Fall lingers on...

European Starling

Tony Beck demonstrating his techniques

Tuesday Nov. 15:

Continuing with our series of “photo days”, we met at Fletcher Wildlife Garden, part of Ottawa’s Central Experimental Farm. We spent the entire morning in the garden area including the paths through the Arboretum, and besides Dow’s Lake. A perfect day - there was plenty of great weather, and endless photo opportunities. Everyone finished the session with good results. Check out some of the images here: Facebook Gallery. Although our agenda was to capture photos and learning photography, we tallied a day-list of 32 species of birds:

American Black Duck
American Crow
American Goldfinch
American Robin
American Tree Sparrow
Black-capped Chickadee
Blue Jay
Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Cedar Waxwing
Common Goldeneye
Common Merganser
Common Raven
Common Redpoll
Dark-eyed Junco
Double-crested Cormorant
Downy Woodpecker
European Starling
Great Black-backed Gull
Hairy Woodpecker
Hooded Merganser
House Finch
House Sparrow
Lesser Scaup
Mallard
Northern Cardinal
Peregrine Falcon
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Song Sparrow
White-breasted Nuthatch
White-throated Sparrow

Richmond Lagoons

American Crow

Thursday Nov. 17:

We began our morning at the Coliseum Theater Parking Lot, east of Bayshore. From here we went directly for nearby coniferous woodlands in search of northern birds. Rough-legged and Red-tailed Hawks were very common throughout the whole morning. Interestingly, we found 2 late Eastern Blue Birds at the Berry Side Road. At Richmond Lagoons we had two juvenile Brant and a Cackling Goose amongst many Canada and Snow Geese.

American Black Duck
American Crow
American Robin
American Tree Sparrow
Black-capped Chickadee
Blue Jay
Brant
Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Common Merganser
Common Raven
Downy Woodpecker
Eastern Bluebird
European Starling
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Great Black-backed Gull
Green-winged Teal
Hairy Woodpecker
Herring Gull
Hooded Merganser
Iceland Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Lesser Scaup
Mallard
Northern Shrike
Purple Finch
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-winged Blackbird
Ring-billed Gull
Ring-necked Duck
Rough-legged Hawk
Snow Goose
Song Sparrow

Dawn at Petrie Island

Sunrise at Petrie Beach

Snow Geese

Saturday 19^th Nov:

As autumn lingers on, we begin experiencing ever-changing weather conditions.

We started our excursion at Petrie Island with mild and comfortable temperatures.

Our goal this morning - find big flocks of Snow Geese and Sandhill Cranes. By the end of the morning, we found around 14,000 Snow Geese and about 60 Sandhill Cranes.

Other highlights were Northern Harrier, Rough-legged Hawks and Red-tailed Hawks in good numbers. We still expect more northern birds to arrive in the weeks ahead.

American Black Duck
American Crow
Blue Jay
Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Common Merganser
Common Raven
Dark-eyed Junco
European Starling
Green-winged Teal
Hairy Woodpecker
Herring Gull
Hooded Merganser
House Sparrow
Mallard
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Rough-legged Hawk
Sandhill Crane
Snow Bunting
Snow Goose
Wood Duck

Two young Snow Geese among Canada Geese

Dick Bell Park

Sunday 20^th Nov:

Our group started at Andrew Haydon Park this morning, hiking along the shoreline of the Ottawa River from Ottawa Beach to Dick Bell Park. Here we found 2 young Snow Geese, White-winged Scoter and several individual Cackling Geese amongst the Canada’s. Unfortunately, heavy rain forced us into an early coffee break. Abandoning the Fletcher Wildlife Gardens for open country, we headed south into the open fields near the village of Richmond.

Burnside Pit produced a big flock of Snow Geese including 3 Blue Morphs. Other highlights today were Great Blue Heron, Bufflehead, Greater Scaup and Lesser Scaup.